Work Permits for Canada? You Betcha!

Elisabeth Farnese was her name, but she was known as "The Duchess of Parma" in 1712.  King Philip had quite a crush on the young Duchess, and after many months of courting, she finally agreed to marry him.

But she had a condition. 

She insisted that he prove his love to her by decking her out with a long list of jewels that were "Unique in all of the World!" Her list included items like a golden pinecone full of pearls and a gold dragon with emerald eyes. The King commissioned the jewels to be made, and the quest for her hand was finally within reach. I’m sure it was a quest the good King remembered for his lifetime.

I recalled this story when I went through the list of items I had to assemble for an upcoming business trip to Edmonton, Alberta -- in Canada. Thanks to the geniuses who wrote, assembled, and ratified the NAFTA agreement (you remember the North American Free Trade Agreement, right?), I have to pay $2,000 and send my life history to our buddies in the Great White North just so I can fly in and give a three day lecture. 

I'm trying to reconcile exactly how a Mexican citizen can walk across our southern border for free and earn $20 an hour roofing houses, while I have to pay $2,000 to give a lecture in Canada for three days. I hope someday that someone can explain that to me.

I considered "sneaking" into Canada by telling the customs agent, "I'm here to buy some hockey sweaters." But why risk being detained or sent home?

To apply for a Canadian work permit, you need to convince them that:

1. You're not coming to steal a Canadian's job.
2. There's not a Canadian already living and working in their country who can do the job as well as you can.

To convince them of this, you will need to send in the following:

1. Forms.  Lots and lots of forms. 
2. Paper copies of your passport, and every passport from every member of your family, whether they are going with you or not.
3. If nobody else from your family has a passport, you still must account for who they are and for the fact that they're not going.
4. A copy of your professional resume.
5. The fee, which is somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000
6. Information about your most advanced degree earned and from what college you earned it from.
7. Proof of your graduation and degree including a picture of your diploma, a copy of it, or a paid reference to it from some website that will look up your credentials for you.

You're still not quite done. Let's say you get all of this done and submitted in time, you still must carry the resulting paperwork with you when you cross the border -- and you will have to go over all of it with the customs agent assigned to you at the border. You'll have to explain "why you" and exactly what you intend to do.

Yes, I know it's crazy.  It makes you think twice about answering them when they ask you, "Are you here for business or pleasure?"  If you’re there for business, and you intend to conduct your business with Canadians, then you’d better have your papers in order.

I had everything I needed, and it still took me almost an hour to make it past the Canadian customs agent. I did learn onethings that will help me -- or you -- next time: When you arrive, scan all of the customs agents and get in line to see the friendliest one.  If you communicate well with older women (for example), pick one on of those and get in her line. If you see one who's smiling (yes, it's rare), pick that one. If you want to be roughly handled and "rubber gloved" by a tall surly man with a mustache -- well, you get the idea.

EXTRA: If you have questions for Ken regarding business travel, hotels, airplanes, etc, please send him a "Tweet" on his twitter account.  You can also follow Ken on Twitter @foodbreeze!