Hi there,,been in canada for 5 months on a holiday visa,,,applied for a job and was offered a contract,,but the LMO issuing office in vegerville have taken 3 months to process my application so far,,,theres only 3 weeks left on my holiday visa and im getting worried what will happen if my visa expires,,my fiance is a canadian,,,and what with me not working it has put a huge strain on our relationship,weve just moved to kelowna from edmonton,,and was wondering if any ex pats could get me some casual work while i wait...thanks howard

You cannot legally work without residency or a work permit. To do so would be unwise. Get caught and you could be deported, the employer could also suffer severe penalties. If your visitor visa expires you can apply for an extension or leave the country and re-enter, but no surety of either.

Hi Howard, and welcome to the forum.

As The Aviator has said, you'd still need a LMO for any other job, so not sure what use a different job offer would be? The LMO has taken a long time though, it's normally only a few weeks. Do you know if there has been a problem with it or if HRSDC have asked your employer for further info?

Can I ask how old you are, could you not have applied for a Working Holiday Visa?

In any event, you can apply to extend your visitor visa, although I believe you are supposed to do so 30 days before it expires, so get on the CIC website and apply online asap if you want to do that.

Good luck.

I may be wrong, but my understating of the post he was trying to solicit work 'under the table' Which is unwise and illegal, especially so if his user name is his real name.

That's how I understood it as well, but I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.

apparently the gvt changed the system f issuing,,or so the company was told,and they have had to send out to BC from vegerville to complete the backlog,,im 55 and a class 1 truck driver so i dont think i would have quallified for a working holiday visa,,and theres only 3 weeks left till my visa expires so not sure if i would be granted an extension,,i know it would be unwise to work off the cards but am a bit desperate to earn a few shillings to help my fiance out with costs here

'A bit unwise' is the understatement of the century. Are you really willing to risk being banned from Canada? Especially as it would appear you really have used your real name as your username on here (hint: immigration officers do read the forum!).

Think the only thing you can do is to apply to extend your visitor visa asap, or return to the UK whilst you await the LMO.

Not to mention posting the request all over the Internet and using your real name as a user name.

thanks,,,i haven,t worked so im ok atm,,,im just not looking forwards to going back to the uk,and having to return,,its just sitting on my backside for 5 months has sent me a bit stir crazy,,as you can tell byme using a "real" name lol,,,thanks for the info,,,looks like ill just have to sit and wait and hope they get their fingers out and issue my LMO soon

Very wise. You don't have to go back to the UK though, just hurry up and apply online to extend your visitor visa! It's easy enough to do, you can get it done today.

And fingers crossed you get a positive LMO very soon.