We are applying for Canadian Express entry. How to I (the spouse) apply for jobs whilst waiting for PR?

Question

We have signed up for Canadian Express Entry. My wife is the lead applicant as she has the most points. I am named as the spouse. We both have over 7.5 in each of our IELTS tests. We've done our research and want to move to Ottawa, Ontario. We are UK nationals.

My wife now has access to the jobbank.gc.ca and can apply for jobs available to foreign nationals. I cannot get access to the jobbank (unless you know differently) and neither can I set up a separate application naming her as the spouse. Sadly this seems to be because my skill set is only in the category C section. :(

Q: What I want to know is, whilst we are sat in the PR pool waiting for my wife to get a job offer is there anything I can do to apply for jobs in Canada that won't jeopardise the original application but may help us to get in whilst we wait for PR. For instance, temporary work permits, sites as good as jobbank, etc.

Its not clear to me what you want to do. Are you looking for a job after you become a PR and move to Canada? Or are you looking for a job so that you can get an LMIA and get extra points on your profile? — Dipen Shah, Jul 27 '16 at 15:24
You just can't get access to jobs if you are not eligible to apply in the first place. LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) is a document that an employer in Canada may need to get before hiring a foreign worker. Without that and without a valid work permit there's no point in applying to jobs as that's the requirement for any Canadian job. However you could try applying for a temporary work permit. The chances are less to get accepted but you can still try. Other than that I doubt you can do anything — Dipen Shah, Jul 27 '16 at 18:18

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:50

Any Canadian job posted online will have a basic requirement that you are eligible to work in Canada (This includes minimum wage jobs too). That means either you are a Citizen/Permanent Resident of Canada or have a valid work permit. Basically you have limited options right now. The only jobs available to foreign nationals might be the ones on job bank or the ones that support sponsoring of the employee (you).

If you are looking for LMIA, you need the companies, employers that are ready to file an LMIA for you. If you have a valid LMIA, you can get a work permit on the basis of that. LMIA even gets you 600 extra points on your Express Entry Profile.

Your other option is to apply for a work permit online. Without an LMIA or any other support, the chances for getting this kind of work permit are slim. You could still try though.

Regarding the job sites, you should check out my old answer here. The links I posted there are focused on Saskatchewan but they have jobs all over Canada.

Good luck.

Many thanks.That has pretty much confirmed what I suspected but I had to try in case there were more options. I'll get a good look at that link. Many thanks. Dave. — Bedders, Aug 06 '16 at 14:47

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 18 '16 at 12:51

I don't know what you do Dave, so my situation may not be the same as yours, I am also the principal applicant, but it made no difference in the way I approached this:

I reached out to potential employers direct (job bank didn't work for me anyway). I explained that as soon as I am in Canada I will be able to work and just asked about upcoming opportunities in the next 6 months (insert your own time frame there!)

I made good connections at that point and ended up working for one of those companies I spoke to many months prior.

Good luck!

We are applying for Canadian Express entry. How to I (the spouse) apply for jobs whilst waiting for PR?

2 Answers2