This summer, I was hired for a new job as a consultant at a UK-based company. There are employees all over the world. For the first 72 days (~2 months, 10 days) of my job, I was in the US. The primary reason for the trip was tourism - visiting family and friends - and collecting state and national police certificates/records from the US, France, Spain, Germany, and Denmark. As you know, collecting police records can be quite time-consuming. If I had tried to deliver these documents to my home country address, they would have surely been lost.
However, since I was hired after getting to the US, I also participated in permissible business/commercial activities including short-term training and onboarding with a colleague based in the US. I liaised with business associates and vendors and did organizational research through diagnostic staff interviews/intros. Because I didn't sign the contract until after I got to the US, I didn't declare business at customs but I still got an interchangeable B1/B2 visa, though the class of admission on my I-94 was marked as B2. Will it matter that I didn't declare business at customs? I hadn't accepted the job at the time.
Even though I started the initial steps of the EE process before being hired, my company has been interested in supporting my EE application so I could count this as a business-related activity. I was paid full-time by the UK company for these 2 months (72 days to be exact).
These activities mentioned above are all permissible activities under the US B1/B2 visa. However, there is a significant grey area in US adjudication of B1/B2 visas. My main concern is that I don't want Canadian immigration officials to think I was working illegally in the US as I was on a full-time contract.
Should the time spent in the US be subtracted from my work experience? How should I calculate and explain it? How much will Canadian officials scrutinize this part of my travel history?
Note: l have two years of work experience and I already have a Master's degree.
However, since I was hired after getting to the US, I also participated in permissible business/commercial activities including short-term training and onboarding with a colleague based in the US. I liaised with business associates and vendors and did organizational research through diagnostic staff interviews/intros. Because I didn't sign the contract until after I got to the US, I didn't declare business at customs but I still got an interchangeable B1/B2 visa, though the class of admission on my I-94 was marked as B2. Will it matter that I didn't declare business at customs? I hadn't accepted the job at the time.
Even though I started the initial steps of the EE process before being hired, my company has been interested in supporting my EE application so I could count this as a business-related activity. I was paid full-time by the UK company for these 2 months (72 days to be exact).
These activities mentioned above are all permissible activities under the US B1/B2 visa. However, there is a significant grey area in US adjudication of B1/B2 visas. My main concern is that I don't want Canadian immigration officials to think I was working illegally in the US as I was on a full-time contract.
Should the time spent in the US be subtracted from my work experience? How should I calculate and explain it? How much will Canadian officials scrutinize this part of my travel history?
Note: l have two years of work experience and I already have a Master's degree.
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