Please give advice :)

[Chris_23]

Me and my girlfriend would like to move and work Canada on a temp and possibly permanent amount of time.

She has an uncle who lives there, so should get in with sponsorship.

Me on the other hand, I'm an IT professional, which doesn't appear on the list of job that doesn't require a work permit.

I'm too old at 31 to apply for International experience Canada scheme.

My question is could we visit Canada as tourists, stay at my GF uncles while I look for a job offer. Hopefully once I get a job offer, would I need to go back home and apply for work visa or could I do that in Canada?

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks for reading.

 

[Chris_23]

p.s I'm from England

 

[scylla]

You would not need to go home to apply for a work permit.

Securing a work permit is pretty difficult (especially for IT) - but that certainly doesn't mean you can't try. First you will have to find an employer who is willing to hire you and offer you a job. Next that employer will have to apply for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) to request approval to hire a foreign worker. As part of this process, the employer will have to prove that they advertised the job and were unable to find a Canadian to hire or train for the role. If the LMO is approved (not all are), you can then apply for a work permit. Because this process takes time and there's no guarantee of approval - many employers are very hesitant to consider foreign candidates for open positions. So when you are out job searching, be prepared for rejection.

Have you already confirmed that your girlfriend's uncle qualifies to sponsor her? Just having an uncle here doesn't automatically mean he can sponsor her. It depends where he lives (what province) and if he has any family (i.e. spouse, children).

Good luck.

 

[Chris_23]

Thanks for the reply!

Have you already confirmed that your girlfriend's uncle qualifies to sponsor her? Just having an uncle here doesn't automatically mean he can sponsor her. It depends where he lives (what province) and if he has any family (i.e. spouse, children).

No not yet. He lives in Vancouver and has a son who was born there. I guess it will be hard for a potential employee to prove that he couldn't find a Canadian worker to do my job - I take it the IT market over there is saturated?

 

[scylla]

Yes - that's exactly right. It's difficult to prove a Canadian couldn't be found for an IT role because there are many qualified Canadians and the economy has slowed down a bit (i.e. more people looking). Again, doesn't mean you can't try. You might get lucky.

Unfortunately your girlfriend's uncle cannot sponsor her. However if she applies as an independent skilled immigrant through the Federal Skilled Worker program, she will get additional points for having family in Canada.

 

[Chris_23]

Thanks again for your time and advice.

Please could you explain why she would be unable to get sponsership?

 

[scylla]

In order for her uncle to sponsor her through the family class federal program, he would have to have no spouse, no children and no living parents. The fact that he has a son disqualifies him from sponsoring your girlfriend through the federal program.

Some provinces have their own family class sponsorship program. BC is unfortunately not one of them. See:

http://www.welcomebc.ca/wbc/immigration/come/work/about/index.page

 

[Chris_23]

Ok thanks again for your help!

 

[SenoritaBella]

From experience, the biggest obstacle is that many employers are not familiar with the process or have myths about it. So the more informed you are, the better for you as you can dispell these myths/misinformation. Some employers will go the distance for a great candidate, so I would focus on obtaining a job offer first. Be forthcoming about the fact that you need a work permit but don't make it a handicap.

If your LMO is approved and assuming you are a UK citizen, you will just go to the border with your job offer, LMO, documents to proof your qualifications for the job(optional but the officer may ask for it) and your work permit will be processed on the spot.