Work Permit to Open Work Permit?

[lloydbme]

Hello,

I want to ask a question on behalf of my girlfriend.  She has applied to become a Permanent Residence, but in the meantime, she is working here at an automobile manufacturing plant as a marketing associate using a 2 year work permit.

However, as we all know, the automotive industry is not doing so well these days, and I suspect that there is a real danger of her plant being closed down, in which case she would no longer have a job.

Just to give a bit of background, my girlfriend is Japanese and graduated from a well known Canadian university around 2 years ago.  Therefore she was not fortunate enough to receive the open work permit that current international students enjoy.  Her current work permit is the standard one, which I believe is tied to her current employer.

I was wondering if its possible to apply in her case for an open work permit and therefore still be able to hop to another job in case she finds herself unemployed? 

If I have any misunderstandings, if there are any ideas or suggestions, please chime in.  I'm all ears (or eyes :D ). 

Thank you in advance for all your help.

[PMM]

Hi

Hello,

I want to ask a question on behalf of my girlfriend.  She has applied to become a Permanent Residence, but in the meantime, she is working here at an automobile manufacturing plant as a marketing associate using a 2 year work permit.

However, as we all know, the automotive industry is not doing so well these days, and I suspect that there is a real danger of her plant being closed down, in which case she would no longer have a job.

Just to give a bit of background, my girlfriend is Japanese and graduated from a well known Canadian university around 2 years ago.  Therefore she was not fortunate enough to receive the open work permit that current international students enjoy.  Her current work permit is the standard one, which I believe is tied to her current employer.

I was wondering if its possible to apply in her case for an open work permit and therefore still be able to hop to another job in case she finds herself unemployed? 

If I have any misunderstandings, if there are any ideas or suggestions, please chime in.  I'm all ears (or eyes :D ). 

Thank you in advance for all your help.

Nope, post grad work permits have to be applied for within 90 days of graduation.  I am assuming she is not on a 2 year post grad work permit now.

PMM

[lloydbme]

No, she is no longer on her initial work permit.  She has successfully applied for and received another 2 year one.

I guess then that she's pretty much up the river without a paddle then if her company goes down?

[Leon]

If the company lays her off, she has until the end of her work permit to find another job and get an LMO and work permit changed to the new employer.

[lloydbme]

What is an LMO?

Also, do you know how long it takes to change the work permit? Is it the same as applying for a new one? 3 months or so?

[BCguy]

Labour Market Opinion

[Leon]

Yes, it could take up to 3 months.  If she finds a big company that already has an open LMO because they are expecting to hire foreign workers, this time can be cut down to a couple of weeks. 

The process is like this: First the employer needs to have an LMO to prove that he can not find Canadian workers even though he is paying market wage.  Second, the name of the foreign worker needs to be on the LMO.  If the employer applies for the LMO after finding the foreign worker, the name will already be on it.  If the employer had an open LMO already, the name of the foreign worker has to be added to it.  Third, the foreign worker needs to apply for a work permit for the job.  If they are from a visa exempt country, they can do it at the border and get it right away, otherwise they have to send it in to CIC and wait a couple of weeks.