Hi my name is Kyle and I am an Australian Citizen living in Canada. I have an IEC Working Holiday visa at the moment which expires on April 22nd 2015 and I am currently employed as a labourer. My wife (Canadian) currently has her Australian Permanent Residency Application being processed which hopefully will be approved within the next 2 months, but we are not sure when it will be approved. I need to stay in Canada and work while we wait for my wife's approval for Australia. I have 2 trade certificates but I am not currently working in those fields.
My questions are:
What is my best option to stay and work?
Does it make any difference that I am married to a Canadian Citizen?
Could I explain my situation to a border officer at a point of entry and see if they can give me at least a 6 month work permit?
Can I re-apply for another IEC working holiday permit within Canada?
No - being married to a Canadian citizen won't help. No - you can't go to the border and request a six month work permit.
Your options are:
1) Apply for a new IEC if you qualify.
2) Have your employer obtain an approved LMIA and then apply for a closed work permit. (Note that if your employer doesn't already have an approved LMIA then it's too late to go with this options since LMIAs take a number of months to obtain.)
Alternatively you can also change your status to visitor in Canada, stop working once your IEC expires and remain in Canada as a (non working) visitor until it's time to leave.
