There has been a demand for new drivers with clean driving records in Canada. A study by the Conference Board of Canada in 2013 revealed that by 2020 Canada will have a massive shortfall of truck drivers. They estimated a whopping 30,000 shortfalls in truck drivers. And you will be able to get a visa to Canada with your truck driving skills, if you follow what has been discussed below.
What to know about truck driver visa requirements?
Presently, Canada puts truck driving under unskilled occupation; hence, there isn’t any specific visa for truck drivers. If you are hoping to obtain a job as a trucker in Canada, then you can get a visa, once you apply through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
This Temporary Foreign Worker Program allows Canadian employers to hire any worker, temporarily, from outside of Canada when there aren’t any Canadian citizens or permanent residents to perform that job.
How can you get into the Temporary Foreign Worker Program?
There isn’t anything particular that you can do to get into Temporary Foreign Worker Program. All power lies in the hands of the Canadian employer. You must know that you can only get the job if there is no one from Canada to do that job. Canadian laws make it mandatory that the employer must scan through Canada first, before hiring a foreign worker.
Eligibility to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Your eligibility to the program will be measured on the basis that your stay in Canada regarding the job should be temporary. You can come to Canada with the job, but you will have to leave as soon as your job is over. You will have to convince the immigration officials on the same. Failure to convince will result in immediate cancellation of your visa.
Another eligibility criterion is that, while you are staying in Canada you will have to show that you will be able to provide for yourself or there is someone who will be able to support you. Your health problems are also a basis of factoring your eligibility to the program.
What do employers need to do to hire trucking workers?
Well if you are a trucker and looking for a job in Canada, you must know that the greater power to bring you in Canada lies with the employer.
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is managed by two government agencies, Human Resource Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The employer can assign to Temporary Foreign Worker Program only if he satisfies the Labour Market Opinion (LMO), as HRSDC requires Labour Market Opinion’s approval. Labour Market Opinion shows that the employer went to required lengths to hire a citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, but failed to find any, hence he is hiring a foreign worker.
The Labour Market Opinion will scrutinize the employer’s job offer, checking its credibility and the employer’s ethic towards other foreign workers in the past. The cost of Labour Market Opinion will be borne by the employer.
The trucker can apply for a work permit through CIC, once the employer gets a clean chit from Labour Market Opinion. It must be noted that the Labour Market Opinion should be attached to the permit application.