chadi1982

Hi all,

I and my fiance are visiting Canada in a few weeks or so, I'm a UK citizen so can visit freely for 6 months, but i would prefer the working holiday visa, ive checked the site and it seems the only way is if your a student which im not, must be a other way. I would ideally like to stay for a while and look for some paid work ( not fussy), i will have around $7000 to support myself while there after plane tickets/insurance etc, where would you suggest such a person should go, where is it easier to find work? I have a friend who moved over years back and would like to visit him. I'm quite a free person, just got back from travelling europe was there 6 months, moving from place to place, but id prefer to stay in one of the bigger cities in Canada for a prolonged period with one job. Is there a lot of unskilled work available? my Fiance is skilled in Finance/purchasing/College and i was a Dispatch manager/Warehouse, sorry for long post just wanted to add details
I know ^ is not classed as skilled, but my Fiance is qualified.

Aviator

Not sure visiting freely is the way I would look at it, only if the immigration officer allows entry and for the validity of the entry permit.

Bunac working permit program . http://www.bunac.org/uk/workcanada/

Work Permit - Find a job and an employer willing to apply for an LMO, if this is positive you can apply for a work permit (takes 6- 12 months). Not an easy option.

As a visitor there is no legal way to work.

chadi1982

Thanks for reply, yes you are right about working, will go have a proper read, but yes i can enter Canada freely without a permit to visit for upto 6 months, would it not be possible to then look for work and then apply for a permit?

If not ill just visit and return home

BC Hopefuls

As The Aviator stated, yes you can enter and stay for UP TO 6 months but that is at the discretion of the Immigration Officer when you arrive. If he/she says you can only stay for 3 weeks then that's all you get. There's no automatic right to stay for 6 months.

They would have to satisfy themselves that you weren't going to work illegally and would be leaving the country at the end of the visit. You can't just arrive and get a job without a work permit of some kind.
Good Luck anyway!

chadi1982

Thank you, im only after advice, i didnt say i was gonna do that, i said is it possible? obv not

I hate not being able to travel freely, hasnt the world changed

christmasoompa

How has it changed? Most countries have always had immigration laws in place. The only place that you can go and work freely (assuming you are a UK citizen) are countries within the EU, so if you want to just move somewhere without the visa hassles then why not look at another country within Europe?

Or alternatively, as mentioned before, just get a BUNAC visa which is an open work permit for up to a year. Very easy to do, and would give you the freedom you're after for 12 months at least. Or you can enter and look for a job (that's perfectly legal) but then your potential employer would have to apply for a Labour Market Opinion before you could get a Temporary Work Permit. Details of all of this are in the Wiki (on blue bar at top of page).

Just don't work illegally, no matter how tempting it is, it can have dire consequences.

Good luck with your trip.

chadi1982

Thanks for the advice, i wont be working illegally,im not looking to stay forever, just be nice to do some work while there. Just got back from travelling Europe and by Freely i meant theres much more hassle now, the world should be open to all and its not, i'm also not stupid i know laws are there for a reason, just be nice thats all.

Aviator

How do you figure this? Countries have immigration policies for the security and protection of their citizens and resident. Without some control there would be mayhem. Personally I would not have it any other way.

chadi1982

no wasnt saying that i agree totally with the laws, just saying it would be nice to travel freely in a ideal world i do live in the UK where immigration is rife, i wish they had your laws here. thanks for all the advice, spoke to my friend who lives in Canada, hes gonna try help me out, think its better going through some1 already living there, we went to school together in the UK then he moved to Canada and is now a national. thanks for BUNAC, they have some interesting options, volunteering also seems like a good route.

DigitalGhost

Believe me, they do. In many ways the UK is far stricter on immigration than Canada.

chadi1982

yup depends who you are

Strict

there are 947,000 known illegals in the UK, thats known

Thats quite alot as UK is small compared to Canada, i know Canada's population is half of the UK's but they only have at most upto 200,000 illegals that are known to them in a population of 33m, so they may have similar laws, but Canada do a much better job of enforcing them, basically if you can get in the UK you have a very good chance of staying.

Totally gone off subject here anyways, thanks for you guys at top for advice

christmasoompa

By whom? Have you been reading the Daily Mail by any chance?!? The Home Office puts the figure at a lot less than that.

In any event, it has nothing to do with your situation. It is incredibly hard for anybody outside of the EU to move to the UK legally, and Canada is actually one of the easiest countries outside of the EU for any UK citizen to move to. You have a straightforward easy route available to you (Bunac) so don't understand why you seem to think it's so difficult. You have an easier route than most to get there!

DigitalGhost

I'm sorry but that just isn't true and I can cite cases involving people I know to support my argument.

The UK does have a lot of illegals in it but that amount is nowhere near the level seen in the USA (even by proportionate comparison) and nobody can say that America doesn't try to enforce immigration controls. The UK has also closed a lot of it's loopholes and is clamping down hard on fake colleges etc so you will see the numbers of illegal immigrants in the UK grow smaller over time, especially since the current economic climate and the way in which immigration controls are now being enforced on potential employers make the UK, Canada, the US and in fact most of the western world look far less tempting than they were a few years ago.

I read an article recently which said that a lot of Africans (not being racist in any way, just citing an example) who would have previously tried to get into Europe illegally are now heading to South America instead. Some to try for a new life in that continent and others to use it as a stepping stone to the United States.

DigitalGhost

This is all true, although a Canadian citizen can also quite rightfully come here under the same scheme and I have noticed that the YMS process for my girlfriend seems to be a lot cheaper and more straight forward than it is for me, I'm sure that there are good reasons for that though.

If my girlfriend wanted to stay here with me after her student visa expires then it could potentially cost the largest part of £1000.00 for the paperwork alone and that is before a wedding and assuming that an immigration lawyer wouldn't be needed to contest our case should the BIA deem it necassary. If I were to move to her home country after marrying her, and incidentally her country is long reknowned for having some of the strictest immigration controls on Earth with a reputation for being one of the few countries which actively serves prison sentences to illegal immigrants before permanently removing them, then it would most probably only need a trip to London, some paperwork and a £6 consulate fee to have the visa printed.

There are quite a few paths to UK immigration, like there are to Canada and the USA, but none of them are particularly easy and they are definitely not cheap.

christmasoompa

Same would apply for Canada though, if you and she wanted to move here permanently (I seem to recall you're doing Bunac?) then it would cost you around $2000 for both of you, plus another few hundred dollars for medicals.

It's only Bunac that's so cheap and easy. Lucky you being under 30! Jealous, moi?!?