American ( pre-election immigration planner)

[Ataegre]

Hello everyone

I was looking for some advice and maybe some expertise on a pathway to immigration, obviously , but in the sense of if I can still make it through the NAFTA agreement.

Nutshell Story:
- Finished all my years of public schooling
- Associates' Degree (2 year Fine arts and Sciences) holder for US college
- Certificate Program holder (Art Fundamentals Program) from Canadian College in Ontario
- 12+ years experience of customer service in the family business
- Currently working at Walmart, experience under a year of employment
- Still school-bound if i can be for Animation (4 year program), although am currently building personal portfolios as we speak with better-learned pieces, experiences, and skills

During my time at my Canadian school, I made the final decision that I was for sure wanting to immigrate, not only for societal reasons and a more liberal minded population, but also for the wonderfully rich opportunity to gain a solid career in animation and the arts, rather than moving to California* for it.

(* - The State of California requires you to have gone to a school in the state, have work experience in the field you aim for, AND make enough money to reside in the state, and on top of this, I would never be able to see my family whereas by living in Canada/ Southern Ontario, I could take a train as often as I wanted to)

I asked a border officer during a questioning at the Port of Entry about immigration and she basically had spoken to me as if I didn't belong looking for a new home or job in Canada. I felt very disheartened by her unwillingness to answer my questions for due process, as well as her basically telling me to 'get over it and move to California'. My family was also present during this session and they felt that it was the most unwelcome visit we had in our collective history of visitations, more than 60 years put together, I believe.

Regardless of the treatment, I made several eager and accepting friends, some became as close or closer than family as well, in my time at school. They've done nothing but support me and in fact encourage me to aim for becoming a legal Canadian/Dual Citizen. I integrated very easily and had no trouble at all being a part of the solid and warm community I was residing in, and it felt heartbreaking to leave, but I couldn't find a job without simultaneously looking for a place to live. My would-be roommates weren't told whether they had been accepted into their continuous programs for our school or not during our waiting period in the summer, so I looked for work but not in the most dedicated sense, therefore we all had to wait before knowing if it was worth the move out of their homes. While this was happening, my time to stay with my study permit was running out, and it came down to the logic of 'why look for a job if I wasn't sure we'd all have a place to stay?'. With little money left, I pulled out, exchanged what I could in CAD to USD to pay some of my classes loan, and moved back home feeling horribly defeated.

I moved back home and felt the shift and difference of societies, as well as loss of opportunity and chance to live and breathe my skill set of artistry and illustration, and now I wish to continue my push of now 3 years into looking on how to immigrate successfully into Canada with the skills I now have. I know some immigrants to Canada through friends that have told me they managed to start their journey into citizenship with even less than my achievements, so I have some faith that I can begin a new and wonderful life where I left off.

Any advice from anyone will be very much appreciated! Thank you all

 

[itsmyid]

Hello everyone

I was looking for some advice and maybe some expertise on a pathway to immigration, obviously , but in the sense of if I can still make it through the NAFTA agreement.

Nutshell Story:
- Finished all my years of public schooling
- Associates' Degree (2 year Fine arts and Sciences) holder for US college
- Certificate Program holder (Art Fundamentals Program) from Canadian College in Ontario
- 12+ years experience of customer service in the family business
- Currently working at Walmart, experience under a year of employment
- Still school-bound if i can be for Animation (4 year program), although am currently building personal portfolios as we speak with better-learned pieces, experiences, and skills

During my time at my Canadian school, I made the final decision that I was for sure wanting to immigrate, not only for societal reasons and a more liberal minded population, but also for the wonderfully rich opportunity to gain a solid career in animation and the arts, rather than moving to California* for it.

(* - The State of California requires you to have gone to a school in the state, have work experience in the field you aim for, AND make enough money to reside in the state, and on top of this, I would never be able to see my family whereas by living in Canada/ Southern Ontario, I could take a train as often as I wanted to)

I asked a border officer during a questioning at the Port of Entry about immigration and she basically had spoken to me as if I didn't belong looking for a new home or job in Canada. I felt very disheartened by her unwillingness to answer my questions for due process, as well as her basically telling me to 'get over it and move to California'. My family was also present during this session and they felt that it was the most unwelcome visit we had in our collective history of visitations, more than 60 years put together, I believe.

Regardless of the treatment, I made several eager and accepting friends, some became as close or closer than family as well, in my time at school. They've done nothing but support me and in fact encourage me to aim for becoming a legal Canadian/Dual Citizen. I integrated very easily and had no trouble at all being a part of the solid and warm community I was residing in, and it felt heartbreaking to leave, but I couldn't find a job without simultaneously looking for a place to live. My would-be roommates weren't told whether they had been accepted into their continuous programs for our school or not during our waiting period in the summer, so I looked for work but not in the most dedicated sense, therefore we all had to wait before knowing if it was worth the move out of their homes. While this was happening, my time to stay with my study permit was running out, and it came down to the logic of 'why look for a job if I wasn't sure we'd all have a place to stay?'. With little money left, I pulled out, exchanged what I could in CAD to USD to pay some of my classes loan, and moved back home feeling horribly defeated.

I moved back home and felt the shift and difference of societies, as well as loss of opportunity and chance to live and breathe my skill set of artistry and illustration, and now I wish to continue my push of now 3 years into looking on how to immigrate successfully into Canada with the skills I now have. I know some immigrants to Canada through friends that have told me they managed to start their journey into citizenship with even less than my achievements, so I have some faith that I can begin a new and wonderful life where I left off.

Any advice from anyone will be very much appreciated! Thank you all

Just my 2 c here: you left out an important piece of information - how long was your study in Canada? Was it a degree pgrogram that's more than a year long or just a few months of training program ? With a degree program of longer than 1 years you are eligible for 1-3 years of work permit, depending on the length of your study . But you need to apply for it before you finish the program, since you already moved back, this is probably too late already. I think your only shot is to come back as a student for a degree program and get that work permit afterwards. Another thing you need to keep in mind is, Canada doesn't really have that many opportunities like you imagined, sure a lot of animators or movie stars are from Canada , but most of them if not all, live in California now, that should tell you something

 

[Ataegre]

My program was only for a year, 8 months total to be exact, but academically, it's considered as a full year.

California, like I mentioned before, is always the hub for that sort of thing, but the problem and challenge with that is that you have to be extremely well-achieved in the art that you do. It has a massive population of similar-skilled people and they all have incredibly larger scales of talent than I personally have just yet. The whole point of my immigration was to get started on a life in Canada while building the stepping stones I need to go back into my school again under the 4 year program, as well as learn what I can with my professors while I'm out of school currently, which you can do with the non-enrolled programs they offer for people wanting to build onward.

There's a lot more smaller studios to go to in the GTA alone that offer a greater chance of a hire rather than pooling what little money I have left towards my goals, going to California by plane, (I'm in NY near the border already) and then spending more debt I can't afford to try and hit a big break. Being in Canada still offers me a closer-to-home shot, as well as the safety net of train travel, then also having ties to my school which have throngs of seasoned animators from Disney and Dreamworks to help alumni press on.

 

[scylla]

If you want to work in Canada as a temporary worker (on a work permit), then you'll need to start by securing a full time job offer in Canada. Assuming your occupation falls under NAFTA (and assuming Trump hasn't done away with NAFTA), you can then apply for a work permit at the border. If your occupation does not fall under NAFTA - your company will need to obtain an approved LMIA as well before you can get the work permit.

If you want to move to Canada permanently, then you'll need to research Canada's immigration programs in detail. You can find this information here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/apply.asp Based on the information you've provided, I suspect you'll have trouble qualifying without an LMIA supported work permit which gives you additional points.

FYI - CBSA officer are not immigration consultants and don't provide immigration advice. It was honestly completely unrealistic of you to expect them to answer your questions. If you want immigration advice, you'll need to hire an immigration consultant or lawyer. Do no ask them questions like this in the future - especially if you're entering Canada as a visitor. That's a great way to get denied entry into Canada and sent back home for having immigration intent and being at risk of overstaying in Canada. That's why you got a cold reception from the CBSA officer.

 

[itsmyid]

My program was only for a year, 8 months total to be exact, but academically, it's considered as a full year.

California, like I mentioned before, is always the hub for that sort of thing, but the problem and challenge with that is that you have to be extremely well-achieved in the art that you do. It has a massive population of similar-skilled people and they all have incredibly larger scales of talent than I personally have just yet. The whole point of my immigration was to get started on a life in Canada while building the stepping stones I need to go back into my school again under the 4 year program, as well as learn what I can with my professors while I'm out of school currently, which you can do with the non-enrolled programs they offer for people wanting to build onward.

There's a lot more smaller studios to go to in the GTA alone that offer a greater chance of a hire rather than pooling what little money I have left towards my goals, going to California by plane, (I'm in NY near the border already) and then spending more debt I can't afford to try and hit a big break. Being in Canada still offers me a closer-to-home shot, as well as the safety net of train travel, then also having ties to my school which have throngs of seasoned animators from Disney and Dreamworks to help alumni press on.

Like I said, your best shot is to get in a degree program , but most likely you won't be able to work off campus unless it is school-sponsored internship or coop program as part of the curriculum. It is against law to work for any other kinds of work. I understand tuition is a concern, and you would need to pay international instead of local, but there is really no other way except for marrying a Canadian citizen or PR

 

[Ataegre]

If you want to work in Canada as a temporary worker (on a work permit), then you'll need to start by securing a full time job offer in Canada. Assuming your occupation falls under NAFTA (and assuming Trump hasn't done away with NAFTA), you can then apply for a work permit at the border. If your occupation does not fall under NAFTA - your company will need to obtain an approved LMIA as well before you can get the work permit.

If you want to move to Canada permanently, then you'll need to research Canada's immigration programs in detail. You can find this information here: ww.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/apply.asp Based on the information you've provided, I suspect you'll have trouble qualifying without an LMIA supported work permit which gives you additional points.

FYI - CBSA officer are not immigration consultants and don't provide immigration advice. It was honestly completely unrealistic of you to expect them to answer your questions. If you want immigration advice, you'll need to hire an immigration consultant or lawyer. Do no ask them questions like this in the future - especially if you're entering Canada as a visitor. That's a great way to get denied entry into Canada and sent back home for having immigration intent and being at risk of overstaying in Canada. That's why you got a cold reception from the CBSA officer.

OH That does make sense then, a lot more sense. Well, I admit it was my first time ever trying to find out information, and I guess I took the wrong advice about it and looked like a dummy or too intrusive for their liking. Although, I have for sure been absolutely trying my best to find a way or what to say that would help convince that I feel strongly and would to be a Canadian citizen, have a fresh new start into a society that is a lot more progressive than the States, and the key factor being that there's a lot more doable possibility around the area I was in for art and careers for it . I looked into something before and took an evaluation on the CIC site and it said with the little that I did have, I could be able to apply for an Open Work permit, but I was hoping to try and see if the Walmart up in Southern Ontario would be willing to hire me as well. I'm still trying to investigate, I'd even try out for McDonald's or something like that, since the one I was near last year had no issue with hiring from both countries. Would it not just really rely on if I was offered a position full time by any one of those places that could get me started on it for PR? If anything, I can ask an immigration consultant the same question and hope that it could be a start I can try out in.

* Lesson LEARNED about the border though, thank you very much for the heads up.

 

[scylla]

I looked into something before and took an evaluation on the CIC site and it said with the little that I did have, I could be able to apply for an Open Work permit, but I was hoping to try and see if the Walmart up in Southern Ontario would be willing to hire me as well.

- Open work permits are only granted under very specific circumstances and right now I don't see anything in your profile that would qualify you for one apart from potentially your studies in Canada if they were complete VERY recently and if your program and school qualify for one. Did you complete your studies in Canada less than 90 days ago? What school did you attend? What program did you complete? Is your study permit still valid?
- Getting a work permit by securing a job with Walmart is almost certainly a non-starter. They won't go through the LMIA process unless they're hiring you for a senior management position. Getting an LMIA would require them to advertise the job for at least a month to prove that no Canadian could be found for the role and for this reason they have to hire a Canadian. The would then have to file the LMIA application and probably wait four months for it to be processed. Considering application and advertising fees, it will likely cost them a couple of thousand dollars to go through the process. Even if they were willing to go through the process, the application would almost surely be refused since they won't be able to prove that a Canadian couldn't be hired for the role.

 

[Ataegre]

- Open work permits are only granted under very specific circumstances and right now I don't see anything in your profile that would qualify you for one apart from potentially your studies in Canada if they were complete VERY recently and if your program and school qualify for one. Did you complete your studies in Canada less than 90 days ago? What school did you attend? What program did you complete? Is your study permit still valid?

More than 90 days I think my study permit expired this past July, and I had to move back home this past June because I wasn't able to really buckle down and look for a job when all my roommates were trying to find out if we could all rent a place by the school or not for the next term. It's like I nutshelled in my first post where there was no sense in getting hired when I wasn't sure if we could all make the apartment an absolute agreement. It was really defeating and upsetting, but I wasn't going to risk any legal trouble, definitely. I graduated from my program ( Art Fundamentals at Sheridan College ) this past end-of April 2016.

I'd apply for the bachelor's but I'm already paying the double-priced international fee I had to take out a loan for. I guess I was just hoping to be able to work up in the town, pay off the loan as I took free classes during the days that I could, but then while doing that, just apply through the channels and make my connections to find studios hiring new art students. A lot of my classmates already haven't graduated from their 4 year programs and they gave me hope because they were hired by studios already, some barely out of their 2nd year rather than a full 4 year student. It gave me some hope that I could get this off the ground.

 

[scylla]

If you graduated from your program in April 2016, you are well past the point of being able to apply for a Post Graduate Work Permit (which is a type of open work permit). There's nothing else in your profile that would indicate you qualify for an open work permit.

What this means is that your only option for working in Canada at this time is a closed work permit. Before you can apply for a closed work permit you would need to first secure a full time job offer from an employer in Canada. If the job does not fall under NAFTA (e.g. regular job at Walmart or McDonalds) - then the employer would also need to obtain an approved LMIA before you can qualify to apply for the closed work permit.