These are the Causes for No Work Permit in Canada

Last week we laid out a hypothetical interview in which a work permit applicant was interviewed by an officer (to access that article please visit: http://www.uniivaa.com/133-what-are-the-causes-for-no-work-permit-to-canada). In that interview there was an exchange of numerous questions and answers between the applicant and officer. Ultimately, as we indicated in the article, the applicant failed to receive a work permit.

What were the causes of failure? While there may numerous possible reasons for failure in general, oftentimes a limited subset of reasons comes up frequently.  We will dissect the interview from last into its component reasons for failure. Take this first exchange:

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: Do you have any relatives in your home country? Are you married or have any children?

Mr. Applicant: I am not married and don’t really have any relatives in my home country.

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: do you have any friends and family in Canada?

Mr. Applicant: yes I have my brother and his wife as well as several friends in Canada.

Mr. Work Permit Gatekeeper: if you were given a work permit then what are your plans for afterwards when the work permit expires?

Mr. Applicant: I have not thought that far out but I really wouldn’t want to leave Canada because it’s such an amazing country!

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: Do you have a job in your home country?

Mr. Applicant: No

What is the officer trying to gauge in this exchange? She is trying to determine what reasons the applicant has to return back to his home country after his work permit expires. One of the things that officers try to assess closely is the likelihood that an applicant will remain beyond his or her term. In the above exchange the officer asks several questions to bring out into the open the applicant’s ties to his home country. The fewer ties he has and the more potential reasons he has to remain in Canada beyond his authorized stay, the more likely it is that an officer will consider him a risk of overstaying his visa. In the interview it is quite clear that the applicant has few ties with his home country.

The next part of the interview that we will look at is the following:

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: How long have you been unemployed?

Mr. Applicant: two years since August 2013.

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: where did you work before and what position did you have?

Mr. Applicant: I worked in a few different places. I can basically work any job that I am required to work.

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: Do you have a job offer with a Canadian company that has a positive labour market impact assessment? If so, then what position with that company has been offered to you?

Mr. Applicant: Yes I do have an LMIA job offer. I have been offered a job as an electrical engineering technologist.

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: how much experience do you have working as an electrical engineering technologist and when did you acquire that expertise?

Mr. Applicant: I worked as an electrical engineering technologist for five years until August 2014.

Mrs. Work Permit Applicant: what were your duties working as an electrical engineering technologist?

Mr. Applicant: I did all kinds of things. I helped my boss with fixing broken equipment. I ordered new parts required to repair equipment. I trained new employees. I was responsible for helping the company’s bookkeeper with accounting and preparing financial statements. I made deliveries to customers. You name it and I did it! I learned a lot and that is why I can basically do any job now!

In the above exchange the officer is trying to clarify some dates and assess the work experience of the applicant. Factual errors on items such as dates are not conducive to success in an immigration application. The first item to note here is the inconsistently in dates. He first says that he hasn’t worked since August 2013 but then says that he worked until August 2014.

The second issue to note in this exchange is that vagueness in his work experience. He does not seem to possess the experience for the professional category that he is applying for. He seems to have worked in many areas and just tried to artificially fit his general experience with the criteria required for the category under which he is applying.

Let’s look at the next series of questions and answers:

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: is English an official language in your home country?

Mr. Applicant: no

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: did you write any internationally recognised English-language tests such as IELTS?

Mr. Applicant: no

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: did you take any English language courses?

Mr. Applicant: no

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: do you know any French?

Mr. Applicant: not a single word!

In this exchange the officer is trying to assess the English and/or French language skills of the applicant. If you are coming to Canada to work then you should have at least some skills in one or both of Canada’s official languages. The degree to which your language skills need to developed will depend on the position you are applying for. For those positions where language is at the forefront, language skills will have to be advanced and well demonstrated.

Here is the final part of the exchange:

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: have you ever worked outside your home country without proper authorization to work in that country?

Mr. Applicant: not exactly

Mrs. Work Permit Gatekeeper: what do you mean not exactly?

Mr. Applicant: well last year I visited my cousin in New York. My cousin has a construction business so I worked for him without being given authorization to work by the US Government. But it’s not really a big deal because my cousin hired lots of people without authorization and no one ever said anything to him.

Mr. Work Permit Gatekeeper: have you ever stayed in any country outside your home country beyond the period that you were authorized to stay?

Mr. Applicant: well yes a few times but no one made a problem out of it so I really don’t think it’s a big deal.

Here the officer it trying to evaluate the likelihood that the applicant will do any unlawful such as work illegally or, once again, stay beyond his permitted term. By basically admitting to having worked illegally on prior occasions and having stayed beyond his terms while working in different countries, the applicant has really dug a deep hole for himself.

These are the major reasons for the failed application. These and other related reasons are ones to really think about when preparing your application. While it is essential to be completely truthful in your application and are therefore constrained by certain facts, you do have the ability to control many factors and to present your application in the best light possible. Sometimes noticing and fixing small items such as inconsistent dates could make the difference between succeeding and failing with an application.