sultanoflondon

Hi all,

I have heard some things about the two citizenships and I want to clear it all up.

Can American citizens enter and work in Canada freely, without questioning and on no type of visa, indefinitely?

Can Canadian citizens enter and work in the United States freely, without questioning and on no type of visa, indefinitely?

Thanks!

Ash UK/US

Speaking about the US there is no way any 'foreign' person (inc Canadian) can enter and stay in the US without question.

Having only visited Canada twice as a victor, so my knowledge here is limited, I believe the same to be true. If you are a US citizen you can enter as a tourist but must have the correct visa in place if you want to stay.

sultanoflondon

Thanks for that! So, a US citizen can enter Canada for say, a two week vacation? But has to go back? If there is no necessity or compulsion of a visa, what stops him from staying and then applying for jobs?

Zoe Bell

nothing stops you applying for jobs in Canada. It is an allowable activity, in fact face to face is probably the only way you are going to land a job in Canada.

The problem will arise when your employer wants to see proof of your eligibility to work.

scrubbedexpat091

You can apply for jobs all you want, but you wont likely get hired without either already having the legal ability to work in Canada, or have some sort of skill that will permit the employer to obtain the ability for you to work if you can find one willing to do it.

Canada and the US do not have open borders as much as some like to think at times, while no visa is required, the US and Canada does share a huge amount of information with one another, including who crosses the border and when, so while there is no official exit control, both countries can access when you came into Canada and when you returned to the US.

Also if the border guard thinks you are coming to try and work without proper authorization, your likely going to be turned around and never make it past the border.

Pulaski

I don't think they ask such a question, because employers don't routinely ask for "proof of eligibility to work" in the UK or the US. What they do ask is for your NI/SSN number, or the equivalent in Canada, and responsible employers would not employ someone without the right card/ form showing a valid tax ID number.

Ash UK/US

*VISITOR* couldn't go back and edit it

It looked right last night but that was after a couple vodka and cokes

scrubbedexpat091

Isn't being required to produce a SIN number (social insurance number) basically the same thing?

All the jobs I have had in Canada, all have asked me upon hire to show my eligibility to work in Canada, which is to provide a SIN # and photo ID.

Before I was a PR, I was asked to provide my work permit and SIN since the SIN alone when on a work permit is not sufficient.

Noorah101

I don't know about Canada, but in the USA most employers need the employee to fill out an I-9 which asks for eligibility to work in the USA, and will need to see proof of such.

Rene

Pulaski

Right, and proof being a SSN card, in most cases, or occasionally a visa/EAD pending a SSN being issued

Yes, but my spin on the answer is that employers have a working assumption that a local resident with a local address is legally employable, and could go through the entire recruitment process without ever being asked for proof that they can be legally employed, and it would only come to light at the end of the process that they lacked a tax ID number, and therefore couldn't legally be hired.

rpjs

NAFTA allows degree-qualified Americans and Canadians working in a selection of fields to just turn up at the border and request entry under the TN (Treaty NAFTA) visa category to work in their speciality. It's not a general reciprocal right to work as enjoyed by EU citizens in other EU countries.

FlyingDutchman6666

My wife and I have never been asked for proof of ID/proof of immigration status by employers in Canada. To my great surprise, because even the (normally red-tape-lite) UK forces its employers to verify their employees.

It seems laughably easy to work in Canada while pretending to be legal, although I'm not going to speculate as to how...

FlyingDutchman6666

No.

No.

scrubbedexpat091

Most companies I've dealt with ask if your are eligible for employment in Canada, granted they don't ask for proof until hired, but they do ask the question often in my experience when starting the application process.

Pulaski

Ah, yes, you are right. Web based application forms in the US ask that question. It was all paper and recruitment agents back when I was in the UK.