Rylan Zolinski
Well-known member
I live in Canada and if I land a gig in the U.S., what sort of work permits do I need? Does anyone here have any experience with this?
What sort of permit do I need to work outside of Canada?
- Thread starter Rylan Zolinski
- Start date
Depends on what you'll be doing in the US. You may require a media visa or a temporary work visa. Media relates to news / doco. Temp for film, tvc, music vid etc and really needs to show funding from your country.
Essentially though, I highly doubt you could obtain a visa because you find a client across the border etc. You may be able to however if its an agency job that can demonstrate your skills are essential to the required piece of work.
Essentially though, I highly doubt you could obtain a visa because you find a client across the border etc. You may be able to however if its an agency job that can demonstrate your skills are essential to the required piece of work.
Do not try to circumvent this, either as a US citizen going into Canada or vice versa. You could end up loosing all your gear and being banned from entering the country. It is all up to the individual customs officer how much you could be punished if caught. Despite free trade, neither country will let citizens from the other work without a visa or other proper documentation. It is a big hassle and unless you've got a lot at stake, not worth it.
j1clark@ucsd.edu
Veteran
There are several classes of work visas. There's permanent resident aka Green Card, extremely hard to get. There's H1B for certain 'skill sets'... and Q1 for 'artistic exchange'. I'm sure there are others as well...
The US employer would have to sponsor these types of visas. I have read the Q1 is a popular one for such things as Filmmaking, music, etc. But also very limited and so hard to get.
In any case, don't come to LA on a 'tourist visa', then answer an ad for 'Need actors with authentic Canadian Accents'...