Can I work before getting residency?

[Jon Jacobs]

Hello,

I am going to submit my spousal sponsorhip/within Canada immigration application soon.

I was wandering if I could get a work visa whilst waiting for residency and if so how I might go about this?

Many Thanks.

 

[Leon]

If you apply inland (processed completely in Canada), you can apply for an open work permit to be granted to you as you get your first stage approval which takes about 6 months if all goes well. Downside to inland is that you must stay in Canada during processing and if it doesn't go well, you could find yourself staying in Canada without a work permit for a couple of years.

If you apply outland (processed in your homeland), you don't have the right to a work permit but the processing is usually faster so you will often have your PR in the same time you would have had a work permit through inland.

Regardless to your PR application, you have the same options to try to get a work permit as anybody not applying for PR, that is try to get an employer to apply for your labour market opinion so you can apply for a work permit or if you are the right age and from the right country, you may qualify for a 1 or 2 year working holiday program.

 

[Jon Jacobs]

Thanks for the info. But now I'm concerned in regards to where you said you can't leave the country during processing (for a within Canada app).

Do you mean you can't leave during processing of the work visa? If so there's no indication on the notes in regards to this.

Are you referring also or just to the immigration application? If so the notes indicate that could only be a problem if you need to apply for a visa to enter Canada. I'm from the UK and get a stamp on arrival.

My concern is because I am going on a 3 week holiday after I have sent in the applications.

Many Thanks.

 

[Leon]

If you apply inland, they advise that you do not leave Canada while it is in process. The reason is that if you are for any reason denied entry to Canada coming back, you lose your application because your application inland is based on you being in Canada while if the same thing happened and you had an outland, it would continue to process.

I can not tell you what the odds are of being denied entry to Canada when you are from a visa exempt country but it does happen sometimes.

 

[RobsLuv]

Anytime you cannot prove on entry that your intention is to stay in Canada only temporarily, you risk being refused entry. When you have a PR application in process, your clear intention is to stay permanently - and they can refuse you, if they want to, simply on that basis. While an inland applicant is required to be in Canada, living with their sponsor, in order to be approved for PR - having an inland PR ap in process does not guarantee you'll be allowed to re-enter Canada if you leave. So if you leave and you can't get back in, you no longer meet the residence requirement of an inland applicant and, because the entire process (including landing) happens within Canada, you can't finalize your ap. That said, you can apply via the outland process, even while you're in Canada, but again - if you leave Canada during processing (and you'd have to if you were required to attend an interview because it would be held at the overseas visa office) you might not get back into Canada afterwards. The difference is that where you're living/staying has no impact on the outland process - an outland ap would continue to process whether you were in Canada or not.

Best option for helping to ensure that you can get into Canada when you have a PR ap in process: have your sponsor accompany you on re-entry and prove 1) that you have a qualifying relationship, 2) that the sponsor has financial means to support you, and 3) that you have had valid status during all previous stays in Canada and that you have applied, when necessary, to extend that status so that it's maintained. That said, if you're going to have to jump through all those hoops anyway - whether you apply inland or outland - it's probably best to apply outland and get the processing completed faster, so you get your PR visa and can get on with life sooner rather than later. The other drawback to the inland process is that there are no appeal rights so, if for some reason the ap was refused, you'd have to leave Canada - and you'd be applying for PR all over again (if you could overcome the reason for refusal) via the outland process anyway. Might as well do it that way to start.