I work in the US for an American Company and today I just happened to have a one on one meeting with my boss that we usually have regularly once a week. I was hesitant to bring this topic up but figured out that it’s best to talk about the plans that I had for the future (including my move to Canada that is a year - year and half away at this point) since my boss is the one who is going to sign my experience letter. I started off by giving her the facts about the long processing times about the green card and how waiting for it is really a waste of one’s life/time.
She seemed to understand where I was coming from. I also mentioned that I was very happy working for my current company and it was really hard making this decision. I basically convinced her that I needed to immigrate for legitimate reasons and not that I was bored/hated working at my current job.
That being said, after the one on one meeting, I felt really scared and fear that I might have spoken a little too much and that I might get laid off prematurely since they might think that I am going to leave the company anyway. I also made it clear that my move was going to be at least a little more than a year from today.
I’m guessing a lot of you guys faced a similar situation. If you guys think I messed up how should I recover from this while getting the experience letter at the same time without raising any suspicions. I want to somehow stick to my current job until I get the PR (next 7-8 months). After that I can relax.
My current stage in the process: Received ITA and Getting documents together for the final application.
Hello Prannoy,
I think this is good way to talk, but i think too early to mention it to your manager. I am also going through same phase, but I am waiting for IELTS Exam and EE profile submission. I think you can submit experience letter later after EE submission (I might be wrong) or when you can get experience letter for another reason. If your company doesn’t have branch in Canada, then convince her that, you can work for Canadian clients and that would beneficial for your company. But if you are scared then just convince them, it’s just for backup plan.
Officially this forum is meant for objective questions about Canada PR process and your question is pretty subjective, but I will try to answer it because many people working in US might be feeling the same way.
Short answer is it depends. You know your boss best and how s/he will react to you telling your plans to move. It also depends on the size of the company and the degree to which structures have becomes shackles (shamelessly copied from the Batman movie) with them. For e.g. MS/Intel/IBM have strict policies/guidelines about applying for visa/immigration/GC. Most likely your manager will react (or “proact” if that’s even a word) based on these guidelines, or project requirements which is understandable. Sometimes they will remove you from a project early when you discuss plans to move. E.g. when I was working on a project in Infosys I let my manager know well in advance that I will go to US for MS so he removed me from the project and I was essentially on bench for 3 months enjoying life till I resigned for my move.
Personally I think you laid out your cards too quickly because you don’t even have the PR yet. Now you have to make sure you get the PR in case your manager reacts.
If you work for a small company for which it’s usually difficult to get new skilled people quickly (i.e. low turnover company), then things can be different. I work for such a company but I still haven’t told them about my PR. If I do have to leave US because of visa issues they have suggested they may let me work remotely from a different location. If your boss brings up the topic again and you sense danger, you can always suggest working remotely from Canada till US visa issues get sorted.
When I asked for this letter from manager I said I needed it for visa purposes and she didn’t ask me much details. This may be hard to do in a large company.
That being said, if you have a valid US work permit for a number of years, you shouldn’t have a problem finding a new job, esp in Bay Area (assuming you’re a techie), or moving temporarily to Canada on a work/student visa till PR is processed.