How you can stay in Whistler, Canada beyond your work permit

If your initial journey to Whistler was in any way typical, it is likely that you came to Canada under the International Experience Canada (IEC) program. Every year, thousands of IEC participants arrive in the Whistler area with open work permits in hand, ready to hit the slopes and earn some money to keep them going.

IEC Working Holiday participants from some countries, including Australia, the UK, Ireland and France, can enjoy up to 24 months in Canada working for any employer. Other participants may receive a work permit for up to 12 months.

If you did not come to Canada under the IEC program, don’t worry — this guide on how to stay in Whistler after your work permit ends is equally applicable to you and your situation.

Before jumping in

If you are reading this before arriving in Whistler, or with many months remaining on your current Canadian work permit, have a long think about your objectives.

While the devil is in the detail, note that if your short-term goal is to work a casual part-time job without moving on to more skilled, secure employment and your medium- to long-term goal is to stay in Whistler or any other location in Canada, possibly forever, you may have to choose between these goals either now or very soon. By the time you begin pursuing the goal of immigrating to Canada permanently, your previous choices may make that goal more difficult, even impossible.

If you are reading this and your work permit expires next Tuesday, we are not here to scold you. You may still be able to stay in Canada, but you may have to explore some atypical routes (think of it like having to take one of the steeper runs on Whistler Blackcomb down to the village, while other people get to glide along softly).

Oh Canada! (and Oh BC!)

While other countries, including the United States, for example, centralize their immigration system with the federal government, Canada adopts a ‘sharing is caring’ position by giving the provinces (including BC) a slice of the overall immigration pie. Therefore, this guide focuses on economic immigration systems operated by Canada (i.e. the federal government) as well as by the government of BC, before also exploring options to remain in Canada through family ties or employment.

Express Entry

Since being introduced in 2015 with the goal of streamlining the immigration process, Express Entry has become the main driver of economic immigration to Canada. If you want to stay in Whistler beyond the duration of your work permit, Express Entry should be the first thing you look at.

Individuals interested in becoming permanent residents of Canada complete an online Express Entry profile and, if eligible, enter the Express Entry pool, where they are assigned a score under the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS). The government then invites the top-ranked candidates in the pool to submit an application, in draws that typically take place every couple of weeks. Invited candidates then have 60 days to submit a complete application, whereupon the government aims to complete the process within six months. Applicants whose work permit may expire before a decision is reached on their permanent residence application may obtain a bridging open work permit to tide them over.

Sounds easy, right? Let’s learn more.

You may be eligible already

You may have heard a rumour that you need a year of Canadian work experience before being eligible for Express Entry. The important thing to know is that there are three distinct ways to be eligible, and the Canadian Experience Class (CEC, which requires you to have completed 12 months of skilled work experience in Canada) is only one way to enter the Express Entry pool.

There are two other ways to enter the Express Entry pool, namely the Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC) and the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC).

The FSTC is for qualified, experienced tradespersons from around the world who either have a job offer in an eligible trade in Canada or a certificate of qualification in their trade issued by a Canadian provincial or territorial authority.

If the FTSC is not for you (it’s not for most people), then you may turn your attention to the FSWC. In 2017, more FSWC candidates were invited to apply than CEC candidates. And here is another thing: you can be eligible for the FSWC without ever having set foot in Canada, and you can be eligible while in Canada and without that (supposedly) crucial year of skilled Canadian work experience (let’s call it important then, rather than crucial, as having such experience adds a heap of points to your total). In order to qualify as a federal skilled worker, you need to score at least 67 points out of 100 on the FSWC points grid, viewable here, which should not be confused with the CRS points grid, which is out of 1,200. If you think you have at least 67 points as a federal skilled worker, you should double-check with an expert before proceeding.

What is skilled work?

No matter which of the three programs you aim to enter the Express Entry pool under, you will need to have completed some skilled work experience. Canada assesses occupations and duties according to the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system, which categorizes occupations into five types: skill level 0 (management jobs), skill level A (professional jobs), skill level B (technical jobs), skill level C (intermediate jobs) and skill level D (typically labour jobs).

NOC skill levels 0, A and B are considered skilled, while skill levels C and D are not. Let’s Whistlerize this for a moment (and bear in mind the list below is by no means exhaustive).

If you are due a promotion or are considering a change to employment that is recognised as skilled, you might want to look into this sooner rather than later to improve your chances of accruing skilled Canadian work experience. Doing so may help you become eligible for Express Entry and/or help you obtain additional CRS points, thereby helping you to stay in Whistler.

A language test? Really?

Yes, even if you went to an Ivy League school or Oxford, you will need to show your language ability in English or French (or, for extra points, both).

Candidates in Canada have the option of sitting either the CELPIP or IELTS test for English, and you can find test centres in Vancouver here and here, respectively. There are currently no test centres in Whistler.

More Express Entry resources

If you are in the Express Entry pool and have yet to receive an invitation to apply, see our tips on how to improve your CRS score. For details and analysis on the latest Express Entry draws, see this updated page. If you have any further Express Entry questions, they may be answered here.

Stay in Whistler: the BC PNP

The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) allows BC to nominate individuals for permanent residence based on criteria set by BC, rather than by the federal government. For 2018, the annual allocation under the BC PNP was 6,250 nominations. Work permit holders looking to stay in Whistler for the long term are encouraged to review their immigration options under the BC PNP.

If you are eligible for Express Entry and deem that your CRS points total is likely to result in you receiving an invitation to apply soon after entering the pool (recent draws are a strong, though not guaranteed, indicator of future trends), then pursuing a BC PNP nomination may be a waste of time, effort, and funds.

However, if you are in the Express Entry pool and are struggling to meet the CRS cut-off thresholds or if you are not eligible for Express Entry at all, the BC PNP may be the right program for you. The BC PNP is segmented into various categories, some of which were created to assist Express Entry candidates get over the line, while other BC PNP categories exist entirely outside the Express Entry system.

Furthermore, some BC PNP categories are managed under a unique system, known as the Skills Immigration Registration System (SIRS). Under the SIRS, potential applicants are first required to provide some personal information relating to their job offer in BC, work experience, language ability, and level of education. Eligible registered candidates are assigned a score (out of 200), and the BC government conducts periodic draws in which candidates who meet the cut-off threshold for their category in that draw are invited to apply for a provincial nomination.

Note that most BC PNP categories, including the most popular categories, require a job offer from an eligible employer in BC. Once you have got to grips with how the process works, it’s time to convince your employer to support your efforts to immigrate to Canada permanently.

BC PNP overview

BC PNP Express Entry categories

In 2017, BC nominated 2,350 Express Entry candidates for permanent residence. That’s 2,350 individuals who passed through the BC PNP category to collect 600 vital CRS points on their way to becoming permanent residents of Canada. More than half of these nominations were issued under the EE BC Skilled Worker category, a vital option for those looking to stay in Whistler who have a job offer.

As the table above shows, of the 10 BC PNP categories, four are aligned with the federal Express Entry system: EE BC Skilled Worker, EE BC International Graduate, EE BC International Post-Graduate, and EE BC Healthcare Professional.

Click on any of the links in the table above to get a complete overview of the particular category, including detailed eligibility criteria, and click on any of the slides below to view a recent history of invitations issued per category.

The EE BC International Post-Graduate and EE BC Healthcare Professional categories do not function on an invitation basis.

For federal skilled worker candidates in the Express Entry pool who are pursuing a provincial nomination under a BC PNP category managed under the SIRS (such as the EE BC Skilled Worker category), this means that you have to satisfy three separate points systems in order to complete the immigration process, in the following order:

1. Be eligible under the FSWC (minimum 67 points out of 100).
2. Amass enough points under the SIRS to be issued an invitation to apply under the BC PNP (sliding cut-off threshold, maximum 200 points).
3. Amass enough points under the CRS to be issued an invitation to apply for permanent residence (sliding cut-off threshold, maximum 1,200 points, of which 600 may be awarded for provincial nomination).

With this in mind, it is important to become acquainted with all the various systems you may pass through on your journey. The least familiar may be the Skills Immigration Registration System, but fortunately we have a handy SIRS guide right here.

Other BC PNP categories

If you are not currently eligible to enter the Express Entry pool, there may be a way to obtain a provincial nomination under a BC PNP category not aligned with Express Entry. These are known as ‘base’ categories and nominations, and these categories may suit certain workers looking to stay in Whistler beyond the duration of their current work permit.

The base categories largely mirror the Express Entry-aligned categories, outlined above, with two important differences:

• Applications for permanent residence using a base nomination typically take significantly longer to process than Express Entry applications (as the name implies). At the time of writing in September, 2018, base nominations were taking 15 to 19 months to process at the federal stage (i.e. not including the time it takes to get the nomination in the first place). Note that although it may take some time for the entire process to be completed, you may remain working in Canada throughout.
• There is an additional base category for Entry-Level and Semi-Skilled workers, which may provide a pathway for workers in a valid tourism/hospitality, long-haul trucking, or food processing occupation to gain permanent residence. It’s really worth checking the eligible occupations list to see if your work experience in BC is considered.

Click on any of the slides below to view a recent history of invitations issued per category.