Novocastrian

If I remember your posting history a bit, you've been a-waiting for an LMO from a fast-food restaurant in some obscure but tiny community in Northern BC?

I can understand why this development is of interest to you, but am at a total loss as to why you adopted this plan in the first place.

bc_guy

My LMO for the community in northern BC was approved two weeks ago. My employer hired me shortly after conducting one final interview. Just this past Tuesday, my employer requested my identity information (name, date of birth, country of citizenship, etc) for the "Foreign Worker" section of his LMO application. Then two days later, this moratorium hit out of nowhere. Even though his LMO has already been legitimately approved, he still can't add my name to one of his positions now that the moratorium is in effect.

I developed this plan for the same reason that Former Lancastrian indicated. I want to become a Canadian citizen in the long run starting with provincial nomination after getting my foot in the door. I chose a remote community because that's where the strongest demand is and I was careful not to choose places that would generate controversy like this. I don't have any special skills so this was the only route into Canada for me. I was actually hired on the understanding that I'd stay for a minimum of 5 years (first as a foreign worker and then as a permanent resident) and not stiff my employer by quitting as soon as I become a permanent resident.

Novocastrian

Why are you fixated on becoming a Canadian citizen? Genuinely curious.

bc_guy

I once lived there and I liked the country. I felt more at home there than I do in my own country. I want to be surrounded by nice, friendly people for life. In Canada, I was allowed to be myself and interact with 85% of people in positive ways.

I'd like to be able to live in Canada and enjoy my stay without having to worry about the date in the future when I'd have to eventually leave. I want to do my part to maintain Canada's status as a good place and be actively involved in the community. Is that really too much to ask for?

Bear in mind, my country of citizenship doesn't allow dual citizenship. The government here revokes your citizenship whenever you pick up a new one. So that means that I like Canada a lot or hate my country a lot (or both).

Novocastrian

I admit I'd assumed that you were a UK citizen, if only because your posts are grammatically coherent. But now I'm even more curious. Where are you from?

bc_guy

For fear that my employer might be reading this site, I won't be revealing that just yet. However, I'll tell you in a private message. Funny thing is that my employer also thought that I was a UK citizen.

Former Lancastrian

Take your pick from any of these

Dual Citizenships Not Allowed
Andorra, Austria, Azerbaijan ,Burma, Bahrain, Botswana, Japan, China ,Czech Republic, Denmark, Fiji,India,Indonesia, Ecuador, Estonia, Iran, Poland, Papua New Guinea, Brunei, Japan, Peru, Kuwait , Kenya, Kazakhstan, Chile, Kiribati, Poland, Korea, Kuwait, Denmark, Latvia,Singapore, Slovakia, Ecuador, Lithuania, Solomon Islands ,Fiji ,Malaysia, Mauritius, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Romania, Thailand, Mexico, Nepal, Venezuela, Norway, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal
Pakistan:
Pakistan allows dual citizenship only with the below countries
United Kingdom
Italy
France
Belgium
Iceland
Australia
New Zealand
Sweden
United States
Ireland
Netherlands
Switzerland
Canada
Egypt
Jordan
Syria

Spain
Allows dual citizenship with some Latin-American countries Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, Andorra, Portugal, the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea.

Novocastrian

Fair enough (I think).

bc_guy

Surprisingly, I don't live in any of those countries, but my country is a British Commonwealth country (hence the English fluency).

Former Lancastrian

Now Im curious unless Im missing the obvious is your country of citizenship on this list
Dual Citizenships Allowed:
Australia, Barbados, Belgium, Bangladesh, Canada, Cyprus, United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, South Korea, South Africa (requires permission) , Egypt(requires prior permission), Greece, France, Finland, Germany (requires prior permission), Iraq, Italy, Israel, Ireland, Hungary, Iceland, Sweden, Slovenia, Syria, Serbia, Armenia, Lebanon, Malta, Spain ( allows only with certain Latin american countries), Tonga, Phillipines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka (by retention), Pakistan (accepts only with 16 countries), Portual, Turkey (requires permission)

bc_guy

I just sent you a PM with the name of my country. It's a fairly insignificant country that not very many people know about.

Waggle

I had heard the government were partially subsidizing the wages of immigrants in the food industry at one point, thus not really giving employers much of an incentive to hire Canadian citizens/residents.

I am not remotely a racist person BUT I do strongly believe someone should have at least reasonable language skills before they are allowed to live and work in Canada.

Here's how the conversation usually goes at the local Subway near where I work in Langley, BC:

Wayne: Hi, can I please have a 12 inch steak and cheese on Italian herb and cheese bread?
SP (subway person): Do you want cheese with that?
Wayne: Yes please (*thinking that's why I said steak AND CHEESE*)
SP: Would you like it toasted?
Wayne: No thank you
(Watches as they place the steak on the bread and about to put the whole thing into the oven)
Wayne: I said I DON'T want it toasted!!!
(Watches as they tut and then scrape most of the meat off the sandwich back into the card placeholders ready for heating)
Wayne: Actually I want all my steak heating up, not just the 2/3rds you've managed to scrape off the sandwich you'd incorrectly placed it on in the first place
(Watches as they grudgingly scrape the rest of the meat off the sandwich for heating up)
SP: Veggies??? (grabbing a handful of lettuce)
Wayne: I DON'T WANT LETTUCE! Why have you grabbed a handful of lettuce when I haven't even asked for it? Ok please can I have tomato and onions and green peppers
(They give me onions and green peppers)
Wayne: And tomato
(Blank look)
Wayne: TOM_ARRR_TOE
(Blank look)
Wayne (wincing) TOM_AY_TOE
(Finally they put tomato on my sandwich)
....

You get the idea.
Thing is I often the get the same person and always this rigmerole!

This is why they should insist, IMO, on a minimum language score for ALL applicants to Canada, and indeed temporary work permits, and not just principal applicants.

My 2 cents! :0

</rant>

Wayne.

bc_guy

Well, I speak English just fine and I can understand customers just fine. Why punish me? I did nothing wrong and neither did my employer. A lot of the cracks in the system have been sealed up and frankly, I think that the TFWP blacklist and ability to revoke LMOs of fraudulent employers is enough.

Now if only CBC would just stop hyping every single incident and turning it into a political debate that threatens the program. In a program as large as this, there's bound to be abusers and offenders, so suck it up already and stop punishing the innocent for the guilty's boneheaded actions. You don't see the government shutting down social welfare programs just because a relative few bad eggs abuse them. Why should it be any different with the TFWP? I'm beginning to notice that CBC is biased against the program. Even when they write articles on the potential negative repercussions of this suspension, they always try to downplay them while reiterating all the scandals that make this program appear scuzzier than it really is.

Siouxie

If the LMO has already been approved and your name was on it, does the moratorium affect it? I presumed the statement below was for 'blanket' LMO's (i.e. blank LMO's for jobs not yet filled) rather than where you have actually been offered the job subject to LMO approval.

Might be worth checking.

"...In addition, any unfilled positions tied to a previously approved LMO will be suspended..."

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=842269

PMM

Hi


I think that it might from the following statement, unless the Work Permit has been issued.

As a result, I am announcing an immediate moratorium on the Food Services Sector’s access to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Accordingly, ESDC will not process any new or pending LMO applications related to the Food Services Sector. In addition, any unfilled positions tied to a previously approved LMO will be suspended. This moratorium will remain in effect until the completion of the on-going review of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.