Persons who are not Canadian citizens or residents are allowed to come to Canada to visit for a temporary period of time. To do this, the individual must obtain a visitor visa before coming to Canada from a Canadian Consulate. The point of visitor visa is to grant temporary entry to Canada to visit, vacation, or even to survey the labour market. However, the entry must be temporary.
There are many countries, however, whose citizens do not require visitor visas before coming to Canada. These are called Visa Exempt countries.
The standard maximum length of a visitor visa is 6 months. A visitor record can be extended after a person is in Canada.
If you wish to work in Canada, you require an Employment Authorization. Working without this visa will result in your removal from Canada, unless you fall under one of the exemption categories.
The general rule of gaining employment in Canada is that your employer must first obtain a job validation from Skills Canada. This is, in essence, gaining permission from the government to hire a non Canadian to work in Canada. The reason for this first step is that Canada wishes to protect the labour market of its own citizens and residents. Your employer must demonstrate that they cannot hire a Canadian to do the job advertised. There are various methods by which this can be done. Skills Canada does not grant permission to work in Canada, they only assess whether the job itself is available to be filled by an immigrant.
After job validation is granted the immigrant then applies to a Canadian Consulate to obtain an Employment Authorization, which is permission from Immigration Canada to work in Canada.
Of course, there are many exceptions to the above rule, much too detailed to address here. There are exemptions in the Immigration Act, and within international treaties such as NAFTA and GATS. There are also certain jobs which are exempt from job validations, as well as others which are exempt from employment authorization and there are different standards applied for persons such as international students in Canada. Our job, of course, is to assist you and your employer in gaining entry to the Canadian labour market by the quickest and most effective means possible.
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