Will I need a Canadian Work Visa to Teach Online?

The answer to this question depends on a variety of factors from how long you stay in Canada, to who you are you teaching online, to importantly, who are you working for. Distance learning has become a necessity due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and even as schools and universities across Canada begin to return to in-class teaching, many other institutions have adapted their infrastructure to favour an online learning system.

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The Canadian Work Visa

A visa is a document, in the passport of the individual that allows them to travel to the country it’s issued for. The conditions of the visa will depend on what you intend to do in the country. So, for the purpose of the article, you intend to teach online in Canada. The type of visa you will require will depend on one of the following:

You work in Canada, but for yourself

If you don’t have a formal job offer from a Canadian learning institution, you cannot get a Canadian work visa. However, if you work for an international company, teaching online, travelling to Canada and staying for up to six months to discover the options for teachers in Canada becomes an option.

You must meet the requirements for a tourist visa, be sure not to stay past your visa expiration date and more importantly, don’t work in Canada without having accepted a formal job offer and applied for a work permit.

You will work temporarily for a school in Canada

If you want to teach in Canada, for example as a private tutor or through a TEFL program, there is the option of the Working holiday visa. A new requirement for this visa is that the applicants must have a job offer. You must also be under the age of 35. Under the IEC working holiday category, you will be granted an open work permit, valid for 12 months with an option to extend for another 12 months. You will be able to work for different employers in Canada, you just need an initial job offer to get you started.

You will work full time for a Canadian employer

If you have a full-time job offer from an education institution in Canada, you will require a work permit to travel and work in Canada. There are two types of temporary foreign work permits, the open work permit such as the one granted under the IEC visa, and the employer specific work permit granted to applicants with job offers. Under this work visa, you can only work for employers who gave you a job offer. If you change employers, you must apply for a new work permit, which you can do from inside Canada.

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