Judy in Calgary

If you get into Canada on a temporary work permit (TWP), you can upgrade your status to permanent residence (PR). If the employer who has employed you on the TWP offers you a permanent job (subject to your getting PR), it adds ten points to your PR application. In many cases it also speeds up your PR application, so that it's processed within a year, rather than taking five years, as is the case with standard skilled worker applications.

Happy_Feet

I was asking because for example with truck driving, it has to be long haul and not short haul to get your TWP upgraded to PR

I guess I'm thinking more about semi-skiled rather than skilled employment... I think

Judy in Calgary

Happy_Feet, I'm totally lost. As far as I can tell, truck drivers are not one of the occupations listed in the Expedited Labour Market Opinion Pilot Project for Alberta and British Columbia. That is, neither long haul nor short haul truck drivers are eligible for the E-LMO, according to my reading of the list.

Truck drivers are listed amongst the Occupations under Pressure (OUP) for Alberta. That is, the requirements for the employer to recruit across Canada before getting an LMO are reduced. The OUP list for Alberta just says "truck drivers." It doesn't say long haul or short haul truck drivers.

I don't hang out on the Trucking forum, but it occurred to me that you might have read something about upgrading a TWP to PR on that forum. So I went over there and did a search for TWP. Sure enough, I came across the Moving to Canada thread in the Trucking forum. In post #7 of that forum, Meritor said:
Meritor was talking about Alberta's Provincial Nominee Program. That is a program that leads to permanent residence (PR), but it's different from the standard skilled worker route (which involves earning points, and which is taking about five years these days).

Yes, Alberta's PNP only accepts long haul truck drivers, not short haul truck drivers. When a driver's PNP application reaches a certain point, he can apply for a TWP and start working in Canada while he waits for the rest of his PR application to be processed. In this case, he does not need an LMO. Instead of an LMO, the provincial government provides a letter of endorsement that is forwarded to the federal officials who process the applicants PR application.

The TWP that is an intermediate step in the PNP process is slightly different from a common or garden TWP that requires an LMO. Let me give you an example. There is a poster here by the name of gryphea. Her husband is an engineer, and he arrived here on a TWP at the beginning of December 2007.

I don't know if Mr. and Mrs. gryphea want to stay in Canada permanently or if Mr. gryphea's employer wants to offer him a permanent job. Perhaps the grypheas will just stay in Canada for two years (or whatever the term of the TWP is) and then return to the UK.

But, if the grypheas decide they want to stay in Canada for longer, and if Mr. gryphea's employer offers him a permanent job (subject to his getting PR), then Mr. gryphea's application for PR likely would be speeded up because of the permanent job offer.

As far as I know, the process of upgrading a TWP to PR on the basis of a permanent job offer is the same whether you're a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker.

Now I also think it's true that the shortage of long haul truck drivers in Alberta is more accute than the shortage of short haul truck drivers. So, in reality, it might be easier to get in as a long haul truck driver (whether you do it on a straight-forward TWP or via Alberta's PNP). But, in theory, if you got a TWP to work as a short haul truck driver, that also could be upgraded to PR.

nataliehahn

No, semi-skilled workers in provinces other than Alberta cannot upgrade their TWP to PR.

Alberta PNP allows for certain semi-skilled workers to upgrade to PR. In order to apply via the Federal Skilled worker class with Arranged Employment and gain the extra 10 points your job has to be in skill level O, A or B of the NOC.

Judy in Calgary

Thanks for the clarification.

Happy_Feet

Thanks for the replies, proves yet again how usefull this forum is

sun123k

Hi all,

In connection with the jobs on this list,i.e. Cleaner, does anyone know how it works? Does the prospective employee have to show he has experience in the field or can the employer ask for the LMO for someone with no experience in the field. If anyone knows or maybe has a link to a website with more details, that would be great.

Thanks Sun

sun123k

Sorry, just realized that there was more to the original link than I thought. So question answered

Stuarty

Please do not view this expedited process as a short cut to permanent residency for low skilled workers, it is not. As others have said, there is a serious shortage of labour in Alberta, particularly in service areas because the Energy sector can pay much more for labourers than a shop or small business can, combined this with the rise in rents then the situation is desperate.
If you use this scheme as a skilled worker then you can be in Canada within months, with your family with your family also working and with a realistic chance of PR. Do the same as an unskilled/lowskilled worker then having your family able to work here is difficult and the process of gaining PR also difficult (you must become qualified to a skilled level) and a bit of a lottery.
There are currently 93,000 LMO applications being processed by Service Canada in Alberta(more than double that of last year) and on a positive note they are being very sticky about the wage structure/contract/working conditions of each application so are safeguarding the welfare of potential workers.
Most of the occupation groups on the list have had to display suitable employment standards for their workers but even so, make sure to check the fine print if accepting a low skilled job e.g there should be a return air-fare included and they cannot charge you more than 30% of your wage for accomodation.
If anyone is interested in a job in Agriculture (especially Pigs) then drop me a personal message because we are about to start an expedited LMO Pilot project, initially for the pig industry but hopefully for other ag commodities thereafter.

There are lots of great employers over here, desperate to get good workers and able to pay a fair wage, but as with all things, check the fine print first and if you are not too sure of anything, employ an Andrew Miller type consultant (i.e competent and ethical) and post questions here, we all have experience to share.

gryphea

Consulting engineers of alberta is once again visiting UK in April on a big recruitment drive, about 18 months after last visit

engineeryourcareer.ca