Hi,

The Whitehorse Suzuki violin association is unable to find a permanent violin instructor, so the 30+ violin students in the community rely on visiting violin teachers who come about once a month.

I live in Alaska and wish to participate in this program. They too want me to come.
In fact I did this for a week last year but did not charge anything because I did not have a work permit.

The way the program works is thus: the Suzuki association gets grants to pay travel expenses of the visiting teachers. Then each student/family pays the teachers directly for lessons.

All the other teachers are Canadian so the local association is unsure about the rules for United States citizens. They offered me an honorarium but I turned it down because I didn't want to jeopardize a work permit in the future.

Is it legal for me to accept money for teaching private violin lessons?

Thank you,
Susie

If you work in Canada, as a general rule, a work permit is needed. The acceptance of a fee is not the only factor in deciding what constitutes this requirement; if such work competes with Canadians in the marketplace, regardless of the acceptance of a fee or wage, a work permit may be needed.