Canada Open Work Permit for US H1B visa holders

Originally published at: Canada Open Work Permit for US H1B visa holders - Canada

Canada immigration has decided to give open work permits to people currently holding USA H1B visas. The application process opened on July 16, 2023, and was closed on 17 July 2023. They received 10k applications within 1 day. Any H1B visa holder, the majority of whom are Indians, will be able to work from Canada…

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Can you help me to apply for open work permit

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what time the portal will be available for canada visa for H-1B holder work permit which will be available from July 16th, 2023
is it CST of Pacific time
and what is the URL
can some pls share

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I am stuck on this question. I am entering my current USA details, but I am getting an error.
Q. List your current country or territory of residence, then add all other countries or territories where you’ve lived for the past five years, for more than 6 months.
Receiving below error

  • Error:
    To - You’ve selected a date that is now in the past. Select an entry date that is in the future.
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I have a pending I 129 for h1b, I am currently working on pending I129 h1b receipt , what Can fill in in the visa expiry date, can I still apply for this open work permit , H1b ?

I am not sure if the system will allow you to enter details for ‘pending’ H1B petition. You may have to wait until it is approved.

Any idea on the criteria for approval? Other than the basic ones like H1B holder and residing in the US?

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@anil_am22 If I apply Canada work permit and submit Biometrics also, does it affect my H1Bvisa/ extension.

Because we need to do biometrics in one of the US location so USCIS definitely know I am trying for Canada work permit, does it cause any problem for my H1b visa and Extension?

Hi - In the Section - Information about education, work and other activities - I have completed the education table and work experience table but I keep getting this error when I try to save the details. What can I do?

You must complete this entire section to be able to save your details

You can only save your information after you answer all the questions below and fill in each table. If you leave the application without providing all these details

  • your information will not be saved
  • you will have to input the information again when you return

I am in a same boat… since last more than one hour, I tried all possible combinations to enter all these details. I tried different browsers as well but no luck.

@anil_am22
I selected “Other” as a category rather than “Worker” and it went next step without any date issue.
When I selected “Worker” from the dropdown choice, it was giving me an error mentioned in my query above.

USCIS does not care about multiple work permits or whatever you do outside of the US.

You are thinking too much. I understand that h1b puts too many restrictions.

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@Shivastuti_Koul_EVH @bpanks
There should be no gaps in education or work. If there are, they need to be explained.

Example:
If you have a 1-month gap between your bachelor’s and master’s, you need to add it as a separate item (row) and then select something like ‘Unemployed’ or similar to provide what you were doing at that gap time.

Once you fill in the gaps, the system will allow you to save and move ahead.

Thanks @anil_am22

Regarding my earlier query.
Though I selected correct category “WORKER” and FROM and TO date, system wont’ allow me to go further hence I selected OTHER and moved forward. Is it correct?

Q. List your current country or territory of residence, then add all other countries or territories where you’ve lived for the past five years, for more than 6 months.

@Shivastuti_Koul_EVH
Are you able to select “Worker” category to above section?

In my opinion, you should select ‘Worker’ and then proceed.

You must be entering some wrong data and hence seeing the error.

I work in IT(Software Tester), in Add Work details section under Work/Activity I don’t see an option that is closely related to Technology/IT… can anyone help me on what is the appropriate option I have to choose. Thanks.

You can probably select ‘management occupation’ and then select the software related occupation in the sub category.

Thanks Anil for the response.
What document do we have to upload for - Immigration status (proof)

Hi @anil_am22 - Despite ensuring there are no gaps in education & job, I am still getting error on the page of education/ activities as below, it will be great if you can help me. Tx

You must complete this entire section to be able to save your details

You can only save your information after you answer all the questions below and fill in each table. If you leave the application without providing all these details

  • your information will not be saved
  • you will have to input the information again when you return

Even if one month gap is there, the system does not allow it. Please make sure there are no gaps.