Work Permit for A US Citizen-Timeline, Port of Entry

[jchep817]

Hi,

I submitted a work permit application via the CIC website (I am a US citizen) on Sept 4. I have a letter of offer, LMIA exemption (and payment receipt) from my employer, I have already done the required medical exam and received licenses. The website says processing time for NY Visa office is 3 months, but my employer says the process should take about 1 month. I have the following questions.

1) Is the one month timeline fairly accurate? I would like to start work by Nov 1, giving me 6 weeks to receive the work permit approval.
2) I will be heading to Canada to set up my apt, etc in early October, if I do not receive the approval by the CIC website, can I get a work permit at the border? I am OK with paying another fee if I must. I would rather not wait.
3) Will they reject me at the border if I do NOT have the CIC approval for a work permit?

Thank you for reading/answering!

Julie

 

[tonero]

You should flagpole with everything in hand if you can . It will save you a ton of trouble.

 

[jchep817]

Is that the same as just going to the border (Champlain/Montreal) and requesting a work permit at the passport checking site? I thought flagpoling was when you were already in Canada and needed a work permit extension.