Work Holiday Programme

[stealth08]

Hello I had a conversation about a work holiday programme, which allows you to live in Canada for 12 months only. I asked the lady on phone: "What if I was to get a permanent job offer with a Canadian company, do I still have to leave Canada after 12 months is up?" She said: "You would have to get the company who's offers you a job to get you a job specific visa. So if you left the job, you would have to return back to the UK."

I'm not exactly sure what she ment about "job specific visa". If I was to get a permanent job there while I'm on the work holiday visa, do long do I have to stay with the company? Will the company have to process a skilled worker application with AEO for me? From what I know this takes 6-12 months to process to get the permanent visa. So I would have to stay with the company for 6-12 months until I get the permanent visa. Am I right?

[Leon]

If you find a permanent job while on working holiday, the employer can offer you a job via AEO (Arranged employment opinion) and you can use that to apply for permanent residency as a skilled worker or for PNP if your province lets you.  Another way is that the company applies for an LMO (labour market opinion) and gets you a temporary work permit and you can work at applying for permanent residency later.  If you are on a temporary work permit it is tied to the employer so if you want to change jobs, you need a new LMO and a change of work permit.

[stealth08]

Thanks so much Leon, you have so much knowledge about this stuff. I sometimes cant find the answers to my own questions on the canadian immigration website!