Ah, so, yes...

Shelly, the soft-shelled turtle at Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller

Okay, so I promised to tell you about the job right here at the Best Western Inn & Suites South Edmonton (can I just shorten that to BWISSETON?) and whether or not I got it. Well... I don't know! Let me explain how it works for me.

In contrast to people who arrive in this country with a permanent residency and are able to then do whatever the jellybeans they like, I can only enter this country on a Temporary Work Visa. This has to do with the points system used to get a PR and for which I never get enough. I believe right now you need a total of about 67 points which are made up of age, languages spoken, education, line of work, work experience and a few more things. And even though my languages push it right up there, my lack of education plus my line of work and work experience just leave me short one or two points. I am of course the nicest person in the whole wide world and am willing and able to do a lot of things, but that won't help me get accepted with a PR. So, I need a TWV.

Calgary

In order for me to get a TWV, I need a job. Of course my preferred job would be something in the bus industry like a busdriver or a scheduler, but both those jobs are low-skilled (don't ask) and even though they are much in demand here, especially further up north, I wouldn't be able to change my TWV into a PR after a few years. Which is my goal. So, I have to go back to an earlier job of hotel receptionist or front desk agent, which is also low-skilled. However this job would enable me to change the TWV into a PR after a few years. And once I've got my PR I could whatever I like.

Getting back to the Temporary Work Visa though. Because I need a job for that. A guaranteed job. Which means I've been job hunting for the first time in over a decade, pounding the pavement of Edmonton and Red Deer, handing out resumés and hoping some good will come of it. And as you know I had a short meeting with the manager of the hotel I am staying in. I could tell he was interested, after all, I am the nicest person in the whole wide world and willing... you get the drift. However, him being interested isn't enough. He has to offer me a job. And in order for him to offer me the job we need one more thing: a Labour Market Opinion or LMO for short.

Garden at Government Building in Banff

When a company wants to hire me (or any foreigner), it has to apply for an LMO which basically is an official piece of paper stating that the company hasn't been able to find a Canadian to do the job I would be willing to do. It takes between 1 and 2 months to process an LMO, but basically, if a company is willing to try for an LMO, I've got the job and it would then give me between 1 and 2 months to get everything sorted in the Netherlands.

So, what does all of this have to do with the BWISSETON? Well, the initial interest is there, but the manager has to pass my details on to the owner of the hotel to see if he is willing to submit for an LMO. They have done in the past, so at least that is a good thing, but now they would have to do so for me. If the owner is willing to apply for an LMO for me, I can quit my job and my home, start packing, get the monsters a health thingymebob, get the tickets and sort everything else out as well. Once I've got the LMO itself I need to go to the Canadian Embassy in Berlin (another trip, yeah) to get my passport sorted, fly out here and get my stuff validated and then I can work for as long as the TWV is valid. If however, the job proves to be awful and I would want another job, I would need to through the whole thing again: switching jobs with an LMO is a massive no-no!

So, that's it in a nutshell, albeit quite a large nutshell. Any questions?