Question for those who might know:

Is it realistic to travel to Canada in 2012 on a Working Holiday Visa and than, after a few month apply for a Skilled Worker Immigration Visa?

I would meet the requirements of the Skilled Visa, but the process might be easier to be done while staying in Canada.

Is it hard to find a job in the hotel / travel industry at the age of 33?

No its unrealistic. How long is a working holiday visa good for? Permanent residence takes a long time, what will you be doing during the gap of your working holiday visa expiring and the time (assuming its approved) you get permanent status?

Your stated intention is Working Holiday, a few months later suddenly changing to permanent visa might look a little suspicious to CIC.

Working in the hotel/travel industry requires a few years of experience (I assume based on your interest of Skilled Worker, that you are seeking a job which requires a degree).

A hotel will most likely not hire you if your not authorized to work in Canada on a permanent, on-going basis.

You may consider applying for a working visa from your home country, and get "transferred" to a hotel here in Canada. From a work-visa, its more realistic to adjust to a permanent visa.

There are a zillion people on working holiday visas working in Whistler and the Rockies. It is done for sure.

Well, I do have a degree.
The Working Holiday Visa is good for 12 month to work anywhere in Canada.
I do have work experience otherwise skilled visa wouldn�t be an option.

I guess it doesn�t make sense to start applying for a job from home, does it?!

I think the best thing for you to do is to apply to a hotel in your home country, then request a transfer to Canada. International chains will usually take care of the visa paperwork on your behalf. Once your here, you can decide what course of action to take regarding a permanent visa.

If you arrive here on a work visa, pre-arranged by a company (lets take Hilton for example), you will be viewed much better and more professional both in the eyes of immigration, and your future boss.

However, a working holiday visa is geared at college students who want to take a year off. I actually didn't know Canada offered such visa. I know Australia has one (my daughter was thinking about it last year), and their age cutoff is 30. Also - given the state of the economy today, they will more than likely not hire you if you apply from here (because your not entitled to work here on a permanent basis).

If I�d like to continue living and working in f**** Germany I would do so.
I have been in Canada in the past and do really like it, the country, it�s people, their lifestyle and attitude.

And no, the WHV is not only geared at college students, its for people from Germany and the Netherlands, cutoff age is 35.

And of course would they hire me, if they see me fit for the position being offered. As mentioned before by Altaflyer, there are a lot of people working on that visa basis.
And due to the German educational system I have obtained skills which are very often viewed superior to those in other countries.

Also, immigration processing for skilled immigration takes about 14 to 17 month these days, instead of 45 month till 2008.

I entered on a working holiday type visa (12 months, no employer restrictions) and then obtained my PR (although through a different catagory). You may find some employers unwilling to hire you for a full time position, as it is clear that your visa runs out in a maximum of 12 months time, so things like some management positions etc they may be reluctant, especially given that there are a lot of hospitality courses within Canada producing skilled candidates - however, for seasonal jobs, jobs with higher turnover etc, or though an agency, you should be fine.

I know the skilled worker program changed as of July 1st, so check the new rules and restrictions, especially whether you can apply 'in country'. I believe there is now a 'cap' of skilled worker in each catagory, 500 per, and the application year runs July1 - June 30th, so timing may be important too to your decision (aiming for your application to hit July 2nd basically (July 1 is a holiday so no post!) ) There also used to be a cap on the number of working holiday visas as well, which for the UK runs Jan 1 to Dec 31, so again, timing may be key.

There are some rules around the various ways of applying that mean if you leave the country, you can be deemed to have abandoned the process, some there are no such rules, so check. Also, after 12 months are up, if your PR process has not gone through (and I have no idea what waiting times are going to be based on the new system), you would have to leave the country - overstaying a visa is a bad plan! I actually left, and re-entered as a visitor, which they were fine with, as I could prove means of support (ie, prove I wasn't going to work illegally, and I had enough cash to support myself for 6 months).

Well I wish you the best of luck.

Yes - There are a lot of people on working holiday visas in the Rockies. However, many of them do unskilled (or minimally skilled) labour (waiters, housekeeping, bartender etc) The OPs intention is to have a skilled position.

That�s exactly what I think. Employers may be unwilling to hire somebody who is here on a 12 month visa. Whenever you apply for a career position, you�ll notice one of the questions almost every employer asks is if you are entitled to work in Canada on a permanent, and on-going basis.
Now if you apply for a temporary (or contract) position, that�s a different story. They will give you more consideration for that type of position.

I don't think age is too much of an issue in the hospitality industry but the short-term visa may dissuade hiring managers for the more senior positions that you are seeking. Not sure how long a non-immigrant work visa would take to apply for. If you know of managers of your nationality (not sure if you are German or not) in Canada, it may be worth while writing to them in advance as they may be more amenable to hiring you.


There are all sorts of labour exemptions for short-term temporary workers. Various fast food and low-end chain restaurants have almost 1/4 million of such staff in Canada as of last year. However, these are definitely at the low end of the scale. I like the quote . A toll bridge and tunnels for a new transit line were also built using temporarily-imported labour.

Can always hope for a Canada-E.U. free trade agreement to be put in place. Employers here much relish importing cheap labour from Romania and Bulgaria.