GC and Working in Canada

G

gchassles

New Member
Gurus,

I am an Indian citizen and got my GC ( EB ) in March 2005.The earliest I could apply for citizenship would be Jan 2011. Meanwhile my fiancee is in India and I need to get married in the next couple of months. Realize it would be difficult to get a B2/H1 and I am exploring other avenues to be with my partner till I get citizenship . Moving to Canada temporarily came up as an option

Does a US GC Holder need a Visa/work-Permit to work in Canada ?
How easy is it to obtain if you have an offer of employment? Is that something which I can get at a Canadian consulate with offer of employment or are there any steps like filing a petition by the employer as for US H1-B?

Does Canadian work visa entitle my spouse to get a dependent visa ?

Alternately, if employment based work permit is not an option , Is Canadian PR a possibility and how much time would it take to obtain Canadian PR for a GC holder ?

Would it in anyway impair my citizenship process if I cross the border once in 180 days and be in US for a couple of days to ensure my continuos residency requirements are met.?

Hope some gurus out here with exposure to both US and Canadian immigration like TheRealCanadian or TripleCitizen can provide me some guidance.
 
gchassles said:
Does a US GC Holder need a Visa/work-Permit to work in Canada ?
Click to expand...

Of course.

Does Canadian work visa entitle my spouse to get a dependent visa ?
Click to expand...

Probably.

Is Canadian PR a possibility and how much time would it take to obtain Canadian PR for a GC holder ?
Click to expand...

Your GC is irrelevant to this process. Obtaining Canadian permanent residence is likely to be construed as abandonment of US permanent residence.

Would it in anyway impair my citizenship process if I cross the border once in 180 days and be in US for a couple of days to ensure my continuos residency requirements are met.?
Click to expand...

Of course. Continuous residency is far more than visiting the US for a day or two every six months.
 
Do you think having a GC allows one to work in UK or Russia?

Of course not. So, why would you think canada, a sovereign country, give a rat's *** you have a US Green card.
 
To be honest, if you can delay getting married, that is your best option. If you move to Canada on a work permit, your wife can join you, but then you will need to ensure you keep your US GC status intact. That is not as easy as some make it out to be. You have to make the call. By my calculations, you will be eligible for citizenship in December 2009.

gchassles said:

Hope some gurus out here with exposure to both US and Canadian immigration like TheRealCanadian or TripleCitizen can provide me some guidance.
Click to expand...
 
Indeed, having Cdn PR first, and then persuing US GC is quite doable, given that Canada allows departures of 3 years with no problems.

But the converse, especially with the difficulty in getting her a US status in the meantime, is well-nigh impossible. It is not the act of getting Cdn PR that is problematic for US GC, however. It is the setting up of a parallel palce of abode in canada which, at some point will get the question at the border "where do you live?". If it is obvious that it is in canada ,then your GC will be toast, regardless of how many ties you have in US, or how often you cross.
 
nelsona said:
Do you think having a GC allows one to work in UK or Russia?

Of course not. So, why would you think canada, a sovereign country,
Click to expand...

I see many even educated ones think like that. This may be due to geographical proximity of the 2 countries? May be because you can visit Canada with US GC? Both countries are independent with completely different systems
 
Thanks for all your inputs. Please keep them coming.

I am certainly not thinking that having a GC grants me right to work in Canada. To put it in right perspective, the effort and hassles which an Indian citizen goes through to get a canadian visit visa from India is not the same if he were applying for it with a valid H1B from US. Irrespective of the fact that H1B has nothing to do with Canada, the treatment meted out is way different. Also, I can very well attest to the fact, that having a valid US Visa in your passport makes it much easier for Indian citizens in getting their visit visas to several middle eastern, european and south asian countries. It was in that context that I was asking if having a GC makes it any easier to get a Canadian work permit rather than for an ordinary Indian citizen.

TripleCitizen, what makes you think I'd be eligible for citizen by Dec 2009? I'd be only 3 mos and 9mos in to GC by then ?


 
gchassles said:
Thanks for all your inputs. Please keep them coming.

I am certainly not thinking that having a GC grants me right to work in Canada. To put it in right perspective, the effort and hassles which an Indian citizen goes through to get a canadian visit visa from India is not the same if he were applying for it with a valid H1B from US. Irrespective of the fact that H1B has nothing to do with Canada, the treatment meted out is way different. Also, I can very well attest to the fact, that having a valid US Visa in your passport makes it much easier for Indian citizens in getting their visit visas to several middle eastern, european and south asian countries. It was in that context that I was asking if having a GC makes it any easier to get a Canadian work permit rather than for an ordinary Indian citizen.

TripleCitizen, what makes you think I'd be eligible for citizen by Dec 2009? I'd be only 3 mos and 9mos in to GC by then ?
Click to expand...

It is not the fact that the H or GC by itself which make it easy for an Indian to pursue work or Canadian GC more than the Indian without that. It is the selectivity process which in MOST cases made the one who got H or American GC more competitive than that that tried and cannot get them and usually the former has better skills than the later. The one, who cannot find an opportunity in US, with more work chances than Canada, will look for Canada as a substitute thinking that Canada may accept ones less skillful than US. It may be true, but do not forget that Canada has much much less work chances than US and it is easy for employers in Canada, Australia and Europe to pick one already filtered through very selective system in US till he got work visa or GC. The point you already made is having GC will give you more chances to find job in Canada but by itself will not give you any privileges in Canada and you have to do all visa work in Canada exactly like anyone else from anywhere.
 
gchassles said:
I am certainly not thinking that having a GC grants me right to work in Canada. To put it in right perspective, the effort and hassles which an Indian citizen goes through to get a canadian visit visa from India is not the same if he were applying for it with a valid H1B from US. Irrespective of the fact that H1B has nothing to do with Canada, the treatment meted out is way different. Also, I can very well attest to the fact, that having a valid US Visa in your passport makes it much easier for Indian citizens in getting their visit visas to several middle eastern, european and south asian countries.
Click to expand...
The main reason that having a valid work visa or GC for the US makes it easier to obtain visit visas to Canada and some other countries is that the visa gives you a strong incentive to leave the country you are visiting. People with legal work-authorized status in the US are very unlikely to abandon it to live as an illegal alien in another country.

But when you are applying for PR status of another country, having US PR status is essentially irrelevant, because you are not expected or required to leave the given country if they grant you PR status, so there is no need to show incentives to leave the new country.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top