Work Permit Questions

[epmarshall]

This may be the wrong place to ask, as I know this is for family class immigration, but I have a few work permit questions if anyone can give me a briefing or somewhere to begin researching.

Is a work permit tied to the skilled worker immigration at all?

Are work permits hard to attain? I am thinking about the option if it's available to me (which I doubt) and I'm just wondering if you need to have special qualifications or degrees. I read the eligibility requirements, but I'm still a bit confused so any clarification would be nice.

Also, I'm in Canada and working on staying with my boyfriend for 12 months so we can apply for common law when the time comes, but I just want to explore my options. I don't know if that's relevant, but I have read that you have to apply from outside Canada as well.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Ghess23]

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Re: Work Permit Questions
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2015, 06:18:03 am »
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If you are on a visitor visa then yes your application will be sent to your original country's visa office, You can apply online though, you might be called for an interview. And if your work permit is for a skilled job then yes it will be tied to the skilled worker program, means if you meet all requirements eventually you might be able to apply, and yes work permits and jobs are hard to abtain, you will need to find a job first and then your employer will need to apply for a LMIA which gives him permission to hire a foreign worker, and then with that you apply for a work permit. If the job is skilled then you will need to demonstrate that you have experience or have a sort of degree in the job yoy wish to work at, if its semi skilled job then you probably only need to have a high school diploma, also if you apply it might make your chances lower if you have a boyfriend in Canada because that makes the visa officer that you have something tiying you to Canada which will not satisfy the visa officer that you will leave at the end of your work permit. Tell me your situation I might be able to find a faster and less complicated way for you, cause it took my boyfriend and I month to even find a job and then months for the employer to get the lmia ready and that was before they complicated the foreign worker program. Tell me what kind of visa you are on rightnow and if you and your boyfriend are living together already and if so for how long.

 

[epmarshall]

We've just started living together in Canada. I've been here almost 2 months and we are planning on applying for common law family sponsorship when we reach 12 months.

I was just wondering about a work permit, though, because it'd make things a lot easier for the situation I'm in now if I could get one.

 

[epmarshall]

We live with his parents at the moment and pay rent to them. But lately we found out that they really don't like me.

My boyfriend and I are both pretty weird people, which is how we ever met online in the first place, which his mom never approved of. But it seemed like she had changed and offered me several times to come up and live with him, even rent free, but we wanted to pay her anyway.

So she said she was fine with it at first, but now that I'm actually here, she is weirded out and thinks I'm creepy. I can't really blame her. I am very quiet and most people probably do find me creepy, but it's just the way I am. She wants us to go out more and wants me to be normal so I can normalize her son. We don't really cause trouble for her financially I don't think, we even give rent as I've said, but she just doesn't like me. I thought we were pretty easy to get along with and we don't bother them at all, but I guess that lack of social interaction is just what bothers her.

That's why we are interested in the work permit. We think it would help to ease the tension here if I was applying for PR through a work permit (if that's even possible). I think his mom feels her son is being stupid in sponsoring me and is worried I'll drain his money or something.

We don't have much money currently, but if we could find a place near his work with a rent comparable to what we pay now, it would be good to leave here and live away from them. We will still apply through family if it's the only way, but it'd just make things easier while under his mom's roof if that wasn't our only option.

Just more info on our current situation. I will stop rambling on that and wait for more advice, I suppose.

 

[Ponga]

We live with his parents at the moment and pay rent to them. But lately we found out that they really don't like me.

My boyfriend and I are both pretty weird people, which is how we ever met online in the first place, which his mom never approved of. But it seemed like she had changed and offered me several times to come up and live with him, even rent free, but we wanted to pay her anyway.

So she said she was fine with it at first, but now that I'm actually here, she is weirded out and thinks I'm creepy. I can't really blame her. I am very quiet and most people probably do find me creepy, but it's just the way I am. She wants us to go out more and wants me to be normal so I can normalize her son. We don't really cause trouble for her financially I don't think, we even give rent as I've said, but she just doesn't like me. I thought we were pretty easy to get along with and we don't bother them at all, but I guess that lack of social interaction is just what bothers her.

That's why we are interested in the work permit. We think it would help to ease the tension here if I was applying for PR through a work permit (if that's even possible). I think his mom feels her son is being stupid in sponsoring me and is worried I'll drain his money or something.

We don't have much money currently, but if we could find a place near his work with a rent comparable to what we pay now, it would be good to leave here and live away from them. We will still apply through family if it's the only way, but it'd just make things easier while under his mom's roof if that wasn't our only option.

Just more info on our current situation. I will stop rambling on that and wait for more advice, I suppose.

The only way to qualify for an Open Work Permit (OWP) is to first submit an Inland Spousal Sponsorship application...which you can't do until you are either Common-Law, or married.

You could try to find an employer willing to hire you and go through the LMIA process (which is costly and time consuming).

One option would be to find a way to work remotely from your computer, or phone, for a company or individual that is outside of Canada. This type of remote work does not require a work permit, so long as you are not remunerated from anyone within Canada.

 

[scylla]

Are work permits hard to attain?

Yes - they are difficult to obtain. As a first step, you'll need to find an employer willing to offer you a full time job. Next, that employer will need to obtain an LMIA (permission to hire you). To get an LMIA approved, your employer will first have to advertise the job for at least a month and prove no Canadian could be hired for the role. Next the employer will have to submit the LMIA paperwork for processing, including a $1,000 fee. Process can take up to four months, even longer. If the LMIA is approved (not all are), you can then apply for a work permit. So the first step is finding an employer willing to go through the LMIA process to hire you.

 

[epmarshall]

The only way to qualify for an Open Work Permit (OWP) is to first submit an Inland Spousal Sponsorship application...which you can't do until you are either Common-Law, or married.

You could try to find an employer willing to hire you and go through the LMIA process (which is costly and time consuming).

One option would be to find a way to work remotely from your computer, or phone, for a company or individual that is outside of Canada. This type of remote work does not require a work permit, so long as you are not remunerated from anyone within Canada.

Thanks Ponga! Would you mind explaining this sentence I read on the CIC website?

"Your spouse or common-law partner can apply for a work permit from inside Canada if:
they have a temporary resident permit that is valid for six months or more; or..."

I take it that this isn't the same thing as just getting in on a visitor visa, right?

Yes - they are difficult to obtain. As a first step, you'll need to find an employer willing to offer you a full time job. Next, that employer will need to obtain an LMIA (permission to hire you). To get an LMIA approved, your employer will first have to advertise the job for at least a month and prove no Canadian could be hired for the role. Next the employer will have to submit the LMIA paperwork for processing, including a $1,000 fee. Process can take up to four months, even longer. If the LMIA is approved (not all are), you can then apply for a work permit. So the first step is finding an employer willing to go through the LMIA process to hire you.

Thanks for your input, Scylla! Just to ask an example of the LMIA scenario you mentioned, what if my boyfriend's work offered me the LMIA? He works the graveyard shift at Toys R Us and they are currently having trouble finding night shift workers and they need more for season coming up. They've hired some foreign workers on work visas before I know. CIC probably wouldn't approve it from them, however, considering the ties with my boyfriend and that assumes TRU would even give me an offer. Either way, what's your opinion on that if you don't mind?

Thanks to you both!

 

[Ponga]

Thanks Ponga! Would you mind explaining this sentence I read on the CIC website?

"Your spouse or common-law partner can apply for a work permit from inside Canada if:
they have a temporary resident permit that is valid for six months or more; or..."

I take it that this isn't the same thing as just getting in on a visitor visa, right?


Thanks for your input, Scylla! Just to ask an example of the LMIA scenario you mentioned, what if my boyfriend's work offered me the LMIA? He works the graveyard shift at Toys R Us and they are currently having trouble finding night shift workers and they need more for season coming up. They've hired some foreign workers on work visas before I know. CIC probably wouldn't approve it from them, however, considering the ties with my boyfriend and that assumes TRU would even give me an offer. Either way, what's your opinion on that if you don't mind?

Thanks to you both!

That type of OWP is not available for a spouse that is simply a visitor in Canada. The spouse of a full-time foreign student, studying in Canada, would be eligible, as an example.


Regarding working for TRU...I doubt that they would be willing to go through the LMIA process, for a seasonal position.

 

[epmarshall]

That type of OWP is not available for a spouse that is simply a visitor in Canada. The spouse of a full-time foreign student, studying in Canada, would be eligible, as an example.


Regarding working for TRU...I doubt that they would be willing to go through the LMIA process, for a seasonal position.

Oh okay, so that OWP is not for spouses of Canadian citizens. Thanks for the clarification.

Yeah, I suppose to get LMIA, the company would need to be pretty specialized, right? Something more like the IT field?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

"Your spouse or common-law partner can apply for a work permit from inside Canada if:
they have a temporary resident permit that is valid for six months or more; or..."

A TRP is a special permit given to those who are otherwise inadmissible to Canada. You don't have that.

 

[epmarshall]

A TRP is a special permit given to those who are otherwise inadmissible to Canada. You don't have that.

Got it, thanks.

 

[scylla]

You can certainly try approaching TRU and ask if they'd be willing to go through the LMIA process. The worst that can happen is they say no.

 

[epmarshall]

You can certainly try approaching TRU and ask if they'd be willing to go through the LMIA process. The worst that can happen is they say no.

Thanks, scylla. Yes, that is true. The least I can do is give it a shot. Would that affect me doing common law at all, though? I mean, I would still have legal status and everything on the off chance they did accept me, right? Would it cause any issues that might cause a break in our common law time? I believe I'd need to go to the US again to apply, which means there is always that chance they could deny me entry, right?
Thanks again.