Cuban trying to stay in Canada

[student23]

A Cuban friend was married with Canadian citizen, had a son and started sponsorship. They fought and she started the divorce and stopped the sponsorship.
He would like to stay in the country to be closed to his son. He is a musician and may have a contract. Is it possible for him to apply for a work permit? His visitor visa is about to expire. He would also want to ask for refugee since he does not want to go back to Cuba.

Thank you for your answers.

 

[scylla]

I would recommend against applying for refugee status. Refugee applications are for those who are truly being persecuted (e.g. have hard proof they will be killed, imprisoned or seriously harmed if they return to their home country). Not wanting to go back does not make one a refugee and applying for refugee status when you don't actually qualify will create more problems than it solves.

To obtain a work permit, he will first need to find an employer who is willing to offer him a full time job. That employer will then have to obtain an approved Labour Market Opinion (LMO). As part of this process, the employer will have to prove the job was advertised and no Canadian could be found for the role. If the LMO is approved, he can then apply for a work permit. To be frank, the chances of obtaining an approved LMO for a musician are practically nil. Does he have another occupation / skill he can use to try to obtain a job offer in Canada?