이민? 일부터 구하자. 근데 일해도 되나? (영문)
캐나다 이민 필수요소 LMIA
From the previous two essays, I introduced about 'How to get PR'. However, as you may already read it, most of the programs require work experience in Canada or a job offer from a Canadian company. Then, we must know how to work legally in Canada.
An official document that shows that a person is allowed to work called work permit. That is to say, you have to get work permit to work in Canada. For this, there are two types. Open and Closed.
1. Open and Closed Work Permit.
An open work permit enables a person to work for any employer for a specified period of time. If you have a open work permit, you can any work no matter how many, when and where. It sounds cool. Yes. Since it's such a good permit, it's usually difficult to get as well. It shows that you have to treat working holiday visa preciously if you are willing to get PR.
A closed work permit, also known as employer-specific work permit. It lets you work in Canada according to the conditions on your work permit such as employer, working time, position, etc. Getting work permit through LMIA is in this case. Unfortunately, you cannot get other job other than your designated job. Furthermore, if you want to move to another workplace, you have to find a new employer who can help you to support your work permit. That sounds harsh. But it's reality. Working in foreign country is that much harder.
You can see the brief information and open work permit cases on the site below.
2. LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment)
Even though Canada is an immigration country, Canadian citizens is still their top priority. They are not dumb. If there is a job opportuinity, hiring their own people is preferable for them. It means if you need to hire a foreign worker, you have to prove several things. Such as showing enough effort to hire Canadian and good financial standing. Techncially, we call this process as 'Labour Market Impact Assessment(LMIA). Right. It's different with what generally known. It's not a kind of work permit or visa. As a reference, the definition of LMIA is 'a document that an employer in Canada may need to get before hiring a foreign worker.'
Before to learn about it, let me tell you what office is in charge of this process. It's CIC(Citizenship and Immigration Canada). You can see what they deal with in usual on the site. If you are curious, jump in.
3. High Wage and Low Wage of LMIA
LMIA is devided approximately with 2 program : High Wage and Low Wage. The standard between high and low is Median hourly wages by province or territory. The whole process to apply is similar, however some conditions are different. The well-organized table for it is here
or you can see the official website.
4. First Step : Advertisement
The first step to LMIA approval is an advertisement. You can show your efforts for hiring Canadians to CIC thorugh the ADs. You have to post three advertisements on different places for each. One has to be posted on Job Bank, other two must be posted on the places that meet the conditions made by office. The ADs include poisiton, responsibility, wage, vacation fee and so on. Sometimes, even if there is a sneaky chosen one to hire, write a wage in a range. It may help you to avoid doubts. The advertisement must be posted for at least a month.
LMIA process due time is 90 days and the clock starts from the date you post the ad. It means that if you post an AD at 29 Dec 2022, you have to submit all the required documents and apply for LMIA until 28 March 2023. If you missed this date, you must start all the process again from the beginning.
Due to the deadline, candidate's visa expiration date sometimes matters. Let's suppose that the candidate's visa will expire in 4 months. The company just posted the AD. If you can't finish the process in 3 month, then all things will go back to first. You will have to post an AD for 1 month again. Even if you can pass all the steps immediately after the AD has done, at least 4 months will be taken. The visa of candidate has expired. Then, you have to find other way to let him or her stay in Canada such as change the status to visitor. During that time, your candidate can't work legally. Offering cash job can be a alternative, but it's illegal.
5. Second Step : Job Match
Around the 30th days from AD, you can get the job match. Because of the condition, you have to choose the candidate who has 2 stars or more. Stars? It's an evaluation system in job bank that is decided by match ratio between employer and candidate.
6. Third Step : Submitting the documents
Along the official site, you have to prepare three documents : LMIA application form, Proof of business legitimacy, Proof of Advertisement. However, technically, these documents demand another documents. Please focus when you see the page of business legitimacy. They require several documents such as :
T2 : Related to financial statement
T4 : a tax document that summarizes how much you've earned over the past year.
Business License
Registration for hiring foreign worker - It takes a bunch of time these days to get it.
More you submit, easier to prove you are fine. But, the longer process time is taken and also documents preparing time. You need to optimize it. It's a know-how of the immigration companies.
7. Fourth Step : Employer interview
Interview is not mandatory, but, in the majority of cases, officers prefer to do it. It usually takes about an hour. Employer explain why he or she needs a foreign worker, not a Canadian. Some immigration companies which help employer would train you how to answer. In my case, I've never experienced it. So, I found the expected questions in google.
8. Fifth Step : Waiting for Approval and done.
9. (For candidate) Sixth Step : Apply for Work Permit
10. Where can I find the employer who can supports me?
There is not a certain answer. Candidate can search the craigslist, Indeed or communities such as UvanU(우밴유). Many advertisements are saying that they are capable of supporting LMIA. Candidate also can ask to present boss. Furthermore, some of immigration companies provide job matching service. They have employers who need foreign workers.
10. Some tips
a. If you are interested in PR, you must consider what position you are going to have.
b. Whole documents must make sense. If employer apply the LMIA for getting restaurant supervisor, there must be less supervisor in the restaurant. For example, 5 supervisor and 1 server is not fair.
c. If you apply for Express Entry when you are working through LMIA, you can get 50 additional points. It's effective. It doesn't matter if you have a open work permit like PGWP(Post-Graduated Work Permit). Just skip the applying work permit step.
d. If employer was in the red last year, he or she have to prepare attestation from accountant that the financial standing is good.
e. In vancouver, cooks are not enough for demands. If you have a decent career and a small English skill, then it will be easy to get it. Cook is also in TEER 3 that is adequate to apply for Express Entry.
f. LMIA processing fee is 1,000 CAD. approximately 1,000,000₩. Government orders that it must be paid by employer, but they sometimes don't follow the rule.
g. Most of case, employers use the immigration company. Totally it costs up to 5,000 CAD. It's on candidates in usual. A few employer support half of it or all.
원활한 정보 공유와 역량 개발 사이에서 고민하다 후자를 한 번 택해보았습니다. 영어로 쓰니까 조금 어렵기도 하네요. 하지만 도움은 많이 될 듯 합니다. 번역이 필요하시다거나, 더 자세한 내용이 궁금하신 분들은 메일로 연락 주시면 감사하겠습니다.
