Can anyone tell me how long it takes to get a temp work visa in Canada once you have a job offer? Thanks!

Welcome to the forum, catocan.

Times are not set in stone, but the timeline mentioned in this thread seems to be relatively common.

It really depends on your circumstances and whether the position requires approval from HRDC or not.

I obtained a 3 year work permit within a matter of days as I was an intercompany transferee at a management level and no HRDC approval was required.

If you apply at Montreal (this needs to be your point of entry when collecting the work permit only) they will pre-screen your application within 48 hours of submission, you then just fly in, present yourself to immigration and as long as they are in a good mood you get the work permit within minutes after paying (I think it was Can $ 150). This is what I did and then I caught a flight to Toronto.

The spouse work permit is easy, my wife obtained this by just showing my application and my work permit and she did not need to pay anything. She also obtained a 3 year open work permit.

Hope this helps and good luck

I'm going to the Vancouver area from California. In order to speed it up, what would I have to do, would I still have to fly to Montreal? That sounds too good to be true.

You submit your application to Montreal and they pre-screen it meaning they check it over and give you a reply within 48 hours. If they think it's ok you then fly in and present your application with the note they send saying the pre-screening is ok.

Still up to the guy on the desk on the day to issue final approval but once pre-screened it's normally all ok. You then get your work visa and fly on to where ever you want to go.

Apparently Montreal is the only point of landing that does the pre-screening. Obviously if you need HRDC approvals etc you need their approval first and then submit for pre-screening.

It was the immigration lawyer used by my company who suggested this. I received my work permit in December and then my wife picked up an open one last week-end.

Many thanks! Could you provide me the contact in Montreal?

Hv sent you p.m., my application was sent by fax