Great news waiting!

Getting the fast track permit means he has cleared the initial vetting, and as long as the employer is in good standing and the documentation is in order, and no Bermudians come forward for the job you can have cautious optimism the one-year permit will come through.

Make a copy of his passport, your marriage certificate and have him fax you a copy of the work permit for your entry into Bermuda.  When you arrive at the Immigration desk (your first stop after the queue in the airport), look the person in the eye, smile, say exactly this: "Good afternoon, how ya doin?".  The preceding is a rhetorical question, and demonstrates you understand the basics of the Bermudian greeting.  Hand them the above documents along with your passport, and your arrival card (which you will receive on the plane).  Allow them to puzzle through them, as if you expect it to make perfect sense to them without your input - they are the expert after all.  Answer any questions simply and honestly - if you plan to be staying until your husband leaves, just say that.  If you plan to return to Canada in 30 days to organize further affairs, tell them.

They will sort out your entry and you will be fine.  The system usually works smoothly as long as the paperwork is correct.

Good luck, and as fmwt says, "have fun"...

wating, you must understand that you will have to apply to the Ministry for "permission to seek employment", before you even begin to look for work.  Spousal consideration is for you to stay with him, not an automatic process to start your own work permit adventure.

So, it looks like you are in order.  Remember to say, "good afternoon, howyadoin?", while smiling and looking them right in the eyes. 

Hello there Waiting?

This was what happened to me:
My husband and I arrived in Bermuda together under his temporary (fast-tracked) work permit and I was named as the dependent.  A requirement for entry was that we both had return tickets (3 months down the line) just in case immigration did not approve of the 2-year work permit.  When we arrived in Bermuda and went through the entry point, we were taken to a small room and met with some important Bermudian.  (Custom/immigration/who knows?  We were both tired after flying all day) He reiterated that I would not be allowed to work until I received my permission to seek.  He stated that I could only be on the island for the 21 days as a visitor, and then I would have to apply for an extension.  He stated that I could only apply for 2 extensions and then I would have to leave the island.  But he qualified that saying that if that did indeed happen, I could fly to New York for a weekend and come back and start fresh.  Although it never came to that.  I had to get 2 extensions to stay and my husband's work permit was approved after 3 months on the island.  About a month after his work permit was approved I was officially given permission to seek.  So to sum up 4 months after the move I had permission to seek employment.

But what still bothers me is that I COULD HAVE APPLIED FOR MY OWN WORK PERMIT before we left Canada.  My husband's employer specifically told me that I was not allowed to do so.  However, my employer now has said that yes, I should have applied before I came to Bermuda. 

This is a common complaint from other ex-pats that we have met here.  I have met many people for whom it took a year before they were able to work here since they came as a dependent to their spouse.  We were deliberately told that it would take 3 months for me to find a job, which really was a flat out lie.  Had we known then what we know now, we would not have come to Bermuda when we did (although we likely would never have come in the first place...but I digress).  We would have waited for both of us to accept a job and then both come on our own permits.  Just something to consider.

Oh and in re-reading your post, no you cannot apply for permission to seek, until he is on an official permit.  And in our case, it was my husband's employer who applied for my permission to seek. 

I hope that I haven't upset you with my long post.  I have had many, many bad experiences here in Bermuda and the majority of them have had to do with the lies that we were fed about the whole work situation.  But once I was able to work, things seemed much better.  And although there are some really bad Bermuda Sucks days when you just can't wait to get on this website, there are also some great days.  One bit of off-topic advice though, make sure that you do make some Bermudian friends.  It does change/enhance the experience more so than when you just hang around ex-pats. 

Anyway, continue to keep us updated on your situation. 

See it's been a couple of years, so my memory is a bit unclear on this...but i remember that i applied for permission to seek employment at the same time that my wife was applying for her permit.  we both recieved our confirmations at the same time.

CC

careful...if you can get copies of your x-rays...cuz after about three months here...and landing a job...they all of a sudden "lost" my x-rays and other documents for when it came time for me to apply for a permit.  they said that i would have to get it all done again.  I asked if they had checked my wife's file since i applied through hers....they called back after two days to say they didn't need anything anymore...lol...gotta love the competency.


CC