Path: utzoo!utgpu!tmsoft!spectrix!lsuc!sickkids!mark
From: mark@sickkids.UUCP (Mark Bartelt)
Newsgroups: ont.jobs
Subject: Re: Job Hunting in Ontario: looking for advice
Message-ID: <90@sickkids.UUCP>
Date: 26 Feb 88 12:47:09 GMT
References: <8701@sunybcs.UUCP> <463@spectrix.UUCP>
Reply-To: mark@sickkids.UUCP (Mark Bartelt)
Distribution: ont
Organization: Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
Lines: 82

In article <8701@sunybcs.UUCP> ugpoltr1@sunybcs.UUCP (Jim Poltrone) writes:

>   [ various questions about working in / immigrating to Canada ]

Jim's original posting resulted in a number of responses, all more or less
accurate, with the occasional bit of minor misinformation that's probably
unavoidable when lots of people comment on something.  However, one recent
posting, which contains a bunch of useful (and mostly accurate) information,
nonetheless makes one misstatement which is worth correcting ...

In article <463@spectrix.UUCP> clewis@spectrix.UUCP (Chris R. Lewis) writes:

> Regarding working in Canada: there are two routes: one is Work Permit
> (similar to "Green Card", the other is Landed Immigrant.

Correct.

> Landed Immigrant is "better", but considerably harder to obtain.

Also correct.

>                                                                   You have
> to decide whether you are contemplating becoming a Canadian Citizen or
> not.  If not, it's probably not worth the bother.

Definitely not correct.  See below.

>                                                    Work Permits have
> further restrictions - for example, I'm pretty sure that you cannot get
> a CDN driver's license while on a Work Permit (though your US one will
> be honoured for a while).

This isn't the comment that I thought needed correction, but as long as
I'm being picky (:-) ...  Actually, the province *requires* that you get
an Ontario driving license within some period of time after moving here
(I forget how long; it's been nearly six years since I moved here, and
besides, I don't drive anyway!).

>                    Another thing to consider is "customs".  Say you
> bring your car over the border.  Well, good luck.  Believe it or not,
> you may have to post a bond equal in value to the vehicle.  (Isn't the
> Auto-Pact wonderful?)  And god help you if you sell it here.

How true.  If you post a bond when arriving on a work permit, you get your
money back (without interest) when you (1) move back to the States, or (2)
become a landed immigrant.  However, in the latter case, you *still* are
not allowed to sell your car in Canada for fifteen years.  (Again, I forget
whether the fifteen year period is counted from the model year of the car,
or from the time you brought it into the country, or the time you became
landed.)  By the way, the amount of the bond you're required to post seems
to be calculated by some rather arcane algorithm, which (fortunately) makes
the amount collected less than the probable resale value of the car.  When
we moved here, my wife had (still has!) a 1980-model car, which cost around
$7K (US$).  Even though the car was only two years old, customs required only
approximately $1300 (CDN$) as bond, which I suspect is quite a bit less than
one could have gotten for the car at the time.

> While under the permit, you can take just about any job you want.

This is the major misstatement.  Unless things have changed drastically
since I immigrated, you most emphatically can not.  This, in fact, is the
major difference between the work permit and landed immigrant status, and
is the major advantage of the latter.  A work permit allows you to work
at a specific job for a specific employer, for a specified period of time.
You are *not* allowed to go work for somebody else.  In fact, you aren't
even allowed to change positions within the same organization without the
approval of Canada Manpower.  When you're a landed immigrant, you can work
for whomever you please.  You also have all the rights that citizens have,
except for voting (and access to a few restricted sorts of jobs (most of
which are various sorts of government jobs)).

I could blather on for dozens of pages, but, rather than subject you all to
my logorrhea, I'll instead invite anyone who wants to hear the gory details
of my immigration experiences (a long, windy story, if ever there was one!)
to give me a call at the phone number below, preferably early in the morning
(between 6:00 and 8:00, or thereabouts).

				Mark Bartelt
				Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
				416/598-6442
				UUCP: {utzoo,decvax,ihnp4}!sickkids!mark
				BITNET: mark@sickkids.utoronto