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4+ months and still no OWP! [Spousal Sponsorship - July Inland]

Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
Hey guys! First time posting here and I hope someone could shed some light in my situation.
So here is he thing:
I'm brazilian and married to a Canadian citizen.
We moved to Canada this year and applied for my PR through spousal sponsorship (inland).
So far we are living together in Burnaby BC, I only have a visitor status.
My sponsorship application was received July 12th 2019 and I was told that I could also apply for a OWP at the same time. I did the application all by myself but we hired an immigration lawyer to review it before we sent it.
The main PR process seems to be doing fine, I even got medical exams requested last week. (YAY!)
But I realized that my OWP is stuck. I was browsing through the 2019 Spousal/Common Law Tracker spreadsheet and noticed that even some applicants from September are getting their OWP approved.
I know that each process is different and I shouldn't be comparing, but this is nuts.
We're all in the same boat here and I don't need to stress how difficult it is to live with only one income.
I'm still not able to link my OWP application to my online account.
I've tried calling IRCC but apparently they can't access my OWP app because it hasn't been entered in the system yet.
I've reached them via web form an I got the following response:
______________________________________________________________________________________
Wed, Oct 30, 12:51 PM
Thank you for contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

We have received your sponsorship application and it will be processed according to the date it was received.

If further information is needed, the responsible office may contact you.

Please visit our website to see how long it may take to process your application or our Help Centre for more information.

Furthermore, since we know that sponsoring or being sponsored by your spouse or common-law partner is an important event in your life, we want to ensure that you have all the information and tools at your disposal to make this process as easy and enjoyable as possible.

As of December 22, 2014, open work permits may be issued to eligible applicants under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class at an earlier stage in processing if they meet certain criteria. We verified the information on file. However, it has been determined that you do not meet the eligibility criteria.

Your application for the open work permit remains valid and will be processed once your sponsorship application is approved in principle.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Based on that I understand that I my profile doesn't fit their "criteria" to get an earlier OWP.

So I checked their criteria on IRCC website (link below):

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/special-initiatives-pilot-project/partner.html

And it seems that I do fit all of their requirements. My question is:

Is there any chance they may have made a mistake? Can I somehow appeal this decision so I could speed up the process for my OWP?

I reached them again via web form asking for details on why my profile didn't match their criteria and if they can clarify on which exact requirement I was denied. That was on November 1st and they stopped responding.

I know I could just wait until my sponsorship got AIP. But who knows how long that would take? It's been so hard seeing my wife working near minimum wage and not be able to help.

I really appreciate all the help.

Cheers!
 

scylla

VIP Member
Jun 8, 2010
92,541
20,360
Toronto
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
28-05-2010
AOR Received.
19-08-2010
File Transfer...
28-06-2010
Passport Req..
01-10-2010
VISA ISSUED...
05-10-2010
LANDED..........
05-10-2010
Hey guys! First time posting here and I hope someone could shed some light in my situation.
So here is he thing:
I'm brazilian and married to a Canadian citizen.
We moved to Canada this year and applied for my PR through spousal sponsorship (inland).
So far we are living together in Burnaby BC, I only have a visitor status.
My sponsorship application was received July 12th 2019 and I was told that I could also apply for a OWP at the same time. I did the application all by myself but we hired an immigration lawyer to review it before we sent it.
The main PR process seems to be doing fine, I even got medical exams requested last week. (YAY!)
But I realized that my OWP is stuck. I was browsing through the 2019 Spousal/Common Law Tracker spreadsheet and noticed that even some applicants from September are getting their OWP approved.
I know that each process is different and I shouldn't be comparing, but this is nuts.
We're all in the same boat here and I don't need to stress how difficult it is to live with only one income.
I'm still not able to link my OWP application to my online account.
I've tried calling IRCC but apparently they can't access my OWP app because it hasn't been entered in the system yet.
I've reached them via web form an I got the following response:
______________________________________________________________________________________
Wed, Oct 30, 12:51 PM
Thank you for contacting Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

We have received your sponsorship application and it will be processed according to the date it was received.

If further information is needed, the responsible office may contact you.

Please visit our website to see how long it may take to process your application or our Help Centre for more information.

Furthermore, since we know that sponsoring or being sponsored by your spouse or common-law partner is an important event in your life, we want to ensure that you have all the information and tools at your disposal to make this process as easy and enjoyable as possible.

As of December 22, 2014, open work permits may be issued to eligible applicants under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class at an earlier stage in processing if they meet certain criteria. We verified the information on file. However, it has been determined that you do not meet the eligibility criteria.

Your application for the open work permit remains valid and will be processed once your sponsorship application is approved in principle.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Based on that I understand that I my profile doesn't fit their "criteria" to get an earlier OWP.

So I checked their criteria on IRCC website (link below):

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/special-initiatives-pilot-project/partner.html

And it seems that I do fit all of their requirements. My question is:

Is there any chance they may have made a mistake? Can I somehow appeal this decision so I could speed up the process for my OWP?

I reached them again via web form asking for details on why my profile didn't match their criteria and if they can clarify on which exact requirement I was denied. That was on November 1st and they stopped responding.

I know I could just wait until my sponsorship got AIP. But who knows how long that would take? It's been so hard seeing my wife working near minimum wage and not be able to help.

I really appreciate all the help.

Cheers!
When did you originally arrive in Canada? How long a visit were you granted?

Based on the information you've received, they are going to grant the OWP after AIP - which means you don't fall under the pilot (which would grant you the OWP in four months). Normally this happens in situations where a person's application is received when they no longer have valid status in Canada. Are you certainly you had valid status in Canada when your application was received?
 

Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
When did you originally arrive in Canada? How long a visit were you granted?

Based on the information you've received, they are going to grant the OWP after AIP - which means you don't fall under the pilot (which would grant you the OWP in four months). Normally this happens in situations where a person's application is received when they no longer have valid status in Canada. Are you certainly you had valid status in Canada when your application was received?
Thanks for the reply!

I originally arrived June 4th 2019 and I was granted 6 months of visitor visa which would expire December 3rd 2019.

Other than that my application was received July 12th 2019 and I also applied for a visitor record to extend my visitor visa November 1st 2019 so I wouldn't stay out of status.

I honestly don't know what happened but I can assure I haven't been here without a status.
 

KuroNeko26

Hero Member
Mar 12, 2018
242
52
California
Thanks for the reply!

I originally arrived June 4th 2019 and I was granted 6 months of visitor visa which would expire December 3rd 2019.

Other than that my application was received July 12th 2019 and I also applied for a visitor record to extend my visitor visa November 1st 2019 so I wouldn't stay out of status.

I honestly don't know what happened but I can assure I haven't been here without a status.
Have you managed to link your OWP at all yet? I still haven't been able to and people AFTER me are being able to link theirs and it's stressing me out. :(
 

Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
Have you managed to link your OWP at all yet? I still haven't been able to and people AFTER me are being able to link theirs and it's stressing me out. :(
Not yet! I know how you feel, it's so frustrating! It's been over 5 months for me now...

I called IRCC the other day and they told me my OWP application wasn't even input into the system, so they couldn't look up the progress.

Apparently my profile wasn't eligible for the early OWP. So they will only start to work on my OWP application after my Sponsorship is approved in principle ( according to the average that would be 2 ~ 3 months from now, in my case ). And the worst part is that according to their website I have all of the requirements to be eligible for the early OWP and when I asked them to point out which criteria I was missing they started to ignore me.

Right now there's little I can do, since everytime I reach out to IRCC they never provide me useful information.

Some of my friends suggested me to search a local MLA representative to help in my case, maybe you could try the same.

I honestly have no idea if this will help or not but this is the only shot I have.

I wish you good luck in yours!
 

KuroNeko26

Hero Member
Mar 12, 2018
242
52
California
Not yet! I know how you feel, it's so frustrating! It's been over 5 months for me now...

I called IRCC the other day and they told me my OWP application wasn't even input into the system, so they couldn't look up the progress.

Apparently my profile wasn't eligible for the early OWP. So they will only start to work on my OWP application after my Sponsorship is approved in principle ( according to the average that would be 2 ~ 3 months from now, in my case ). And the worst part is that according to their website I have all of the requirements to be eligible for the early OWP and when I asked them to point out which criteria I was missing they started to ignore me.

Right now there's little I can do, since everytime I reach out to IRCC they never provide me useful information.

Some of my friends suggested me to search a local MLA representative to help in my case, maybe you could try the same.

I honestly have no idea if this will help or not but this is the only shot I have.

I wish you good luck in yours!
Oh jeez 5 months?? That's horrible! Yes I looked at the requirements myself and I / should/ also be eligible but I'm worried the same thing might have happened to me :( I've only been waiting a little over a week so I could be just overthinking but it sucks when you see everyone around you being able to link when you haven't yourself yet
 

Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
Oh jeez 5 months?? That's horrible! Yes I looked at the requirements myself and I / should/ also be eligible but I'm worried the same thing might have happened to me :( I've only been waiting a little over a week so I could be just overthinking but it sucks when you see everyone around you being able to link when you haven't yourself yet
I know right? I sent my app in July 12th and I saw some people from October already getting their OWP approved.

The worst part is that we have to rely on a single income ,which is draining our savings really fast.

When we planned our budget we considered the worst case scenario of me being out of a job for a whole year. Hopefully it won't come to that.

The trick to stay optimistic is to try not compare to other people's app, that just leads to more frustration.

But I wouldn't get so desperate yet, a week is reasonable delay. Specially with the holidays approaching.

I hope it turns out alright for you!
 
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KuroNeko26

Hero Member
Mar 12, 2018
242
52
California
I know right? I sent my app in July 12th and I saw some people from October already getting their OWP approved.

The worst part is that we have to rely on a single income ,which is draining our savings really fast.

When we planned our budget we considered the worst case scenario of me being out of a job for a whole year. Hopefully it won't come to that.

The trick to stay optimistic is to try not compare to other people's app, that just leads to more frustration.

But I wouldn't get so desperate yet, a week is reasonable delay. Specially with the holidays approaching.

I hope it turns out alright for you!
I completely agree with the comparing part and i sadly do a lot of it haha when you look at the timeline and see people ahead of you it's discouraging but everyone's app is different and goes to a different person most likely so some might work faster than others, some might be on vacation because of the holidays, etc. I'm in the same situation with one income right now too and I feel so guilty for not being able to help yet. Regarding the part in the link up above, it says you need to be in legal status to be eligible and they received my app October 17 and my visitor status ran out November 1st but i applied for an extension in October online before i submitted my app so I am currently on implied status. I don't think that would affect it since I am still in legal status and when they got my application it was well before my visitor status ran out. I hope that doesn't affect it at all
 

Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
I completely agree with the comparing part and i sadly do a lot of it haha when you look at the timeline and see people ahead of you it's discouraging but everyone's app is different and goes to a different person most likely so some might work faster than others, some might be on vacation because of the holidays, etc. I'm in the same situation with one income right now too and I feel so guilty for not being able to help yet. Regarding the part in the link up above, it says you need to be in legal status to be eligible and they received my app October 17 and my visitor status ran out November 1st but i applied for an extension in October online before i submitted my app so I am currently on implied status. I don't think that would affect it since I am still in legal status and when they got my application it was well before my visitor status ran out. I hope that doesn't affect it at all

I know exactly what you mean. I've lost quite the amount of sleep feeling guilt over my situation. I'm witnessing my wife working late and doing overtime every chance she gets so we can make every little bit of money possible, meanwhile I'm not able to provide anything for our home.
That's just cruel. Specially because we are living extremely cheap for no reason, even if I were to work in any minimum wage part-time job we would be fine by now.
Regarding the status, I'm pretty much in the same situation, my visitor status ran out recently in December 6th and I had already applied for the extension in November 2nd ( there it goes another 100 bucks ). The only thing I'm hoping for is to get my work permit before they process my visitor record so I can withdraw my application and get my money back :D
 

KuroNeko26

Hero Member
Mar 12, 2018
242
52
California
I know exactly what you mean. I've lost quite the amount of sleep feeling guilt over my situation. I'm witnessing my wife working late and doing overtime every chance she gets so we can make every little bit of money possible, meanwhile I'm not able to provide anything for our home.
That's just cruel. Specially because we are living extremely cheap for no reason, even if I were to work in any minimum wage part-time job we would be fine by now.
Regarding the status, I'm pretty much in the same situation, my visitor status ran out recently in December 6th and I had already applied for the extension in November 2nd ( there it goes another 100 bucks ). The only thing I'm hoping for is to get my work permit before they process my visitor record so I can withdraw my application and get my money back :D
I hope me being in implied status doesn't affect my owp and them seeing it as "not valid status" even though implied status automatically just means your temporary status just continues until they get an answer. I hate worrying about this type of stuff but I'm just get super antsy to work since I do want to help my partner pay bills, help with grocery shopping, etc and I don't think it would be good if I had to wait for another 6 months ish just because they don't see my status as valid. I am trying to keep in mind that the staff working on the applications has probably slowed down a lot to probably most of the people going on vacation. It's gotten to the point that I'm even second guessing myself if I even put the OWP application in the envelope with everything else haha
 
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Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
I wouldn't worry about that too much. Last time I spoke with IRCC on the phone the lady told that being implied is fine, it's not like you're illegal or anything.

I've been down that hole as well, I started to doubt myself if I filled the all the forms properly or forgot documents, but that's not a healthy approach. As agonizing as it is, there's nothing much we can actually. Good news is that if there's something seriously wrong with the application they usually send back to us really fast, so their silence at least means that you haven't forgotten anything that important.

I actually hired an immigration lawyer to review my app. before I sent it. If I were to pay for them to handle the whole process they would charge almost 5000 CAD. By doing it myself I brought the cost down to 500 CAD and they only reviewed it and pointed out my mistakes.

Did you get help from someone or did you just applied by yourself?
 

KuroNeko26

Hero Member
Mar 12, 2018
242
52
California
I wouldn't worry about that too much. Last time I spoke with IRCC on the phone the lady told that being implied is fine, it's not like you're illegal or anything.

I've been down that hole as well, I started to doubt myself if I filled the all the forms properly or forgot documents, but that's not a healthy approach. As agonizing as it is, there's nothing much we can actually. Good news is that if there's something seriously wrong with the application they usually send back to us really fast, so their silence at least means that you haven't forgotten anything that important.

I actually hired an immigration lawyer to review my app. before I sent it. If I were to pay for them to handle the whole process they would charge almost 5000 CAD. By doing it myself I brought the cost down to 500 CAD and they only reviewed it and pointed out my mistakes.

Did you get help from someone or did you just applied by yourself?
I applied it all by myself with LOTS of online research and I'm only 20 haha I already got my AOR for my PR on December 5th and was able to link it to Gkey so that's really refreshing since it means I didn't do anything wrong regarding that. And yes, I feel like if something was wrong with the work permit application part it definitely would have gotten sent back a long time ago. Thank you so much for your words of reassurance by the way it means a lot to just hear it from someone that it'll be okay.
 

Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
I applied it all by myself with LOTS of online research and I'm only 20 haha I already got my AOR for my PR on December 5th and was able to link it to Gkey so that's really refreshing since it means I didn't do anything wrong regarding that. And yes, I feel like if something was wrong with the work permit application part it definitely would have gotten sent back a long time ago. Thank you so much for your words of reassurance by the way it means a lot to just hear it from someone that it'll be okay.
I'm sure it will turn out alright. Just don't beat yourself up too much, that stuff takes time and there's lots of people in the same boat with us.
It's not easy to be in this position but try to use this time with something productive just to keep your head busy. That's how I've been doing it to avoid going insane.
 
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KuroNeko26

Hero Member
Mar 12, 2018
242
52
California
I'm sure it will turn out alright. Just don't beat yourself up too much, that stuff takes time and there's lots of people in the same boat with us.
It's not easy to be in this position but try to use this time with something productive just to keep your head busy. That's how I've been doing it to avoid going insane.
I tried linking today and hoped for the best but sadly not yet. :( I just hope i can link it by the end of the month
 

Paulo Lunardi

Newbie
Feb 1, 2019
8
4
I tried linking today and hoped for the best but sadly not yet. :( I just hope i can link it by the end of the month
Maybe try using different combinations between the options of information input like: UCI, Family name, City of Birth,...

It took me a few tries to get it right my sponsorship application.