Hello, I am a professor with a Ph.D (not sure if level of education is important in terms of determining visa needs) and wish to do research in Canada. This question is obviously about myself, but I have tried to phrase it in a general manner, in order to benefit people with similar questions.

Does a person need a Canadian work permit if he or she is a United States citizen doing scientific research in Canada for 11 months? The person will be paid by their U.S. College to do this research (no funds will be paid by any Canadian company or organization) and the research will be conducted at a Canadian University (specifically the University of British Columbia). Also, will that individual's spouse (who won't be working) and/or children need any special visa or permit? I am curious whether these things should be worked out in advance or if they can be worked out at the border and what documents should be brought before trying to cross the US-Canadian border. A letter from the Canadian University? From the U.S. College? etc.? Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

A work permit is required under the circumstances that you describe. It would be expected that such a work permit would be exempt from the requirement of Service Canada Confirmation under the provisions of either NAFTA or Significant Benefit to Canada. Dependents may need study permits to study in Canada; a non-working spouse may seek admission as a visitor and may extend the duration of such a visitor record from within Canada.

US citizens are eligible to process these types of work permits at a port of entry or at one of the 6 visa offices handling such cases in the USA. Certain provinces also have centralized foreign worker processing offices that can handle advanced decisions for port of entry cases.