Legal Question in Immigration Law in Canada

Re: employment

"Work permit" is a broad term. Often, people confuse work permit (which is

usually temporary and based on having a job offer) and permanent residence

(not necessarily based on a job offer). The fact that you mention "work permit" but then also mention a son being Canadian leads me to think that you want permanent residence based on family class sponsorship, but

would also like to be able to work.

Unfortunately, there is too little information supplied for us to advise properly. The question is confusing.

Proceeding on mere assumptions:

1) Assuming you want PR, then you need to make an application for sponsorship and if they live in the US and the claim is good, the application is made through the Buffalo Consular Office and at this time, it can take up to 15 months.

2) If you have a job offer already from a Canadian employer, and you are content to move there without permanent status, then we need to get a labour market opinion about the job offer, and then submit an application for a work permit. This takes less time than for PR, usually, but it can also depend on what province you are contemplating to reside in and where the labour market opinion request is submitted. Quebec has additional requirements to consider. Also, we need to consider your educational background to see whether you are labour market opinion exempt under NAFTA.

I trust that this helps.

The foregoing response is from Veronique Nasser who is a Canadian Lawyer and Foreign Legal Consultant in the Law Offices of Nachman & Associates, P.C. (www.visaserve.com).

Ms. Nasser can be contacted directly for additional Canadian Law Assistance at [email protected].