so im stressing out quite a bit right now
long story short, im a UK citizen who has been in canada for the last year on an open one year working visa. i recently married my canadian wife back in the UK in july and we are now sending off the forms for permanent residence and to extend my stay so that i can continue to work while the whole process is going through
my current visa expires on august 15th. we've got everything together apart from the police checks. i lived in korea so im waiting on my police check from there which should be here by the end of the month. i will get my police check from the UK by the end of next week.
ive spoken to quite a few people at the immigration call centre. the first person said that i would have to leave the country by august 15th or extend my stay as a visitor. but then i cant work and i cant afford to sit around for 9 months waiting for it to be processed!
the next person i spoke to said to send the application in before my current visa expires and attach a cover letter explaining the situation with the police checks. she said its at the discretion of the visa officer whether or not to accept the application without the police checks at the moment. thing is, we obviously dont want to pay the fee to get it all processed then have it refused because the police checks arent there with the initial application.
has anyone heard of this happening before? what do you think the chances are of them being willing to wait a couple of weeks until the police check comes through? i really dont want to leave canada as I have a decent job, recently married and want to get myself established in canada with my new wife.
any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Are you planning to apply inland or overseas? My assumption is inland based on your statement that you want to stay in Canada and continue working. Follow the advice of the agent who advised you to send the application without the police certificates with an explanatory letter advising that they will come in a couple of weeks. Once you have received them, send them both together with your Client ID written on the front of the envelope and PLEASE ATTACH TO INLAND SPOUSAL SPONSORSHIP APPLICATION. In order for you to stay in status, you also must include the Open Work Permit application and the fee for it WITH your inland spousal sponsorship application and it must be received in Vegreville not later than August 15th.
If you are planning to apply via the overseas method, there is no option for you to continue working and you would have to apply for a Change of Conditions to your temporary status from worker to visitor (unless your employer has a positive LMO to keep you employed). The spousal sponsorship application will go to CPC Mississauga (with the same letter advising that police certificates are coming later) and the Change of Conditions application goes to Vegreville. The CoC application must be received no later than the 15th of August. But you must stop working as of that date. If overseas is your choice, I would just wait until I received the police checks before sending the spousal sponsorship application to Mississauga.
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