Need urgent advise from Senior Members regarding OWP expiry and marriage

[fahad83]

I am in a really difficult situation and I really appreciate If any senior members can guide me correctly.
I am currently in canada on openwork permit but its expiring in April 15th 2017, now I am planning to get married to my girlfriend who is a canadian citizen but due to some of her family circumstances, I cannot get married before June 2017.

Now I know after my workvisa expires I will get 90 days to renew my status or exit the country, SO my question is can I avail this 90days grace period to stay in canada without filing for a new status and once I get married in June i will apply for workvisa and immigration application along with implied status application to resume my work till i get my new workpermit (Correct me if I am wrong on this)

I meet my girlfriend in university are we are south asian from a conservative family, although we both are adults she still follow her parents words, initially due to my immigration status and not having a decent job her parents were not agreeing on our marriage It took me too much time to get their approval and now they agreed and wants to do this in a traditional way in canada but in June 2017.
But my workpermit is expiring in April 2017 they are not understanding my situation and now I am also afraid this marriage might look like a marriage of convenience to the visa officer.

Please advise me I want to apply for immigration as an inland applicant and dont wanna leave Canada what are my options? will I still be able to work after my visa expires if I file for implied status with in 90 days while processing my workvisa and immigration application.

 

[sylvain1]

I am in a really difficult situation and I really appreciate If any senior members can guide me correctly.
I am currently in canada on openwork permit but its expiring in April 15th 2017, now I am planning to get married to my girlfriend who is a canadian citizen but due to some of her family circumstances, I cannot get married before June 2017.

Now I know after my workvisa expires I will get 90 days to renew my status or exit the country, SO my question is can I avail this 90days grace period to stay in canada without filing for a new status and once I get married in June i will apply for workvisa and immigration application along with implied status application to resume my work till i get my new workpermit (Correct me if I am wrong on this)

I meet my girlfriend in university are we are south asian from a conservative family, although we both are adults she still follow her parents words, initially due to my immigration status and not having a decent job her parents were not agreeing on our marriage It took me too much time to get their approval and now they agreed and wants to do this in a traditional way in canada but in June 2017.
But my workpermit is expiring in April 2017 they are not understanding my situation and now I am also afraid this marriage might look like a marriage of convenience to the visa officer.

Please advise me I want to apply for immigration as an inland applicant and dont wanna leave Canada what are my options? will I still be able to work after my visa expires if I file for implied status with in 90 days while processing my workvisa and immigration application.

To be on implied status, you must submit the renewal of your current status before it expires. The 90 days you are referring to is for restoration of status, but during the processing for restoration of status, you are not on implied status and cannot continue to work. So I would suggest you to apply for an extension of your work permit before it expires, probably in the first week of April. Until you get an answer from IRCC, you will be on implied status; you will be legally here in Canada and will be allowed to continue working. I would suggest you to apply on paper as it takes much more time then online application (so you will not receive your answer before the wedding, in case it would be refused). After the wedding, apply as soon as possible for the certificate and check whether there is a rush service in your province. As soon as you get the certificate, you apply for inland spouse sponsorship.

 

[fahad83]

To be on implied status, you must submit the renewal of your current status before it expires. The 90 days you are referring to is for restoration of status, but during the processing for restoration of status, you are not on implied status and cannot continue to work. So I would suggest you to apply for an extension of your work permit before it expires, probably in the first week of April. Until you get an answer from IRCC, you will be on implied status; you will be legally here in Canada and will be allowed to continue working. I would suggest you to apply on paper as it takes much more time then online application (so you will not receive your answer before the wedding, in case it would be refused). After the wedding, apply as soon as possible for the certificate and check whether there is a rush service in your province. As soon as you get the certificate, you apply for inland spouse sponsorship.

Thanks for your response, My employer is not sponsoring me and so I donot have any means of sponsorship to apply for my workpermit extension then how should I apply for implied status? ( if there is another way please let me know)

If I stop work till June and once I get married file my spouse sponsorship and open workpermit application and then file for implied status at-least then I would have a valid reason to apply for it? (what do you think)

That way my status would be restored and then I can resume my work on implied status till I get my new workpermit
Please advise....am I wrong on this...

 

[sylvain1]

Thanks for your response, but I do not have the sponsorship to apply for my workpermit extention then how should I apply for implied status?
Can I stop work till June and once I get married file my spouse sponsorship and open workpermit application and then file for implied status atleast then I would have a valid reason to apply for it? that way my status would be restored and then I can resume my work on implied status till I get my new workpermit
Please advise....

No, you cannot apply for implied status. If you let your current work permit expire, you won't be able to work until you will get a new work permit approved.

 

[fahad83]

No, you cannot apply for implied status. If you let your current work permit expire, you won't be able to work until you will get a new work permit approved.

For now I am not eligible for IEC conditional acceptance letter or LMO sponsorship, so I cannot apply for implied status right now.
So what I am thinking is after my marriage I am eligible for a spousal sponsorship right? Can I not apply for restoration of my status with in 90 days of my work visa expiry with the help of my spousal sponsorship.

You get what I am trying to saying here right. like spousal sponsorship is also a sponsorship technically right! So can I not go on implied status on the basis's of it. And it the same time apply for renewal of my openwork permit.

 

[scylla]

Thanks for your response, My employer is not sponsoring me and so I donot have any means of sponsorship to apply for my workpermit extension then how should I apply for implied status? ( if there is another way please let me know)

If I stop work till June and once I get married file my spouse sponsorship and open workpermit application and then file for implied status at-least then I would have a valid reason to apply for it? (what do you think)

That way my status would be restored and then I can resume my work on implied status till I get my new workpermit
Please advise....am I wrong on this...

That's not how implied status works. You can't apply for implied status.

If you want to keep your status legal in Canada after your work permit expires, apply to change your status to visitor before your work permit expires. This will allow you to stay in Canada legally as a visitor. Of course you will need to stop working on the expiry date of your work permit.

 

[fahad83]

That's not how implied status works. You can't apply for implied status.

If you want to keep your status legal in Canada after your work permit expires, apply to change your status to visitor before your work permit expires. This will allow you to stay in Canada legally as a visitor. Of course you will need to stop working on the expiry date of your work permit.

Hi Scylla
Thanks for your response now I am very confused on this. I read on CIC website that I have 90 days to restore my status. In order to restore my status I need either LMIA or IEC conditional acceptance letter. But if I get married with in 90 days time frame technically my spouse is also my sponsor right! because you can apply for open work permit as an inland applicant on the basis of spouse visa.

so can I not apply for my restoration on her sponsorship as well?? I already have OWP if i can applying to restore it within 90days? why should I change my status to visit visa.

Please explain this its very confusing to me...........

 

[Rob_TO]

Hi Scylla
Thanks for your response now I am very confused on this. I read on CIC website that I have 90 days to restore my status. In order to restore my status I need either LMIA or IEC conditional acceptance letter. But if I get married with in 90 days time frame technically my spouse is also my sponsor right! so can I not apply for my restoration on her sponsorship?? I already have OWP if i can applying to restore it within 90days? why should I change my status to visit visa.

No, that's not how it works. If you are on IEC/working holiday visa that is a non-extendable working status.

Once your current work visa expires, you must stop working. Since you don't qualify yet for any other work status, you must apply to change your current status to VISITOR status if you want to stay in the country.

After you get married, get the marriage certificate and then finish the INLAND PR application, you can submit an OWP app only if you're in current legal status. After approx 4 months you'll get the OWP.

If you let your status expire and apply for PR within 90 days, you can submit a restoration of status along with PR app and OWP app.

If you let your status exipre and can't apply for PR for more than 90 days, then you are here illegally so can't restore status and can't apply for OWP until stage 1 approval (so probably 8+ months later).

Don't let your status expire. Apply to change status to visitor and prepare to stop working when your current visa expires.

 

[fahad83]

No, that's not how it works. If you are on IEC/working holiday visa that is a non-extendable working status.

Once your current work visa expires, you must stop working. Since you don't qualify yet for any other work status, you must apply to change your current status to VISITOR status if you want to stay in the country.

After you get married, get the marriage certificate and then finish the INLAND PR application, you can submit an OWP app only if you're in current legal status. After approx 4 months you'll get the OWP.

If you let your status expire and apply for PR within 90 days, you can submit a restoration of status along with PR app and OWP app.

If you let your status exipre and can't apply for PR for more than 90 days, then you are here illegally so can't restore status and can't apply for OWP until stage 1 approval (so probably 8+ months later).

Don't let your status expire. Apply to change status to visitor and prepare to stop working when your current visa expires.

Thanks for the clarification, so to summarize you are saying that If I let my visa expire but still manage to get marriage certificate and apply for my PR and workvisa within 90days time frame I am good!

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks for the clarification, so to summarize you are saying that If I let my visa expire but still manage to get marriage certificate and apply for my PR and workvisa within 90days time frame I am good!

Technically yes, although it's probably not a good idea to let your status expire since you would then be here illegally. Big risk is that even if you got the PR app + Restoration of status app + OWP app all submitted within 90 days, if there was any minor error in any app that caused IRCC to send the entire package back to you to re-do, this may then push you past the 90 days and make you ineligible for restoration or the OWP.

Application to change your status to visitor is $100.
If you let your status expire then app to restore your status is $200.

 

[fahad83]

Technically yes, although it's probably not a good idea to let your status expire since you would then be here illegally. Big risk is that even if you got the PR app + Restoration of status app + OWP app all submitted within 90 days, if there was any minor error in any app that caused IRCC to send the entire package back to you to re-do, this may then push you past the 90 days and make you ineligible for restoration or the OWP.

Application to change your status to visitor is $100.
If you let your status expire then app to restore your status is $200.

If I change my status to visitor I wont be able to work till I get my new workpermit which means I wont be able to work for like 5 to 6 months.

 

[Rob_TO]

If I change my status to visitor I wont be able to work till I get my new workpermit which means I wont be able to work for like 5 to 6 months.

Ya but it's the same if you just let your status expire, you still won't be able to work until you get the OWP.

There is no way for you to continue working beyond the expiration of your current work status, until you get the OWP.

 

[fahad83]

Ya but it's the same if you just let your status expire, you still won't be able to work until you get the OWP.

There is no way for you to continue working beyond the expiration of your current work status, until you get the OWP.

Will i still wont be able to work if I apply for restoration of workpermit status?
Also tell me how would I be able to apply for visit visa once my workvisa expires? how should I justify this infront of visa officer. And who would sponsor me for a visit visa? if i ask my inlaws technically I am proving to visa officer that I am doing all this to stay permanently in canada and the very basis of visit visa is to justify the officer that you will leave the country once your time is up.
Any advise on this......

 

[abrakadabra]

Will i still wont be able to work if I apply for restoration of workpermit status?
Also tell me how would I be able to apply for visit visa once my workvisa expires? how should I justify this infront of visa officer. And who would sponsor me for a visit visa? if i ask my inlaws technically I am proving to visa officer that I am doing all this to stay permanently in canada and the very basis of visit visa is to justify the officer that you will leave the country once your time is up.
Any advise on this......

maybe look into going to school, study permit allows to work part-time

 

[Rob_TO]

Will i still wont be able to work if I apply for restoration of workpermit status?

No. Once your current IEC expires it is done. Finished. Over. There is nothing to restore as the IEC is non-extendable.

The only way to keep status beyond your current work visa, is to change it to visitor status because that is all you would qualify for. Only once you actually get your OWP, can you start working again. Until the OWP arrives you would just be on visitor status.

Also tell me how would I be able to apply for visit visa once my workvisa expires? how should I justify this infront of visa officer. And who would sponsor me for a visit visa? if i ask my inlaws technically I am proving to visa officer that I am doing all this to stay permanently in canada and the very basis of visit visa is to justify the officer that you will leave the country once your time is up.
Any advise on this......

You don't need a sponsor for visitor status. Just explain truthfully why you want to change your status to visitor (you want to get married here in June) and show that you have ample funds to cover yourself during this time.