Quitting my Job

[Exocet 88]

Ok, I am hoping someone can help alleviate some stress for me!

On practically every document you see, it says that the intending immigrant should not quit their job, sell off assets, or make travel arrangements for moving until the visa is in hand. What I am specifically concerned about is the quitting my job part.

My situation: I teach at a college in a fairly rural part of Alberta, Canada. The collective agreement I signed when I was hired states that I have to give 6 weeks notice. It's getting really close to the beginning of the fall term.. and I want to give my notice so that I am not committing myself to the school term (Sept - Dec). It's hard for them to find qualified people to work in the middle of nowhere, and I feel this weird sense of obligation to my students

The real kicker is that I still haven't received my interview date. I am fairly certain it will be in September sometime, but even that would mean that if I give my notice at the beginning of August, I will likely be unemployed.

Other than the obvious reason of "it may take a long time to get your visa, and you will likely want to be paid in the meantime", is there some secret reason to why they tell you not to quit your job? If I show up for the interview unemployed, are they going to deny my visa for some reason?!

I have wanted to quit my job for the past 3 years anyway (I just don't have the passion for it anymore), but have held on to it because of this whole impending immigration stuff. I am so ready to be done with it! I have a huge feeling of dread thinking I will have to stay there, even if it's only for a month or something. Money isn't that big of a concern to my husband and I -- we can certainly stand for me to be unemployed for a few months while I transition to the US.

Any help would be appreciated!!!!

[ryna 132]

It won't affect you from a visa standpoint if you quit your job before receiving the visa. The advice is given so that you don't make plans with fixed dates (airline tickets, loss of income in home country, etc.) before having the visa in hand. And, in rare instances where a visa is never issued, the person would be out of work for nothing....

If you can afford NOT to work while waiting, however long that may be, you are free to quit. On the other hand, if you need to work, the visa is good for 6 months after issuance which is more than the 6 weeks notice you would be obligated to give your employer. It may just delay your entrance into the U.S. by a little more than you'd like but that's all. It's really totally up to you.

[gwenstar 66]

Your visa is not effected by your employment - or non employment. Don't worry about that!

The reason they tell you not to quit your job and all of that before visa is in hand is really that until the visa is in hand, you don't know what "might" happen. Like they are not going to encourage people to quit jobs/sell homes and then have people end up being in a bad spot.

Personally, given what you wrote about your employment - I would give them 6 weeks notice as you had agreed to in your contract and enjoy a break from working for bit!

Also, you may be eligible for EI if you are relocating to be with spouse/family. I don't know all of the conditions - but here is a link to service Canada and also a thread here on VJ.

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/information/outside_canada.shtml

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/8-the-canuck-ei-thread/

edit: just looked your timeline - wow - sorry it has taken so long! for sure take a couple months off! also - if you have any questions about EI, let me know.

Edited July 28, 2014 by gwenstar

[Exocet 88]

It won't affect you from a visa standpoint if you quit your job before receiving the visa. The advice is given so that you don't make plans with fixed dates (airline tickets, loss of income in home country, etc.) before having the visa in hand. And, in rare instances where a visa is never issued, the person would be out of work for nothing....

If you can afford NOT to work while waiting, however long that may be, you are free to quit. On the other hand, if you need to work, the visa is good for 6 months after issuance which is more than the 6 weeks notice you would be obligated to give your employer. It may just delay your entrance into the U.S. by a little more than you'd like but that's all. It's really totally up to you.

I did know of the 6 month timeframe for POE.. I just fear starting the term, and then being "stuck" there for 4 more months. On a personal level, I feel if I start the term I need to finish it. And I just don't know if I can mentally do that anymore.

I appreciate the information!

[subz 6]

in certain cases embassies/consulates put cases in administrative processing so you never know how much time it will take.. my suggestion would be not to quit until you have passport back with visa stamped.. visa is good for 6 months... so even after you get it, you can complete 6 weeks notice. it takes time to wrap things up and pack everything, immediate air tickets are more expensive so 6 week later ones are better I guess..

[Exocet 88]

Your visa is not effected by your employment - or non employment. Don't worry about that!

The reason they tell you not to quit your job and all of that before visa is in hand is really that until the visa is in hand, you don't know what "might" happen. Like they are not going to encourage people to quit jobs/sell homes and then have people end up being in a bad spot.

Personally, given what you wrote about your employment - I would give them 6 weeks notice as you had agreed to in your contract and enjoy a break from working for bit!

Also, you may be eligible for EI if you are relocating to be with spouse/family. I don't know all of the conditions - but here is a link to service Canada and also a thread here on VJ.

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/information/outside_canada.shtml

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/8-the-canuck-ei-thread/

edit: just looked your timeline - wow - sorry it has taken so long! for sure take a couple months off! also - if you have any questions about EI, let me know.

I will have to look into the EI thing. EI is often a messy business for teachers.. so I will have to scour everything I can for it. I got EI for a summer once when I was still living from teaching contract to teaching contract, and then I had to pay it all back because they said I shouldn't have got it in the first place. That was really stressful for me!

But thanks for the info! And I agree.. I think I just need to quit and breathe a sigh of relief. My hubs is just concerned that if may affect my visa somehow.. and after waiting this long, we don't want to screw anything up! It's been a very loooooong journey for us!

[Exocet 88]

in certain cases embassies/consulates put cases in administrative processing so you never know how much time it will take.. my suggestion would be not to quit until you have passport back with visa stamped.. visa is good for 6 months... so even after you get it, you can complete 6 weeks notice. it takes time to wrap things up and pack everything, immediate air tickets are more expensive so 6 week later ones are better I guess..

I have read of horror stories of admin processing after interview. From what I've read in the forums though, this hasn't been a huge issue with Canadians at Montreal. At least I hope!

[subz 6]

yeah lets hope you get it without AP.. all the best..

[CowBoE 429]

My fiancee also quit her work.

To be more precise, she was doing contract work for a US company in China,

and they wanted to extend the contract but living conditions in various far away

rural factory areas where she had to manage the production quality were not very good.

And she needed to be close to Shanghai to get all the paper work ready,

so she's getting a nice few months break (at my encouragement).

I can see this being a red flag if someone who's seeking tourist visa

is quitting job, selling assets, etc.

But for immigrant, I almost think its natural preparation. Though I would agree that

safer way is to not make any changes until visa is fully approved.

However, in your case, it seems like you were mentally ready to quit

even it wasn't for the visa processing. So enjoy the nice break, and

I'm pretty sure all will go well.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Nope..Consulate will not care! I was able to get EI as a Military guy....which can be hard to do as well, as we have a contract...I initially got denied..but appealed and won......But I think (don't know for certain) one can't quit too far in advance. If one does,then they could deny ones claim...and you could appeal. Now and then, one has to do what is best for you. Yes AP does not hapen to many Cdns, but it does happen. Especially if you were born in one of the countries that isnt on good terms with the USA. And have seen it with people that have certain education degrees--ones dealing with chemicals. All the best

[sharda 8]

If you would like to benefits for EI when you move, you might wanna wait for visa in hand before quitting as your resignation needs to say " resign to relocate with USC husband" before applying for EI when you moved.

Edited July 28, 2014 by sharda

[gwenstar 66]

I will have to look into the EI thing. EI is often a messy business for teachers.. so I will have to scour everything I can for it. I got EI for a summer once when I was still living from teaching contract to teaching contract, and then I had to pay it all back because they said I shouldn't have got it in the first place. That was really stressful for me!

But thanks for the info! And I agree.. I think I just need to quit and breathe a sigh of relief. My hubs is just concerned that if may affect my visa somehow.. and after waiting this long, we don't want to screw anything up! It's been a very loooooong journey for us!

Yeah - I totally understand not wanting anything to cause any more delay! Having to pay EI back sounds really stressful and annoying - that would make me so mad!! I imagine it is different for teachers, I mean, it has to do with wages and weeks worked calculations. Anyhow - it is a really nice fall back though, so if you have the time, I definitely recommend looking into it. After the whole visa experience, it is really nice for my husband to be able to chill a bit and settle into a new place and be able to look for a job that is well suited for him and not just have to take the very first thing that comes up.

I hope they schedule your interview super fast and everything goes smoothly. I am glad that you are finally in the home stretch! We had a really good experience with the interview and actually getting the visa in hand. There are some really good detailed instructions on the Montreal consulate reviews on how to make that day the quickest and least stressful. He got the actual visa about 7 calender days after the interview. One of the hardest parts was that trying to be reasonable but optimistic we scheduled to do POE for 5 weeks after the interview - so once he had the visa in hand after a week and COULD cross the border, it was really really hard to wait until the actual time we had scheduled travel!!

[pro_star 52]

Hey rural Alberta buddy!!

Hmm just a question though for anyone else who has gone through Montreal on the spousal visa - is it still massive wait times to get your appointment?

Just other things to look at...six weeks after your interview go by pretty darned quick between packing, organizing, making arrangements etc.

[gwenstar 66]

Hmm just a question though for anyone else who has gone through Montreal on the spousal visa - is it still massive wait times to get your appointment?

Interview was about 6 weeks after case complete. We got the notification of the date 4 weeks before the interview date.

[pro_star 52]

Okay. I just seem to recall hearing people comment on long wait times/impossibility to get an appointment though I wasn't sure if that was just a k1 issue or everyone. Thanks