annoroko

I have posted before about this but don't think I was very clear and I now understand the process and timescales better going from TWP to PR a bit more. I'm not thick just a bit slow so bare with me.

My husband is in the process of getting a LMO and then TWP. The will be contracted for about 3 months then the employer is willing to take him on full time and should get a permanent contract.

My question is can me and the kids ages 2 and 4 visit him during the 3 month contract with just our passports or will I have to get a visa?

Then is it possible to extend it before the TWP comes through for the permanent job so we can all live together.

We are thinking about selling up before he starts the 3 months contract so we can save money on the mortgage & bills over hear because we will be renting over in Canada.

I know it's a risk but we can buy another house back in the UK if it falls through. House prices are starting to go down so won't loose out on too much. It's only a house at the end of the day. It's being together that counts!!

I hope i've been clear enough.

Judy in Calgary

I don't know what the rules are for people who ordinarily need tourist visas (techincally called temporary residence visas or TRVs) to visit Canada. But the UK is a visa waiver country, and British citizens don't need TRVs to visit Canada. The information I'll provide will be based on the assumption that you are a citizen of a visa waiver country and don't need a TRV to visit Canada.

If your husband names you and your children as his dependents on his temporary work permit (TWP) application, you will be authorized to accompany him to Canada when he gets his TWP. You and the children will have the choice of entering Canada at the same time as him or of following him to Canada later.

Provided your husband has named you and the children on his TWP application, you and the children will have the right to live in Canada as long as your husband's TWP is valid.

If your husband later gets permanent resident (PR) status, he'll naturally include you and the children on his PR application. Then, if and when he's granted PR status, you and the children also will be granted PR status.
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websheep

Also, note that you'll be able to apply for an Open Work permit based on your husband's TWP.

annoroko

Thanks for the reply that does clear a few things up for me.

We are scottish citizens and have lived there since birth.

I don't think i'll need an open work permit as i'm staying at home to look after the kids until they both go to school both here and Canada.

Does my husband have to have a certain length of TWP for us to live there?
As the first one will only last about 3 months.

Judy in Calgary

This 3-month work permit thing seems odd to me. Why would a company go to all that trouble only to employ someone for 3 months? I mean advertise the job across Canada for 3 months and apply for a Labour Market Opinion? Then, in order to renew the LMO, they'll have to advertise again, and apply for another LMO. Then your husband will have to apply for another work permit, and he'll have to submit his application for that work permit a month or two before his first work permit runs out (I don't know the exact timing -- search the forum, as it was discussed not too long ago, or start a new discussion thread just about that).

Also, how can the employer justify to the Canadian government that it really needs a particular person if the company only needs him/her for 3 months? I don't know enough about the way in which these things work to tell you definitively that what your husband's prospective employer is proposing is wrong. But it doesn't make sense to me, and it makes me wonder if the employer is inexperienced with work permits.

Doesn't the employer realize that a work permit that is valid for one or two years does not oblige the company to retain the worker for the work permit's full term? There are members of this forum who have been in Canada on work permits and who have been laid off from their jobs before their work permits have expired, because business has slowed down or whatever. In fact, that's one of the disadvantages of a work permit. It usually ties you to a single employer, but the employer can turn around and lay you off. See the Wiki article called Work Permit Complications.

And who would go to the expense of moving continents for a job that's going to last only 3 months?

Then there are issues like provincial health care insurance. In my province of Alberta, for instance, you have to have a work permit that is valid for at least 10 months in order for you and your family to be eligible for provincial health care insurance (but eligibility rules for health insurance vary from province to province).

Also, please understand that, after the initial 3-month period, your husband's employer will not be allowed to hire him permanently. If the employer wants your husband to continue working for the company, it'll still have to be on a temporary basis (although "temporary" can mean 1 - 3 years).

If your husband's employer wants to hire him permanently, once he's already working in Canada on a temporary work permit, your husband could apply for permanent residence (PR), and his PR application could be fast tracked because of arranged employment.

I sympathize with you if you want to be with your husband, but I don't know if you appreciate the expense you'll be getting into if you sell your house, join him in Canada, and then possibly have to return to the UK. Just one obstacle that I can think of is that it's difficult to get rental accommodation in Canada for less than a year. Occasionally you can find rental accommodation for six months, but rentals that are shorter than that are extremely rare. You can find furnished rentals by the month, but they are expensive.

Some members of this forum have taken months and months to sell their UK houses.

Most (but not all) people on this forum who get work permits get them for a year or two.

I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't do what you're proposing. I'm just saying that I get the feeling you don't yet appreciate all the implications, and I think you should do way more homework.
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annoroko

Thanks for replying

I do understand your concern but we do have contingency plans in place if it doesn't work out. We know it's a big risk.

We are leaving our furniture in storage over here until we are more settled as it will cost a lot to take over and back again if it doesn't work out.

We are not even 30 so have a whole life to live, the kids are young. We are keeping an open mind and the worst that can happen is we come back home.

Belive me i wouldn't be thinking about selling the house if we thought that it would end after the first contract.

I just need to know that me and the kids can live in canada on OH's TWP for 3 months. Other wise we will go over as a visitor. If it is only for 3 months then we will have had a good holiday out of it.

annoroko

Forgot to show who I was speaking to and it was too late to edit hence looks like it's ben posted twice.

Thanks for replying

I do understand your concern but we do have contingency plans in place if it doesn't work out. We know it's a big risk.

We are leaving our furniture in storage over here until we are more settled as it will cost a lot to take over and back again if it doesn't work out.

We are not even 30 so have a whole life to live, the kids are young. We are keeping an open mind and the worst that can happen is we come back home.

Belive me i wouldn't be thinking about selling the house if we thought that it would end after the first contract.

I just need to know that me and the kids can live in canada on OH's TWP for 3 months. Other wise we will go over as a visitor. If it is only for 3 months then we will have had a good holiday out of it.