If you’re travelling to Canada either for pleasure of for business, you can ask another person to help you make your travel arrangements. As you may know, spending a considerable amount of time abroad required careful planning and preparation. If you don’t have the time to take care of such matters yourself, you can enlist the services of recognised organisations or third-party representatives.
Recognised Organisations
One way to simplify the process of applying for a travel or work visa in Canada is to enlist the services of a Recognised Organisation or RO. For a fee, an RO can provide you support and advice throughout the application process. In some instances, it can even help you find work in the North American country. ROs can also help foreign and Canadian youth arrange travel and work plans if there is no youth mobility agreement between Canada and your country, or Canada and the country you’d like to go to.
There are two types of ROs: employer specific and working holiday. Employer-specific ROs help foreigners come to Canada and Canadian youth who want to visit other countries. When using an employer-specific RO, you will need a signed letter or offer or contract of employment from your employer
With the help of an employer-specific RO, you will be able to gain access to employer-specific work permits that indicate that name of employer you can work for, the location you can work, and how long you can work.
Working holiday ROs, on the other hand, provide assistance for foreigners who want to come to Canada or Canadians who want to go abroad who are under IEC’s Working Holiday category. Work permits obtained with the help of these ROs are usually listed as “open.” This basically means that you can work for any employer in the country.
Third-party representatives
Third-party representatives offer advice and assistance to applicants, usually for a fee. They help IEC participants fill out any portion of the IEC application. If you’re going to enlist the services of a third-party representative, remember that only some people may act as a paid representative. They include:
- Lawyers and paralegals who are members in good standing of a Canadian provincial or territorial law society;
- Notaries who are members in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec; and
- Immigration consultants who are good standing members in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council.