Permanent Residency/Expiring work permit

[psalmon]

hi, if any of you have any wisdom to share for my situation i'd really appreciate it! Here's some background....

My wife and I are currently working in Canada with temporary work permits. Hers is specific to her job (4212) and mine is open, based on her job. We have been here over three years and had two work permit extensions with new LMOs each time. About two years ago we applied for permanent residency and recently got a letter from them asking for some updated information about my wife's job and our financial status. We have provided that information. Our work permits expire in about a month and we haven't applied to extend them because we were hoping that the PR would be complete by now. If the PR doesn't go through before the work permits expire what should we do? Is there any way we can keep working until the PR comes through? My wife's employers are not keen to go through another LMO application as they've done it twice and they find it annoying to do. Any thoughts?

[scylla]

If your wife's current employers aren't willing to go through the LMO process again, then your only option is to find a new employer who is willing to file an LMO.

[adamishere]

hi, if any of you have any wisdom to share for my situation i'd really appreciate it! Here's some background....

My wife and I are currently working in Canada with temporary work permits. Hers is specific to her job (4212) and mine is open, based on her job. We have been here over three years and had two work permit extensions with new LMOs each time. About two years ago we applied for permanent residency and recently got a letter from them asking for some updated information about my wife's job and our financial status. We have provided that information. Our work permits expire in about a month and we haven't applied to extend them because we were hoping that the PR would be complete by now. If the PR doesn't go through before the work permits expire what should we do? Is there any way we can keep working until the PR comes through? My wife's employers are not keen to go through another LMO application as they've done it twice and they find it annoying to do. Any thoughts?

Hello,

A friend of mine gone through the same situation. He went to a laywer and applied for an extension as he was waiting for PR and his application was in process. if you applied before the expiry of your work permit, you can keep working as you will have implied status, which allows you to work till you receive a decision on the application for extension. if your work permit expired then you applied, you won't have the option to work.

All the best

[mitali]

Hello,

A friend of mine gone through the same situation. He went to a laywer and applied for an extension as he was waiting for PR and his application was in process. if you applied before the expiry of your work permit, you can keep working as you will have implied status, which allows you to work till you receive a decision on the application for extension. if your work permit expired then you applied, you won't have the option to work.

All the best

Hi adamishere,

I strongly believe that you have been misinformed regarding " continuing to work while under IMPLIED STATUS" .....One cannot work when in implied status, he has to wait till the LMO processing is through followed by the application for Work permit that has to be approved as well. But one can continue to live in Canada till the processing of such applications are in progress under Implied status. Employment ceases to exist once the WP expires and if positive LMO/New WP is not received.

The employer has to go through the process of extending the LMO ...by doing all the necessary actions- including advertisement and the minimum wait period , efforts to show that no Citizen or PR was found suitable for the job.....these are mandatory steps for having an LMO approved through HRSDC.

Mitali

[mitali]

hi, if any of you have any wisdom to share for my situation i'd really appreciate it! Here's some background....

My wife and I are currently working in Canada with temporary work permits. Hers is specific to her job (4212) and mine is open, based on her job. We have been here over three years and had two work permit extensions with new LMOs each time. About two years ago we applied for permanent residency and recently got a letter from them asking for some updated information about my wife's job and our financial status. We have provided that information. Our work permits expire in about a month and we haven't applied to extend them because we were hoping that the PR would be complete by now. If the PR doesn't go through before the work permits expire what should we do? Is there any way we can keep working until the PR comes through? My wife's employers are not keen to go through another LMO application as they've done it twice and they find it annoying to do. Any thoughts?

Hi psalmon,

Unfortunately, you or your spouse will not be able to work until you get your PR or a positive LMO and WP.

Explained the reason in the above post. You should apply for Extension of status as visitor before the expiry of your Work permit to retain your legal status (IMPORTANT). You need to maintain a legal status in Canada for your PR to go through (since your employer is not willing to apply for a fresh LMO and if you dont find another employer willing to apply for one).

You will be in IMPLIED status which is legal...and hopefully your PR will come through soon. Apply by paper application (the processing time is more....so you get to stay in Canada for longer period while you are waiting on your PR application).

Mitali

[psalmon]

thanks for the info guys - yeah we thought we'd have to apply for visitor visa and just have a break from work for a while - is it wise to wait until as close to the end of our work permit to apply for the visitor visa? how long are visitor visas good for?
Thanks

[mitali]

thanks for the info guys - yeah we thought we'd have to apply for visitor visa and just have a break from work for a while - is it wise to wait until as close to the end of our work permit to apply for the visitor visa? how long are visitor visas good for?
Thanks

Your application should reach there before the expiry of WP.....dont take chances...send it atleast 10 days ahead.

You will have to mention for how long you want the visitor status for. You will have to show that you have enough funds to support yourself and family. Generally a 6month Visitor visa is granted.

Mitali

[adamishere]

Hi adamishere,

I strongly believe that you have been misinformed regarding " continuing to work while under IMPLIED STATUS" .....One cannot work when in implied status, he has to wait till the LMO processing is through followed by the application for Work permit that has to be approved as well. But one can continue to live in Canada till the processing of such applications are in progress under Implied status. Employment ceases to exist once the WP expires and if positive LMO/New WP is not received.

The employer has to go through the process of extending the LMO ...by doing all the necessary actions- including advertisement and the minimum wait period , efforts to show that no Citizen or PR was found suitable for the job.....these are mandatory steps for having an LMO approved through HRSDC.

Mitali

Hi Mitali,

I am 100% sure if you have an open work permit and you applied for extension before the expiry, you can continue to work legally. My wife was studying in Canada and she finished a year ago. She applied for post graduate visa before the expiration of her study permit. My employer contacted the immigration office and they confirmed that I can work till our application, work permit, reaches a decision. My wife could not work at that point as she maintained her study permit conditions. Thats my own experience.
In his case, I am sure he can maintain working till he receives the visitor record. However his wife won't be able to work as her closed work permit is set to one employer only.
Immigration rules and regulations change very often. Things might have been changed since I did this. My advice is to contact QUarex as his more noligable with immigration rules than myself.
Have a great weekend.

[psalmon]

Ok thanks for the advice guys: we'd pretty much decided to apply for a visitor visa but if we do that our employers can't guarantee that they'll be able to hold our jobs open until the PR comes through: is that likely to have a negative effect on our PR application? We had to send documents about my wife's job to Buffalo before Christmas stating that it was a permanent job and her wages etc. if my wife was forced then to resin from that job is it gonna mess up our PR application? Thanks.