Will my work permit be turned down?

[stopDA]

I don't have any experience in the job that I'm going to receive an LMO for. Some employers refused to hire me because they were convinced that I'd be refused for having no prior restaurant experience. Others are completely OK with me not having any experience and is waiting on an LMO right now. Their jobs are advertised as ones requiring no experience (some even say that they will train).

But I'm now very afraid that my work permit might get rejected for no experience when the time comes to apply for it. Does lack of experience guarantee rejection? I'm also currently unemployed outside Canada because of the recession/bad economy in my country right now. Will this also negatively affect my work permit application even if I have an LMO? Keep in mind that this is a no-brainer fast food restaurant job where ANYONE can learn what they need during the first week. Do the visa officers really care whether or not I have restaurant experience or if I'm not working right now?

 

[amikety]

It's possible. What did the job posting say for experience and/or education? If the job posting was clearly an "entry" level position with no experience required, it will help.

Another thing is - what experience DO you have? If you're a doctor and applying to flip burgers, the VO will not like it.

 

[stopDA]

The job posting says "some high school" for educational requirements, and says "will train" for the experience requirement. All the jobs I applied to have similar stuff like "no experience". As for past experience, I'm very young and don't have much of it. The very little experience I have are in menial stuff like custodial or construction labour (not the professional kind either). A lot of those jobs were part time and the only full-time job I've had was a temporary job (by nature, it was temporary and set to end by a particular date). I've never had experience in restaurants, I don't have much experience (once again, I'm still in my early 20s) but I do have a high school education and some college (unfinished). I'm not working an official full-time job right now at this moment because of the bad job market in my area, but I am getting by on some odd jobs (like tutoring and proofreading) and my savings. I'm not a doctor and I'm not a college graduate. I can definitely do simple tasks like working in a restaurant, and can definitely work at that job full-time and uninterrupted as long as I have my work permit and never get laid off.

 

[Ironchef]

take the job that don't required experience your point here is to get enter legally in Canada. As you have said somebody hiring you even you don't have experience in a restaurant. Well for me this the best option because of your educational background it is easy for you to understand the lingo of restaurant. Who knows after six months or one year you become a supervisor. Just follow the rules of the Restaurant that you working in especially the [color=black]Sanitation And Food Evaluation or HACCP and you will be good[/color].

If you need some help regarding the Sanitation And Food Evaluation (SAFE & HACCP) just PM me. God bless.

 

[Pippin]

Are you from a non visa exempt country? If so you will have to do a good job of convincing the VO that you have strong ties and will return to your home country. Do a search for all the threads on refusals and learn what you can to make your application strong. Have you tried getting a local job similar to the one for which you applied in Canada? Write a cover letter outlining your home ties and reasons for going to Canada to work and how it will impact your employment back home.

 

[stopDA]

No, I'm actually from a visa-exempt country and don't need a visa to enter Canada as a tourist. I've entered Canada before on a tourist visa with no problem. I have no problem with working in a restaurant. I want that job very badly and I want to apply for provincial nomination, permanent residence and citizenship via that route. I don't care about the "low" pay because I'm single, have no children, and can live comfortably on the wage I'm being paid, even after paying my fair share of taxes.

My main concern is getting my work permit approved. I'm worried that my lack of experience and my current unemployment may result in my work permit being refused. I don't have much official work experience in anything to begin with, since I'm still young and have spent a good chunk of that time in college (although I didn't finish). Bear in mind that I became of legal age during the great recession years which are still ongoing in the sense that it's still tough to find permanent (non-temporary and non-seasonal), full-time jobs in some places.

 

[Pippin]

Not requiring a visa is a huge gift!! For an entry level job such as this my concern would be how the employer will prove he couldn't find qualified local workers in order to get the LMO. I havent had any experience with visa exempt aituations, but I believe once the employer obtains the LMO, you bring your papers to the border and the work permit is issued there. All the best.

 

[stopDA]

@Pippin, After getting the LMO, I still have to apply for my work permit at the visa office in my country. I actually have to send them the LMO and other documents and then they'll send me a voucher to carry with me en route to Canada. A Canadian officer in Canada is actually the one who'll hand me the final visa. This is how it worked with my study permit. But still, one of the overseas visa offices will be making the decision on whether or not to send me that little voucher approval letter. My main concern is about my application not getting past them. Please help.

PS: Also, in my previous post, I meant to say that I've traveled to Canada before WITHOUT a tourist visa with no problem.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

@ Pippin, After getting the LMO, I still have to apply for my work permit at the visa office in my country. I actually have to send them the LMO and other documents and then they'll send me a voucher to carry with me en route to Canada. A Canadian officer in Canada is actually the one who'll hand me the final visa. This is how it worked with my study permit. But still, one of the overseas visa offices will be making the decision on whether or not to send me that little voucher approval letter. My main concern is about my application not getting past them. Please help.

Actually, as a visa-exempt citizen, once you have a positive LMO and job offer, you have the option to apply for a work permit as you enter Canada. See here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/apply-who-eligible.asp#enter

 

[stopDA]

@canuck in UK, Thanks for the link. However, I will probably be requiring a medical exam and police certificates for all countries I've lived in (I'm getting those now as they take weeks to get). That seems to be standard procedure at the visa office in my area. I don't have any medical problems nor do I have a criminal record in any country. Will I still be able to skip the month-long visa office part of getting my work permit? Are my chances of approval greater or smaller if I use a visa office (which your link says is recommended)? The last time I applied for a visa (this one was a study permit), they didn't ask for a medical exam but I think it was only because my time before school started was running out. However, they did delay my application for two whole months by asking me for a police certificate since I spent an entire year in the US, and that took about two months to get. Would it just be easier to get approved if I show up at the port of entry with every possible document they could want, or if I used the visa office instead? I'll do whichever one has the best chance of me getting approved with no prior job experience in fast food.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

I am not sure if one offers a greater chance of approval than the other.

If they didn't ask for a medical exam for your study permit, then you didn't require one. CIC doesn't waive a required medical for any reason; to do so would risk the health of Canadians. They would have requested it and held up your app until they got it, even if that meant your school started before you got the visa.

Where are you from and where have you lived for the past year?

 

[stopDA]

@canuck in uk, Thanks for the info on the medical examination. During the past year, I've lived in Canada as a student and have since moved back to my native country since school was proving to be too expensive. As for where I'm from, it's a visa-exempt country but I'd prefer not to post it here in case any of my potential employers are using this site. I wouldn't want to be easily identified by the information in my posts. I'm now taking the job route into Canada rather than the studies route since it's much less expensive and much less worrisome. I just want to do my work, go home at the end of each day, get paid, pay my bills and fair share of taxes with ease, relax and have a little fun with some of my earnings, save the rest, and wait for provincial nomination, permanent residence and citizenship. I have no dependents and don't plan on ever having any in my lifetime, so even a restaurant job with slightly above minimum pay wouldn't bother me.

As for using a visa office vs a port of entry, I'll stick with the visa office since it's recommended by the link you gave. If anything is amiss with my application, they'd certainly be more cooperative and request additional information as necessary rather than turn me back at the port of entry (leaving me with a wasted plane ticket). Well, I just hope that my lack of experience doesn't disqualify me for a visa and I hope that my employer doesn't chicken out on putting my name on an LMO at the last second because they're afraid of my work permit being refused for lack of experience (some employers refused to hire me because of this). I hope that you're right about the LMO approval being the most difficult part for a visa-exempt person like me.

 

[amikety]

@ canuck in uk, Thanks for the info on the medical examination. During the past year, I've lived in Canada as a student and have since moved back to my native country since school was proving to be too expensive. As for where I'm from, it's a visa-exempt country but I'd prefer not to post it here in case any of my potential employers are using this site. I wouldn't want to be easily identified by the information in my posts. I'm now taking the job route into Canada rather than the studies route since it's much less expensive and much less worrisome. I just want to do my work, go home at the end of each day, get paid, pay my bills and fair share of taxes with ease, relax and have a little fun with some of my earnings, save the rest, and wait for provincial nomination, permanent residence and citizenship. I have no dependents and don't plan on ever having any in my lifetime, so even a restaurant job with slightly above minimum pay wouldn't bother me.

As for using a visa office vs a port of entry, I'll stick with the visa office since it's recommended by the link you gave. If anything is amiss with my application, they'd certainly be more cooperative and request additional information as necessary rather than turn me back at the port of entry (leaving me with a wasted plane ticket). Well, I just hope that my lack of experience doesn't disqualify me for a visa and I hope that my employer doesn't chicken out on putting my name on an LMO at the last second because they're afraid of my work permit being refused for lack of experience (some employers refused to hire me because of this). I hope that you're right about the LMO approval being the most difficult part for a visa-exempt person like me.

The fact you had a previous study permit does muddy the waters a little bit. Hopefully you're able to explain to CIC why you had to leave your studies. They may infer your desire to remain in Canada permanently since this is your second attempt to gain temporary status. Or it may be fine without the IO blinking an eye. No one can really tell you.

 

[stopDA]

@amikety, I left at the end of my permit and chose not to renew it for further studies. I was supposed to finish the rest of my program by transferring to another school, but after this visa was done, I didn't bother renewing it and didn't bother transferring to another school. As far as they should be concerned, I left at the end of my visa that time, and if I'm given a temporary work permit his time, I will leave when it expires (unless I get permanent status before it does). Will the visa officers scrutinize my application simply because I'm doing nothing except following their laws and trying to become a permanent resident the legal way? You're making it sound like they don't want anybody immigrating legally. If that's the case, then why don't they just do away with the provincial nomination and permanent residency programs so that nobody immigrates to Canada. Plain and simple, if I my work permit expires without me having gained permanent residency, I will leave and re-try just like I did the first time. I'm not going to break their laws by overstaying my visa.