Issues Immigrating to Canada for Internship

[rmenoch]

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So I'm an American who matched at a site in Canada for internship and I just got this email:

Dear Applicant,

I am sending you this message because our records from the APPIC Match indicate that you might be a U.S. Citizen who was matched to an internship site in Canada.

APPIC has recently learned that the Canadian Immigration laws have changed. We have been told that, under the new laws effective this year, the process of hiring a US Citizen for employment in Canada has become potentially more complicated and lengthy. We don't have a lot of details, as these changes are quite new and we are in the process of learning more about them.

The purpose of this e-mail isn't to unnecessarily alarm or panic you, but instead to encourage you to move forward with the immigration process immediately. If you haven't done so already, we encourage you to get in contact with your new internship Training Director to discuss how to begin the process. Training Directors in Canada have also recently been alerted to this situation, and will work with you on the process. But, do get started right away.

The President of the Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Programs (CCPPP), Dr. Rupal Bonli, has kindly offered to serve as a contact/resource person for incoming interns and their Training Directors who are dealing with these immigration issues. Dr. Bonli may be contacted at... Please don't hesitate to contact Dr. Bonli for information or assistance in this process.


Greg Keilin, Ph.D.
APPIC Match Coordinator


I'm trying to not become "unnecessarily alarm(ed) or panic(ed)," but I have to admit that I am concerned. Does anyone know anything about going to Canada as a temporary foreign worker? Specifically, what laws have changed and how concerned should I be?

 

[MCParent]

I immigrated the other way and did grad, internship, and job in the US. The paperwork can take a while. I have no idea what laws changed, but I agree that starting on this ASAP (i.e., tomorrow morning emailing the internship TD) is the best plan.

 

[empathiosis]

Your TD should be able to direct you, but if you want to start researching the process on your own, to allay your anxiety, this seems like a good place to start:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/hire/index.asp

I don't see any new laws mentioned on the site above, with the exception of these new laws that pertain to students:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/2014-02-12.asp

None of this appears to be cause for alarm, but per the poster above, start now because it looks like it could definitely take some time to get it done.

 

[rmenoch]

So I took everyone's advice and looked further into the immigration process.

American interns must undergo a two-step process: 1) receive a positive Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from the government, and 2) receive a Temporary Work Permit. In the past (pre-2014), interns (and all visa applicants) could apply for "concurrent" processing of these two steps. With concurrent processing the process could take about 5 months to complete, which was still doable between the mid-February Match results and the September 1st start date. However, concurrent processing has been eliminated and a positive LMO must be included before a Temporary Work Permit application can be submitted. Given that it can take between 3-6 months for a positive LMO to be issued and 4 months for a Temporary Work Permit to be processed, I could end up waiting 7-10 months to get everything processed. Unfortunately, there isn't that much time between Match Day and my internship start date.

I feel like I'm hitting a brick wall. The Canadian Immigration "Call Centre" won't connect my calls because for some reason they only accept calls placed within Canada. The immigration website only answers emails about specific case numbers and this takes upwards of 30 days. The Los Angeles visa office doesn't accept calls and the NY office is temporary closed. The internship site's TD is friendly and optimistic that maybe the LMO will be issued quicker than expected since it asked for more information. She also suggested that I could start late if need be, but that introduces new concerns. The initial duration of the internship is supposed to be from Sept. 1, 2014 - Aug. 31st, 2015. I assume that I would have to end my internship later should I start later. Due to the split between the APA and CPA, this site will stop being accredited by the APA on Sept. 1st, 2015 (as will all Canadian sites that are presently accredited by the APA), so I'm worried that if my last day was moved beyond Sept. 1st that I would not have technically attended an APA-accredited program. Also, it seems like the latest start dates I have seen for post-docs is Sept. 1st, so that is a concern as well.

I'm communicating with Dr. Bonli (who is referenced in my first post on this thread) but we have yet to make any progress in contacting anyone in immigration who can help with this process. I was wondering how you all would proceed if you were in this situation? Is there anyone else I should be contacting who may have slipped my mind? I'm definitely starting to get stressed out, since not being able to speak directly to any immigration official is making it difficult to act as my own advocate in this situation.

 

[MCParent]

Given that it can take between 3-6 months for a positive LMO to be issued and 4 months for a Temporary Work Permit to be processed, I could end up waiting 7-10 months to get everything processed. Unfortunately, there isn't that much time between Match Day and my internship start date.

The initial duration of the internship is supposed to be from Sept. 1, 2014 - Aug. 31st, 2015. I assume that I would have to end my internship later should I start later. Due to the split between the APA and CPA, this site will stop being accredited by the APA on Sept. 1st, 2015 (as will all Canadian sites that are presently accredited by the APA), so I'm worried that if my last day was moved beyond Sept. 1st that I would not have technically attended an APA-accredited program. Also, it seems like the latest start dates I have seen for post-docs is Sept. 1st, so that is a concern as well.

Two things, FWIW.

All my paperwork processing happened much faster than the timelines posted online (e.g., time posted online for an H1-B is something like 4 months, mine was processed in ~4 weeks). I think the good relationship between the two countries, and minimal security concerns between us, speeds things along. So, hopefully that will be true for you going the other way, too.

I'm *pretty sure* that you should resign the position one day early, so you're at one year minus one day to retain OPT eligibility. So, if it was Sept 1 - Aug 31 you might have to resign on Aug 30 anyway.

All you can really do is hurry your processing of the forms along and hope that the government moves fast on their end. That was what I did, and things got processed on time.

 

[rmenoch]

Thanks for the info MC!

Actually, I just found out the I received a positive LMO this morning!!! I was worried about the posted times because individuals on a message board have been tracking wait times and most have been quite long. However, most of these individuals were applying for IT jobs and none were applying for mental health positions. Now I just have to get the work permit but that should take 4 months at the longest, which would still allow me to start in September.

I now have a secret suspicion that someone on SDN is a Canadian immigration official who took pity on me and sped things up 😉

 

[psych84]

Which city are you ending up in for your internship?

 

[rmenoch]

Which city are you ending up in for your internship?

I'm headed to Toronto 🙂

 

[psych84]

Great. It is a nice city. Lots of stuff to do. Really a world-class city. But you will not love the winters. lol

 

[rmenoch]

Great. It is a nice city. Lots of stuff to do. Really a world-class city. But you will not love the winters. lol

Hopefully that winters aren't much worse than those in Montana. That's where I spent the past four winters. Even if they are, at least I'll have great access to cultural events and ethnic food to make it a good trade-off ;-)

 

[psych84]

Hopefully that winters aren't much worse than those in Montana. That's where I spent the past four winters. Even if they are, at least I'll have great access to cultural events and ethnic food to make it a good trade-off ;-)

Oh yeah, if you are into Asian food, especially Chinese and Indian, you will love it.

 

[deadmau5]

Didn't you hear about our ice storm? 😉

 

[ForensicPsych26]

It sounds like things are headed in the right direction -- I would also suggest reaching out to your DOT, they've assisted my friend who is completing her degree in the US, but is Canadian. If they aren't able to help her, they've pointed her in the direction of people who can assist. Things will work out!!!

 

[rmenoch]

So I'm supposed to move to Canada in exactly one week so I can settle in before my internship starts at the beginning of September. I still don't have a work permit though. I received the paperwork to start the application at the end of April, got the request for a medical exam at the end of June, and Canadian immigration recorded my medical exam as "Passed" in mid-July. I could use any good mojo people have to send my way, as my level of stress is increasing significantly.

 

[deadmau5]

Have you tried calling in? I know it'll take a while to talk to someone, but we are SUPER accommodating to nice people.

 

[rmenoch]

I did try calling. The operator at the main number wasn't able to answer questions about my application since I'm applying from outside Canada. She told me to email the consulate in NY since it is processing my visa, and the NY consulate won't answer calls related to immigration. Immediately after I sent an email, I received an auto-response saying that they only answer inquires about cases that have been waiting longer than 6 months for resolution since this is the new average time for approval. That was depressing, considering it was listed as 3-4 months when I submitted the application 3 months ago.

I emailed Dr. Keilin asking for advice but this process has just been so overwhelming that I kind of wish I wouldn't have ranked this site as #1. I mean it's the perfect fit, but the stress is killing me :-(

 

[jadezomb]

Rmenoch, any updates? Also, did you apply to any other American citizen friendly sites in Canada? If you have the time I would love to hear about your experiences interviewing with them!

 

[rmenoch]

Rmenoch, any updates? Also, did you apply to any other American citizen friendly sites in Canada? If you have the time I would love to hear about your experiences interviewing with them!

Actually, my visa came through today! I never did receive a response to any of my emails to the immigration section at the Canadian Consulate in New York but I'd like to think that they expedited my application (since they processed it in 3.5 months as opposed to the 5-6 month average time) because of my daily emails. I figured I would annoy them into submission ;-) I only applied to one Canadian site because it really fit my interests and it still has dual CPA/APA-accreditation for the duration of my internship training year. Feel free to PM me if you want to discuss interviewing experiences!

 

[deadmau5]

GREAT! I knew it would come together somehow.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Glad to hear it worked out for you.