JOB OFFER = VISA

Get a Job, Get a Visa

While I don’t claim to be a psychic, I am confident in the following premonition: The future of immigration policy in Canada is employment driven.

Be sure that family reunification and protection of the vulnerable will always be a priority, but outside of that realm, the most efficient way to accomplish immigration goals in Canada is through employment offers. Canada is starving for skilled persons to fill labour market shortages and one only needs to open the help wanted page of the newspaper or to visit an internet job bank to reach this conclusion.
Immigration policies have developed to help address these dire economic needs. For instance, the evolution of provincial nominee programs (PNP) over the past 5 years have led to a reliable employment driven option. With a solid job offer in a sector facing a labour shortage, most provincial nominee programs will offer you expedited immigration processing. In BC, a PNP application can land you a work permit in a couple of months, so long as an employer can prove a labour market shortage for the position that they are trying to fill. In Manitoba, for example, employers can pre-approve job openings through the PNP process and then recruit for those positions overseas. The list goes on.

With a job offer in hand, the upside is tremendous. Nearly instant work permits in some circumstances and permanent resident visa processing often in less than one year. Without a job offer you could wait over two and in some cases more than 3 years for your visa. Further to this point, for every provincial nominee that a visa post processes for permanent residence, a skilled worker applicant has to wait longer.

So as a prospective immigrant, you have to be wondering how to make the most of a job offer before you accept it. The options are countless, but there are some guiding principles, no matter which route you take.

First, be sure that your job offer is legitimate as no matter which route you take, there will be at least a basic level of investigation. Second, do not take a job offer that will pay you less than Canadians are paid for the same work. Canada’s immigration policies have safeguards in place to protect immigrants from exploitation. Third, be sure that your skills are in demand. We all know that our economy needs skilled trades and information technology professionals, but we also need a whole lot more. Check with a credible labour market information source before you accept a job offer. Fourth, be sure that your employer is willing to participate in the process. Immigration applications supported by job offers require the employer’s assistance in gathering documents and providing support letters.

Your most important consideration is whether or not your job offer fits into an immigration program that meets your needs. This is where it gets complicated. Not all programs are processed with the same priority and depending on what country you are coming from, your age, your status in Canada, where you intend to reside and where you studied (not to forget your spouse’s circumstances) you may have different options available to you. For example, if you are under 30 and from a certain list of countries you may qualify for a one year open work permit (ie any employer and no job offer required before arriving in Canada).

So with a list of options longer than most all you can eat sushi menus, research your options first and you’ll be working in Canada in no time.