Go ahead, trust your boss

Mr. O and I went out to celebrate, oh, it must have been the Friday before last. The occasion: holding his new contract in his hot little hand. Note, I didn't say "signed" his contract, and I should also mention he had put out an ultimatum to his "agent" a few days previous, that if, after over a month of waiting, he didn't have a contract by the end of the week he wanted to move on to other options. (Stockholm still haunts him, too.)

So he got his contract, and we had our dinner, and little has happened since. Last week the HR contact sent him some half-filled forms (which, he pointed out, had a few too many spelling mistakes, kinda like his driver's license, but I digress). He sent them back completed, with a request to have the HR contact call him so they could speak directly. The person was supposed to be at the original contract meeting, but couldn't make it, so they have never actually met.

According to the forms, the company has at least one other person employed under a foreign work visa, so this process should be at least somewhat familiar to the person in charge. It doesn't seem that way, though. Aside from the painfully slow pace (if they had filed the forms when they offered him the position at the end of November, he would be working there now), Mr. O is starting to get a bit anxious as to whether he can trust the employer to fill out the forms correctly, that is, in such a way that the government will in fact approve the application, which is still not a given.

Before he went in to get his contract, Mr. O called a CIC agent who advised him to send the papers to Vegreville for in-country processing, despite the fact that, as his job is on the National Occupation List, he is eligible for concurrent processing - which is only available via foreign offices, i.e. CHC in London. The woman asked him to append a letter explaining this to his application, info he passed on to the new employer, but which hasn't been done.

All of this - plus the prospect of being left without a job should the app not go through - has Mr. O in a bit of a panic, and rightly so: How do you trust an inexperienced/overworked person you've never met with your future?