Lost in the web of red tape...

[ang121]

Hello,

I am hoping someone here can provide me with some clarification, as I'm hopelessly confused. I feel like everything I've read has just sent me in circles without any actual answers.

I'm a Canadian citizen who is trying to find a way to help my boyfriend immigrate to Canada from Sweden. How do we go about getting him Canadian work experience so that he can eventually apply for permanent residency?

* He has a degree in art history and speaks, reads, and writes flawless English.
* He is currently employed over there through an agency as a full-time as caregiver for a severely handicapped individual. He would be willing to stick with this occupation, but doesn't want to be a LIVE-IN caregiver, which seems to make him ineligible for the caregiver program.
* He is also a registered massage therapist in Sweden, but his training and work experience in this area was about 10 years ago.
* He has never been employed in Canada.
* He doesn't have any family that lives in Canada to sponsor him.
* We're not ready to get married.
* He's over the age of 30, so wouldn't meet the restrictions for the "working holiday".
*We did the quiz on the CIC website for express entry and he doesn't seem to be eligible for that program because of his current occupation and the fact that his degree is in art history .
* He is healthy with no criminal record of any kind.

If he were to come to Canada on the 6 month visitor permit, is he allowed to get a job to support himself or at least use that time to secure a job offer? If he came for the 6 months, applied for an extension at the end of the 6 months, it got denied, and he had to return to Sweden again, how long would he have to stay there before he could return to Canada for another 6 months? Is there any hope, other than him having to go back to school and come over as a student or us getting married???

I appreciate any help anyone could give.

Thanks!
Angela

 

[scylla]

Working as a visitor in Canada is illegal. He needs to be holding a work permit in order to engaged in any employment in Canada legally.

He can certainly look for work in Canada as a visitor. To qualify to apply for a work permit, he'll need to find an employer willing to offer him a full time job and who can also obtain an approved LMIA. He will then be able to apply for a closed work permit tied specifically to this employer.

Based on the information you've provided, it sounds like looking for a job as a live out caregiver is likely the most promising option.

FYI - his degree isn't why he's not eligible for Express Entry. It's most likely the fact that he doesn't have any recent skilled work experience. Also note that if he does in fact have the experience required to qualify, he'll need to take an English language test and also have his education officially assessed before he will be able to submit a profile for consideration. So far only those with 450 or more points have been selected out of the pool.