A young British citizen who arrived to Canada as a visitor to stay with his girlfriend was declared inadmissible to Canada for helping his girlfriend with some home maintenance work. The Mirror UK reports:
Tom Rolfe, 24, is accused of “doing a Canadian out of a job” because he did a bit of DIY.
He was locked up by immigration officials who found photographs of Tom and girlfriend Sam filling up cracks in the walls of her flat.
Tom was in Canada on a tourist visa and the pictures were used to prove he was working illegally.
…
He applied for a resident’s permit and had to leave Canada to be processed going back through immigration control.
Tom and Sam, 27, drove 300 miles to Montana in the United States and then immediately back into Canada to get his new visa stamped.
But the pair were put through a three-hour ordeal and locked in separate rooms while officials searched their car and belongings.
Tom said: “They looked through the photographs on my camera and saw pictures of me helping Sam fill cracks in her walls where pictures had been hanging.
“They said that by doing that I was denying a Canadian person a job.
“I was completely staggered when they said I had eight days to get out of the country.”
Foreign nationals in Canada are prohibited from performing any work absent a valid work permit. As Immigration and Refugee Protection Act states, there are a limited number of exceptions when a foreign national in Canada is allowed to work while in Canada without a work permit. These include:
- Business visitor
- Foreign representatives and their Family members of foreign representatives
- Military personnel
- Foreign government officers
- On-campus employment
- Performing artists
- Athletes and team members
- News reporters, media crews
- Public speakers
- Convention organizers
- Clergy
- Judges, referees and similar officials
- Examiners and evaluators
- Expert witnesses or investigators
- Health care students
- Civil aviation inspector
- Aviation accident or incident inspector
- Crew
- Emergency service providers
- Implied status
- Off-campus work
- Off-campus work (transition to post-graduation status)
Should you wish to know whether you can work while in Canada, feel free to contact us at jenny@test.legallycanadian.com