+1(514) 937-9445 or Toll-free (Canada & US) +1 (888) 947-9445
Client Portal

Information about IEC for Italians - help?

I

IlariaDiva

Newbie
Dec 11, 2017
4
0
Hello guys!
I'm new on this forum, so first of all I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Ilaria, I'm 32 years old and I'm writing from Italy, as you may have guessed from this thread title. :)
I've decided to join this forum because I'm looking for some important information about the work permit IEC which I haven't been able to find on the governative Canadian website. I tried to contact the Canadian embassy in Italian, and the Italian embassy in Canada but none of them was able to help.
So here I am - hopefully this forum will be able to give me the answers I am looking for.
I applied for the IEC visa and got approved so I'll moving to Canada around March/April 2018.
Now my first question concerns jobs - from what I've understood Italians are allowed to work for 6 months only out of the 12 months stay. If I wanted to work for longer than that or for the whole duration of my visa (12 months), would I be allowed?
Question number two concerns a trip to the United States which I'm planning for the end of March so probably after my arrival in Canada. Would I have any kind of issues crossing the borders back and forth?
Thank you in advance for your help! :)
 
The short answer is no - not allowed. You are allowed to work for the first six months only. You can stay an additional six months but only as a visitor (meaning you are not allowed to work). You are only allowed to participate in IEC once - so you cannot extend your IEC or apply for a second one. If you want to work in Canada longer, you would need to find an employer willing to give you a full time job offer and also able to obtain an approved LMIA. The LMIA process is long (4-6 months) and expensive - most employers aren't willing to do it.

You should have no issues re-entering Canada from the US.
 
scylla said:
The short answer is no - not allowed. You are allowed to work for the first six months only. You can stay an additional six months but only as a visitor (meaning you are not allowed to work). You are only allowed to participate in IEC once - so you cannot extend your IEC or apply for a second one. If you want to work in Canada longer, you would need to find an employer willing to give you a full time job offer and also able to obtain an approved LMIA. The LMIA process is long (4-6 months) and expensive - most employers aren't willing to do it.

You should have no issues re-entering Canada from the US.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your reply! How much would LMIA cost on average? Could I offer to pay for half of it so that maybe my employer would be more keen on applying for me?
Also if my employer would be willing to sponsor me, could I switch from IEC to a visa with sponsorship?
 
LMIAs cost $1,000 and there are additional costs for advertising. The job has to be advertising for at least a month so that your employer can prove no Canadian could be found for the role. The employer must pay all costs. Note that even once all of this money has been paid and the application submitted, there is no guarantee of approval which is another reason why many employers aren't willing to go through the process.

I'm not sure what you mean by sponsorship. If you mean becoming a permanent resident, then this is typically quite an involved process. It does typically help if you have a job offer - however for something to be classified as a job offer the employer needs to obtain an approved LMIA.
 
Thank you so much for your help! You have no idea how much this information is helping me.
Sounds like LMIA is kind of like a sponsorship - that explains a lot more. Is LMIA required in every province? I'm moving to Quebec so I wonder if it's same over there too, as I heard laws can sometimes be different over there.
 
It's the same.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.