1

From The WHP Canada Australian website:

...."Be aged 18-30 years inclusive at the time your application is received. Your application must be stamped as received by the Canadian Consulate General in Sydney on or after your 18th birthday, or before your 31st birthday"

so as long as you apply and get it received and stamped before you hit 31, you'll get another 2 year working visa.
But this will be your last WHP to Canada.

I applied 9 days ago, and received my "stamped" (its an email so figure that 1 out) approval email today.

I now have 1 year to enter Canada.

Unless you're gonna be TURNING 31 in less than 9 days, you should be sweet mate.

2

Sorry OP - most of us have better literacy skills than SYDNEYCIDER, who seems unable to understand your assertion that you are "over 30".

This is not the best forum to find answers to your questions. Talk to Citizenship & Immigration Canada here: [L]http://www.cic.gc.ca/EnGLIsh/[/L]

3

Follow Pyrrha's suggestion and go to the website. But note that while CIC is a good resource for lots of immigration-related questions, but it's not going to tell you how to find an employer willing to go through the process of hiring a foreign worker, which involves a lot more than hiring someone on a working holiday visa. What the website will tell you is how to go about obtaining a proper work permit - once you've secured a job and presuming the employer has received approval to hire you from HRSDC (required for most occupations). It will also tell you what you need if you're interested in staying permanently. But beyond that, you'll just have to do what the rest of job seekers in the world do: look in local papers, on job boards, send out your CV, etc. Like most things in life, there is no magic solution.

4

Allow me to clarify that emmigrating to Canada is not simply a matter of finding an employer to sponsor you, as countless people seem to think. I'm an employer, and I can promise you that even if I desperately wanted to hire you I couldn't. Why? Because I could hire a Canadian, that's why.

Now the above doesn't apply if you possess one of the very few skill sets in which Canada has a shortage. If you are a full MD, or have a 4 year university nursing degree you will probably have a shot. If you have no special skill set then forget it, or look for a Canadian to marry.

5

I agree that we need to distinguish between immigrating to Canada as a skilled worker and applying to work in Canada (with the possibility of settling permanently later).

True, if you're a bar owner in downtown Vancouver and want to hire a foreign worker to work as a bartender/waitress/whatever, the answer from HRSDC will be an unequivocal no. On the other hand, another bar owner might get a positive response if they're located in the middle of nowhere, and can prove (among other things) that they've made reasonable effort to recruit Canadians/permanent residents (i.e. not putting up some sign in your shop window that looks like it was written by a 5 year old). The criteria that HRSDC uses to evaluate applications aren't a secret. Look here, for example. But while local labour market conditions and the skill level of the job do play an important role in the evaluation, it's by no means the only thing.

It's especially difficult to say in the OP's case, presuming they want to work in education. The OP may not have much luck finding work in the public school system (not least because of different provincial requirements for teaching), but Ontario approves plenty of applications for teachers at religious and alternative schools (e.g. Montessori). My point is that things are rarely black and white.

As an aside, I really wish the word "sponsor" would be banned from people's vocabulary. If you're employing someone, even a FW, it's still an employer-employee relationship. Even arranged employment is still employment. You can sponsor your spouse, your mum, your uncle, whatever. You don't sponsor an employee. It's really a whole other ballgame. (End rant).

6

On the other hand, another bar owner might get a positive response if they're located in the middle of nowhere, and can prove (among other things) that they've made reasonable effort to recruit Canadians/permanent residents

What you say is only partly correct. Yes the employer would have to prove they were unable to hire a Canadian for the job (proof of advertising in national newspapers and many other things), but regardless they would never be able to hire a foreign national to work in a bar - simply because they could never prove that there are no Canadians available to do the job. A couple years ago the Canadian gov't was handing out work visas to strippers, as local bar owners were able to prove there were not enough Canadians willing to take their clothes off in a bar, but I don't believe there is a single person in Canada that was given a visa to come and work as a bartender or waiter.

7

A lot of technology recruiters will go through the challenge of assisting with work permits as there are certain areas (Calgary/Edmonton) where there is a lack of qualified people for contract positions. I have many of these folks in my organization and once they have their 2 year work permit they get into the Permanent Resident system with HRSDC and so far all have recieved their PR before their work permits expired (usually 18 month process).

I'd hire you in a heartbeat if you have any Cisco designations.

Vanderb

8

I think you'll find that no employer is willing to go through the effort of getting a work permit for you right off the bat. My boyfriend is currently in the process (which he has been told takes a minimum of 4 weeks, and often more like 12), but he had already worked for this company for the past 6 months on a WHV. He's also a welder and we live in Vancouver, which is a pretty favourable pairing sponsor-wise. Asking someone to secure a work permit for you (if they're even able to with the HRSDC regs) before they have any idea about what kind of worker you are is a pretty big stretch.

9

JJack, I respectfully disagree. First, although you've got personal experience your sweeping statements just aren't credible. Have you surveyed every single bar owner across the country and reviewed every HRSDC decision? Unlikely. And while I won't make such bold claims, I know first-hand that a few bars/restaurants in rural Ontario have been given permission to hire foreign workers as waiters/bartenders. I can't speak to the decisions made in other provinces, but I can make an educated guess that other provinces (Alberta especially, and possibly the BC interior) have taken a similar approach. Again, things are rarely black and white - even in government.

10

Thanks so much for your help guys, esp laura for not just dismissing my question!
I am fully aware of the difficulties involved in gaining work in Canada as an over-30, and am familiar with CIC website. I'm definitely not looking to emmigrate to Canada, and, being less moronic than Jack suggests, I am fully aware that being sponsored in Canada does not allow one to live in Canada forever. I would only like to work there for another year. It is possible to get a teaching exchange through my school but I was looking for other options from people who have done this before.
Vanderb, I wish I knew enough about computers to be of assistance. If you've got any staff with reading or writing difficulties, now that I could help you with ;-)

11

Hi Bee,

I just wanted to say good luck!

12

Thanks athena! By the way a friend in Calgary just told me you've had minus 49 with the windchill. i was in calgary for 6 months and thankfully it didn't get any lower than -39 which is still 50 degrees colder than any aussie is used to!

Anyway enough about the weather...

13

You don't need to be sponsored, per se. Sponsorship implies that your employer will pay immigration fees on your behalf. All you need is a work permit, and the employer is just providing you with a job offer. What CIC does is called a "labour market survey" to determine how reasonable it is to give the individual a permit based on the position. If it can reasonably determined that either a canadian can't be found to take the job, or that special or regional skills are required (fairly loosely defined) then a work permit can be issued. Once that has been received actually obtaining a resident visa can be done in 6 months, and I know several who have obtained it that quickly. it is good for 2 years.

If the residence visa isn't obtained that way (say because the work project is short term) then after having resided in canada for a year you can apply for a resient visa as well, but you will have to be able to prove that you had been here that whole time with no absence larger than a few days from teh country, and with an established address.