CJ6680

has anyone used the non student status bunac for the one year work in canada, is this a good program, do you hve to go through bunac to get these work authorisations for canada, my sster really wants to come and work for a year to see if she likes it.

danny1001

i did!!!

It cost less than £200 for visa plus return ticket and insurance....
total was less than £1000 and it took only 6 weeks to all be processed.
A bunac rep met us at heathrow airport and gave us all the documentation and information. they even arranged for a minibus to pick us up at calgary airport and then took everyone to a hostel where we got a free room for the night and an induction meeting where they tell you how to apply for a sin number and advice on getting a job etc. they also give you emergancy numbers you can use if you get into any trouble with money and stuff or if you need information.

It was because of bunac that I am immigrating to Canada permanantly in 3 weeks (just got my permanant residency) while I was there on my Bunac visa i met my partner and eventually she came back to the UK with me where we applied under commonlaw...

She actually used SWAP (canada version of bunac) for her UK visa.

Any questions let me know mate, but i can honestly say they were really good.

speedwing

When did Bunac start offering this option for non-students? That's great news, coz i was really interested before. No need to apply for a work permit, and no need to pretend to be a student anymore!

danny1001

quite recently i think... i had to get an offer from uni when i did it 4 years ago...

Johnson

Could u pls tell what is this program all about, IS there any web address to get information about this program.

speedwing

This program allows you to work in Canada for 12 months. Check out www.bunac.co.uk

Jeffy G

You lucky sod. I'm currently at uni but really want to spend a year working in Canada. My family live in Mississauga, ONT and i am so fed up with my tedious life here in England! What qualifications due you have? How many points did you recieve on the immigration test? I thought about doing the Bunac programme, and then hopefully applying for immigration!
did you say you went four years ago? and is your canadian girlfriend marrying you in the UK or Canada?
Best of luck. Hopefully i will be taking the same route!!!!

seabass

This is bloody great news. I've spent the past 5 months looking at trying to get into canada for a year and all doors seem to be shut. My gf has PR status, but sponsorship is just insanely stupid. Work authorisation and HRDC is a massive chicken and egg problem; how can you get a job without a visa, how can you get a visa without a job and so on.

But now I can go for 12 months and work, fantastic. Well done for whoever started this thread, you've made my day!

Bytheway, will my gf be able to sponsor me from within canada, if we both go together whilst i am on this work permit, we have been living together for a year now and so qualify under common law

mickj

Hello there,

You can get into canada for 6months on your british passport, but am sure you know that already. Your girlfriend with PR can sponsor you from within, even if you don't come with a work permit. You guys will have to prove beyond doubt that you are really together, and its all kosher.

Things like pictures, phones bills, mails and all that, should swing it. Immigration officers at the POE don't like hearing about am here to stay, they are bound to give you a tough time. If you guys love each other though, getting married can make things a lot easier.

You apply for PR from within, include a work permit application in the same envelope, and when you are approved in principle ( AIP), they send you a work authorization which you can then take to the HRDC to obtain a SIN card. 2 Months later, you will be a landed PR.

seabass

Thanks for your reply. Been there looked at all those, they are not for us. There is no way that we could move to Canada and her sponsor me from within without me working straight away, we just couldn't afford it. She would have to apply to be a sponsor which I am told by my lawyer will take around 6 months from the time she enters canada, due to her having to get a job, place to rent etc etc. It then takes around 6-9 months for AIP. I know some people can do this but it would drive me mad.

This way I get to get an open work visa to look for a job straight away. Whilst there, living together after 6 months she could apply to be a sponsor, then if the sponsorship doesn't come within 6 months and my work visa runs out, would I be able to apply for a visitors visa whilst we wait for the outcome?

My lawyer also told me that there are no extra points for marriage tha there are for being common law partners, by the time we go, we'll have lived together for almost 2 years, sharing all those things so that wouldn't be a problem.

Cheeky Mouse

Hi there,

I'm out in Canada with Bunac right now on the student visa while my boyfriend sponsors me for permanent residence. This is the best way I've found to enable us to be together and allow me to work while the sponsordhip thing goes though.

You'll have to be living together for a year to be able to sponsor as common-law but you can go the 'conjugal' route straight away as long as you have good proof that your relationship is real and permanent and 'marriage-like'.

Our application is being appealed right now because the immigration officer did not think we had proven the relationship well enough even though we included huge piles of evidence (print-outs of all our emails for the 10 months we were apart, all our long-distance calling cards, photos, statements from friends and family, postcards, letters, plane tickets for 3 visits, passport stamps).
It seems they have interpreted the BUNAC visa as a gap-year visa because they wrote that I would be returning to university when my visa expired. (I graduated last summer and was in Canada a few days after I got my degree!)
So, make sure that you make it clear if you are using the graduate visa that you say you have finished studying. And along with all the stuff mickj mentioned you'll need to send things like your shared lease/mortgage, shared bank accounts/credit cards/loans etc, life insurance naming each other as the benificiary etc.
From what I gather, on top of asking you to prove that you have been together for at least a year you need to show that you are building a definate future together. The application form only asks for the basic types of proof but I know from experience that you need to go as far as possible and don't take anything for granted - spell it out that you are committed to each other and show it in black and white!

If all else fails then the visa is a year-long so after that you are officially common-law and can apply again (and pay up again!)

The best of luck to you.

Cheeky Mouse

....forgot to say,

if your visa runs out before your PR comes though (but it should only take 6 months if you don't have any problems.) you can leave and come back as a visitor, just can't work which is a pain if you have to leave a job and then you have to put up with being bored and frustrated etc.

But depending on which BUNAC route you go down you can get another bunac visa. They say that if qualify for the student one (have to apply within a year of graduation) then you should use that one first and then if need be you can apply for the new once-off one after that (but you do have to apply from the UK which would still mean a trip home.)

I'm hoping I won't have to but that's the route I'm heading down if my appeal takes longer than my current visa allows.

danny1001

if you want to go for common law the best way is to go to canada on the non student visa (then they cant hassle you for saying you are returning to uni) live with your partner for a year, work and save up lots of money, then when your visa runs out start the common law application. whilst this is being processed stay in canada on a 6 month visitor visa and live off your savings for the previous year and your common law application should easily come through within 6 months. then all you gotta do is leave and re-enter canada and there you have it!
EASY!!!
thats all i did but the only difference my girlfriend wanted to come to the UK for a while so i applied from here rather than within canada.

danny1001

it didnt matter about my qualifications or how many points i got... all you need is a reference letter, a plane ticket, minimum 3 months insurance and £160 to pay bunac to get you a 12 month visa... i dont think u even need a police report anymore!!

seabass

Cheers for your replies.

The good news is that we already have been living together for more than a year so we already qualify as common law partners.

I can't go on a student visa as I graduated two years ago so I have to go on a non-student once off visa, so no problems with them thinking I'm going back to uni.

The reason danny your sponsorship only took 6 months is because you were sponsoring from outside. Inland sponsorships take longer, usually twice as long. Unfortunately because my girlfriend isn't a canadian citizen but a PR she MUST be in Canada to sponsor me, not like yours, who could sponsor you whilst she was in England

Cheers