Open Work Permit

[mjfrogley]

My wife and I are both students and want to move to Alberta at the beginning of May and Stay/Work there over the summer. I am a U.S. Citizen and My wife is a Canadian Citizen and her family lives there. She has a job lined up and I am wanting to get an open work permit so that I can find a job when we get up there. Do I qualify for an open work permit and if so what are the steps and how long does it take to get one? I'm struggling to find a solid answer and continue to get mixed answers from all the information that I've gathered. Can someone please help?

 

[Material]

My wife and I are both students and want to move to Alberta at the beginning of May and Stay/Work there over the summer. I am a U.S. Citizen and My wife is a Canadian Citizen and her family lives there. She has a job lined up and I am wanting to get an open work permit so that I can find a job when we get up there. Do I qualify for an open work permit and if so what are the steps and how long does it take to get one? I'm struggling to find a solid answer and continue to get mixed answers from all the information that I've gathered. Can someone please help?

Are you in Canada ?

 

[Leon]

No, you do not qualify for an open work permit but you might be able to get a working holiday visa, see http://www.bunac.org/usa/workcanada/

Ideally, your wife should at some point sponsor you for a Canadian PR. You will not lose it as long as you are living with her even if you live outside Canada and then you can go back any time and will not need a work permit. For sponsorship, start reading here: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/spouse.asp and here: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/family-class-sponsorship-b5.0/

 

[mjfrogley]

Thank you so much for your responses! No we are not in Canada yet but will be at the beginning of May. The Holiday work permit is a perfect Idea and I will look into that. My wife and I have discussed PR and will look into it in the future but we aren't planning on working in Canada ever after this summer so we aren't in a hurry to get that done.