Immigration & relocation catch-22s

[dr_whom]

I'm in Toronto this weekend to look for apartments. I planned to get a Canadian bank account while I'm here, so I can pay a rent deposit in Canadian currency if need be.

The border-control agent at the airport gave me an unnecessary runaround about getting a work visa—'Do you have a work permit yet?' says he. 'The department that's hiring me told me that you could give me the work permit, right here at the airport border-control desk,' says I. Says he, 'Did you check that on the immigration website for yourself? You're moving to another country and you didn't even go to the trouble to verify how to get a work permit? You don't have another job, right? It's your financial security that's on the line if you can't get a work permit, not theirs'; etc., etc. Eventually he spent 15 minutes looking up the requirements on the immigration website to eventually find that, yes, he is in fact authorized to give me a work permit, right there at the airport border-control desk.

But he didn't give me a work visa, because I'm just here to look for apartments, not yet to actually move here, so I don't need it yet.

When I went to the bank to open an account, the guy there said I couldn't open a bank account till I get a work permit.

I wonder what potential landlords will say when I tell them I can't give them a check for a rent deposit because I can't get a bank account until I already live there.

(The bank guy says, if need be, I can get a money order. So that's presumably what'll end up happening.

But still.)

Comments

[midnight-sidhe.livejournal.com]

I feel like moving situations in general tend to contain more of these idiotic loops than strictly necessary, and I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that there would be even more of them if you're moving to another country, but, like, yeesh, this is definitely markedly worse than the usual dumb moving loops.

[q10.livejournal.com]

i've sometimes gotten the impression that certain Canadian immigration officials feel the need to subject Americans to just enough inconvenience to make sure they remember that Canada is, in fact, another country.

[cynara-linnaea.livejournal.com]

Urgh, I expected better of Canada. Guess no place is perfect. So sorry you had to go through that. That sort of thing is infuriating.

I'm beginning to look at facing a similar issue in a year or two with a business bank account - can't get one until you can prove you're a business, but you can't run a business completely legit until you get a business bank account. [headdesk] I hope they accept letters of incorporation from an S-corp.

[ophblekuwufu.livejournal.com]

blarg.

It might be worth going back to the airport and hoping to find a different individual on watch there, providing documentation that demonstrates his ability to give you a work permit, and explaining that you're preparing to rent an apartment and need a work permit in order to open a bank account in order to pay your deposit. It seems from your department's correspondence as though they expect this to be possible, so it sounds like the vagaries of the particular guy working there at the time are messing you up here, rather than the system intrinsically.

[boojum42.livejournal.com]

Lots of sympathy, that all sounds really frustrating. Even just moving to New York from Maryland was an enormous nuisance; changing countries sounds much worse.

BUT it sounds like it is all going to work out, at least. Money orders should be ok. :)