URGENT: CEC App Refused - Officer mistakenly assumed Work Exp under Co-op

[Pouce]

Hi sorry to hear that.  if i were you, i will get a valid work permit right away.  ask your employer to file LMO. you dont need to use lawyer its simple.
but i dont understand do you still have valid off campus work permit? you graduated few years ago?

[Ed604]

Ok, well then the work permit type is wrong! Under that work permit you are not allowed to work more than 20 hours per week! I guess the one way to get around this is now to get letters from your employers as a valid full time work and try tp prove it to immigration and see if you can still get a post graduation work permit? I am not sure If you can but you should look into it. I am sorry man, this is a unique and a little complicated case. May be you should call cic first of all and tell them all this and see what they say! if no hope then send an e-mail to the VO you applied to with updated job reference letters from employers. I hope that will work and if it doesn't unfortunatley, then I am sorry to inform you that you are gonna have to start from scratch by building up work experience. But for starters get this visa status changed somehow.

Yes, we have gathered all employment letters from employers and sent that in, along with the lawyer's letter. Thanks so much, umairz!

[Ed604]

Hi sorry to hear that.  if i were you, i will get a valid work permit right away.  ask your employer to file LMO. you dont need to use lawyer its simple.
but i dont understand do you still have valid off campus work permit? you graduated few years ago?

Thanks, Pouce. I'll try to get that changed right away!

[jes_ON]

Can you tell us when you graduated?  And when did your study permit expire?   I just don't see how they would have renewed an off-campus/co-op work permit without your having a valid study permit.

See, the worst part of this is, technically, since graduation (or 90 days after graduation), it sounds like you have been living and working in Canada without authorization.  CIC not only has the right to refuse your CEC application, but based on what you've told us, they could deport you.  I doubt that will happen so I don't mean to stress you out, just think you should be aware of all the implications.

I would like to think that CIC could see this as an error of technicality rather than intent, and there would be some scope to make amends and correct the error, but I really don't know how you would go about that - this is one of the few circumstances I would actually I would suggest you see an immigration lawyer... unfortunately it sounds like the lawyer you do have is not a specialist in immigration law.  Perhaps your lawyer knows someone...

And no, I've never seen anyone talk about this problem in this forum, but I'm sure it's happened. 

[Ed604]

Can you tell us when you graduated?  And when did your study permit expire?   I just don't see how they would have renewed an off-campus/co-op work permit without your having a valid study permit.

See, the worst part of this is, technically, since graduation (or 90 days after graduation), it sounds like you have been living and working in Canada without authorization.  CIC not only has the right to refuse your CEC application, but based on what you've told us, they could deport you.  I doubt that will happen so I don't mean to stress you out, just think you should be aware of all the implications.

I would like to think that CIC could see this as an error of technicality rather than intent, and there would be some scope to make amends and correct the error, but I really don't know how you would go about that - this is one of the few circumstances I would actually I would suggest you see an immigration lawyer... unfortunately it sounds like the lawyer you do have is not a specialist in immigration law.  Perhaps your lawyer knows someone...

And no, I've never seen anyone talk about this problem in this forum, but I'm sure it's happened. 

Immigration gave me a work permit that expires years after my graduation. But thanks for your thoughts and input!

[jes_ON]

Interesting...  Well good luck and let us know how it goes.

[ujbaby]

I agree with JES_ON. it makes me wonder as well.  After graduation, u only apply for post graduate work permit and during the application process, ur school have to verify to immigration that u have graduated and succeeded in the program, then u will scan or copy ur diploma or degree etc and send everything to immigration including ur final school transcript and recent study permit. After all these, u will be issued a post graduate work permit. I applied for my post graduate work permit online and i waited for almost 3 months b4 i got a response
 Ed604, did u do all these??? what does ur work permit says? u need to call immigration and verify what they issued u.