Hey, I pose a question that is slightly controversial so if just me asking it were to anger someone, sorry.

Basically I want to get employment in Canada at a gymnastics club over the summer because it would help me with coaching experience.

I have not got the job offer confirmed yet and my fear is twofold, flight prices are beginning to rise now and the longer this takes would negate my ability to break even from the trip and my uncertainty of the turnaround time a visa application would be now which could jeopardise the actual time I effectively get to be there.

I see on the CIC site coaches/athletes do not need visa but I would not be there to compete.

What I am proposing to do is book a flight out if I can get a yes. I'd only be there until Aug as I have to be back here in good time for my new uni term. I know Canadians can sponsor someone, can my uncle do this for me as they are citizens or could this be just as long winded as a visa process.

I'm hypothesisng that immigration are chasing drug cartels, terrorists and that given passport control are not likely to scrutinise Brits I can just blag i'm over there to see my uncle and the sights??? I saw a forum earlier where many youth had spoken of getting jobs on the trot in construction or bars on tourist visas so I don't think I'd be the first. I've nothing to hide that I'm contemplating not getting a work visa it is just a time thing cos I'd hate to book a flight I haven't a passport to take or only enough time to touch the tarmac and fly back.

What would any of you say?

I would say prepare to be flamed....

lol, I had to look up what flaming means. btw, thanks for your insightful response to my question.

Ok, fair enough. I do know that to work you'll need a TWP, and to get a TWP you need a job offer and an LMO (labour market opinion). Whether you'll get that for the kind of casual work you are looking for is questionable. If you are thinking of doing illegal cash-in-hand work then that's another matter - and I doubt you'll get any advice here on how to do that.

In answer to your question yes you do need a work visa to work in Canada. I would have to say, after spending a small fortune to get my BUNAC visa and suffering the nail biting process of applying for spousal sponsorship (and being unemployed whilst waiting) if I found out you were working on a visitor's visa near me I would call you in on it in a heartbeat. What you are suggesting breaks a couple of major laws and would put you at risk of deportation. Reapply to work at summer camp next year but do it at the start of May which is generally when they recruit. They then normally deal with your visa for you.
Do you need a work visa, what a stupid question.

Thanks for responding. I did look up the process of working there e.g. BUNAC etc. It is not an overnight camp which I think CCUSA and that kind of thing are for, plus I thought about this much later than their deadlines. If this is not the sort of role that would warrant an LMO are you saying potentially not need one period.

It's a shame it came across i'm trying to look for cash in hand. I was merely implying I am sure it is not that uncommon a thing with people whilst they were looking for work.

Just because you're coming from a developed western country does not mean you can do any less harm than someone from a backwater country by working illegally. You don't contribute tax and you're working for less than a canadian would work for.

Just because you're British does not mean that you deserve anything from another sovereign nation. Any historical ties Canada has to the UK are just formalities.

If you do not have a work permit then you are working for cash in hand. You cannot work in Canada without a valid permit. It may have come across that you were looking for cash in hand when you suggested lying to immigration in order to find work here.

Yes I know that you need a visa to work but I was trying to ascertain whether they would treat it as severely as the really bad abusers of the system. Given breaching the rule would be treated on such a serious scale then I guess it is not worth it. Wow, from what you are saying the visa process for this kind of thing isn't just issued with ease. Thanks for the advice but I would dread being a 'wanted' folk and know you in 1930's Germany.

Hey, I knew we still had the same Queen so genuinely I did not know things had moved that far apart. I now stand corrected. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Any abuser of the system is a bad abuser of the system. Unlike the Jews who were innocent of any crime by coming here and illegally working you would be committing a crime willingly and with intent. And as a girl with Jewish family I find being compared to a Nazi particularly unpleasant.

I posed the question and clearly said I know it may come across wrong. I never made a decision to do that and then asked about it retrospectively.

The Canadian monarchy is constitutionally separate from the UK.

Oh dear, this thread has descended into a farce, methinks. I was asking the question in the forum because I had ran my situation past several educated Canadians who I guess would have been affected by me in the job market but did not stress the importance of a visa at me. No, they were not all people I knew, in case you argue I am just making excuses here to save face. So when I asked in here to try and get some more perspective I did not know it was so wrong. That's why I felt the need to defend my integrity in the manner I did above. Sorry, for any offence caused.

Wow, I'm realising you are as self determining as the Americans. You should prob get rid of her.
(or perhaps that's a whole other thread)