Palestine, has a social insurance number and a job. He did not have any difficulty obtaining employment due to his immigration status. However, non-resident participants in this study spoke about their lack of financial stability as well as the difficulty in obtaining employment when they do not hold legal documents to work, such as a Canadian work permit and social insurance number. “I came… here with USD 5,000. So that’s everything I had and I paid for the rent, the food, for the hospital, for the hotel many times. Then I ran out of my savings. I had to move many times, I had to take taxis, it’s very expensive here. It was very stressful… I was so panicked. What would I do when I have no money? I can’t work yet. So I was stressed all the time.” [Farah] Stateless persons who do not hold a work permit are often forced to work for low pay in informal jobs, and are sometimes taken advantage of by their employers. “If I had a status I would have been getting paid more for sure. One girl I was working for, when she kind of realized my situation, she immediately dropped my wage down, which I had no choice but to be okay with that because I had nowhere else to work.” [Katerina] “[My husband] worked like two times, go paint house, work under table, the man because he knew my husband didn’t have paper, he don’t give him even one dollar. This has happened more than one time.” [Noor] Dave has lived most of his life in Canada, however, he spoke to the precariousness of working, and the need to adapt to spontaneous, informal job opportunities. Dave must take informal jobs because he cannot prove his identity or obtain a social insurance number or work permit. “There’s no reason for anybody to starve if they’re willing to work. There’s always work. You follow the transportation industry, the big trucks, guys coming in to Ottawa from Florida with a shipment of oranges. Grocery stores don’t unload the trucks, the drivers have to. The truck driver is tired, he just drove 24 hours to get it there, so he hires somebody for $150 to unload the trailer. It’d take me an hour and a half, it was done, and I’d have CAD 150, and away I go.” [Dave] For those stateless persons who are able to apply for a work permit, the application process itself can be a source of stress due to high application fees, long wait times for decisions, and rejections. “[I do not] get work permit yet. [I] applied the first time and it was rejected—four times actually.” [Fatima] “I was on welfare because my first work permit took months to receive. By the time I received it I started through agencies because I don’t know country and companies. Agencies were sending me for minimum wage, 11 bucks an hour, doing very hard labour.” [Razam] 21