Company Transfer Gone Sideways

[michaellu4345]

Hi folks!

Been reading a lot on here the last month or two, at the point now where I could use some advice or hear from anyone who's had a similar experience. I am a dual US-Canadian citizen with an American spouse, studied university and previously working in the western US, now in Alberta. Spouse is still in the US though and that's where it all gets weird.

Long story short, I was transferred from one of our company's US projects to an office in Calgary. I asked about the immigration issue before I accepted the transfer and it was all "yeah we have immigration people that will handle it" sort of thing, company has always been good to me so I did a bit of quick research, saw the NAFTA list and the intra-company transfer program and figured it wouldn't be too much work to get the wife up here, signed the transfer papers and off I went, rented a house, moved most of our stuff, etc. Wife has a good job so we were OK renting a condo for her for a few weeks/months while this got sorted out. But now after a few months of radio silence from the immigration folks at work we finally find out that because I am Canadian, none of the NAFTA or ICT programs apply to us? Is that correct?

If so that leaves us with 2 options - try to get her a job offer and positive LMIA, pretty hard to do in the Calgary job market right now - or family sponsorship that takes forever and a day.

If we go the family sponsorship route - I would like to go Inland so we aren't apart for another year, the whole point of this move was getting to a more stable work situation, but so far I can't find a straight answer on these points:

• a) How do we get her car and the other half of our household goods up here? I already moved my truck and half a house up here, can I do another import form 3 months after the first one? Will the border patrol even let us in? My understanding of the Inland path is she is technically just a "visitor" but most visitors don't show up with U-Hauls and RIV forms... Like is that even going to work at all or do we have to sell everything and fly up with a suitcase so she looks like a proper visitor? What a silly game to have to play. The lawyer was kind enough to point out that all the Alberta land borders are "problematic and unhelpful" so now that has me worried. Should we drive through BC instead?

• b) Once she is here, it will take 5 months +/- to get the OWP. Is she eligible for AHCIP during that 5 months? The ACHIP website says visitors aren't eligible but then says you are if you have a valid Canada entry document whatever that means. I assume that would be a work or study permit? In your real world experience what happens there?

• c) Does the OWP really take 5 months? Why? The CIC website says applications for work permits from within Canada process in 4 weeks, but the lawyer says 5 months. Who is right?

Starting to think we need to go Outland just for peace of mind and predictability. Going to be a lot of plane tickets and another year apart but if we do that, and we submit a correct application with all the right info first time around through the lawyers, with clean medical and background checks, what is the realistic timeframe for approval? I've looked at the spreadsheets here and seen everything from 8 months to 2 years for US applications.

Can we apply Outland AND keep plugging away at the job search trying to get the LMIA and work permit? What would happen if she did get a job offer with the PR app already in progress?

Has any other Canadians on here moved back home for work and gotten stuck like this? Or did I just really screw it up by not making them give me straight answers before I moved? It just seems weird to me that a Canadian worker, for a Canadian company no less gets this badly hosed trying to move back home.

Anything helps at this point.

 

[Buletruck]

Well, she can apply inland and go for the open work permit, or outland and still come to Canada. Given she is an American, she can stay up to 6 months and apply for an extension about a month before her 6 months is up. If you decide to do it this way, I'd leave her car and the rest of your stuff in the US till she gets her COPR, then bring it in duty free. Personally, I would go inland. She can look for work while she waits for the OWP to process. Seems to take about 4 months to process. If you've put a good application together, I'd say between 6-8 months for the application to process. She is eligible for AHCIC as long as she has valid status in the country (if you apply to extend her stay, she wont have AHCIC until she gets her extension approved...AHCIC does not recognize implied status). And unless the lawyer is paid for by the company, do it yourself. It's pretty straight forward.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi folks!

Been reading a lot on here the last month or two, at the point now where I could use some advice or hear from anyone who's had a similar experience. I am a dual US-Canadian citizen with an American spouse, studied university and previously working in the western US, now in Alberta. Spouse is still in the US though and that's where it all gets weird.

Long story short, I was transferred from one of our company's US projects to an office in Calgary. I asked about the immigration issue before I accepted the transfer and it was all "yeah we have immigration people that will handle it" sort of thing, company has always been good to me so I did a bit of quick research, saw the NAFTA list and the intra-company transfer program and figured it wouldn't be too much work to get the wife up here, signed the transfer papers and off I went, rented a house, moved most of our stuff, etc. Wife has a good job so we were OK renting a condo for her for a few weeks/months while this got sorted out. But now after a few months of radio silence from the immigration folks at work we finally find out that because I am Canadian, none of the NAFTA or ICT programs apply to us? Is that correct?

If so that leaves us with 2 options - try to get her a job offer and positive LMIA, pretty hard to do in the Calgary job market right now - or family sponsorship that takes forever and a day.

If we go the family sponsorship route - I would like to go Inland so we aren't apart for another year, the whole point of this move was getting to a more stable work situation, but so far I can't find a straight answer on these points:

• a) How do we get her car and the other half of our household goods up here? I already moved my truck and half a house up here, can I do another import form 3 months after the first one? Will the border patrol even let us in? My understanding of the Inland path is she is technically just a "visitor" but most visitors don't show up with U-Hauls and RIV forms... Like is that even going to work at all or do we have to sell everything and fly up with a suitcase so she looks like a proper visitor? What a silly game to have to play. The lawyer was kind enough to point out that all the Alberta land borders are "problematic and unhelpful" so now that has me worried. Should we drive through BC instead?

• b) Once she is here, it will take 5 months +/- to get the OWP. Is she eligible for AHCIP during that 5 months? The ACHIP website says visitors aren't eligible but then says you are if you have a valid Canada entry document whatever that means. I assume that would be a work or study permit? In your real world experience what happens there?

• c) Does the OWP really take 5 months? Why? The CIC website says applications for work permits from within Canada process in 4 weeks, but the lawyer says 5 months. Who is right?

Starting to think we need to go Outland just for peace of mind and predictability. Going to be a lot of plane tickets and another year apart but if we do that, and we submit a correct application with all the right info first time around through the lawyers, with clean medical and background checks, what is the realistic timeframe for approval? I've looked at the spreadsheets here and seen everything from 8 months to 2 years for US applications.

Can we apply Outland AND keep plugging away at the job search trying to get the LMIA and work permit? What would happen if she did get a job offer with the PR app already in progress?

Has any other Canadians on here moved back home for work and gotten stuck like this? Or did I just really screw it up by not making them give me straight answers before I moved? It just seems weird to me that a Canadian worker, for a Canadian company no less gets this badly hosed trying to move back home.

Anything helps at this point.

a. She can't be entering with her vehicle and stuff, regardless of whether it is in Alberta or BC. That is a good way to be refused entry and possibly issued a one year Exclusion Order. She can enter with a couple of bags like a regular visitor.

b. OWP takes about 4 months, sometimes less. If she has a Visitor Record, you can add her to your AHCIP.

c. 4 months. It is not a regular work permit. It is based on the submission of the inland app and nothing else, so stuff has to happen with the inland app first.

Outland for an American generally takes around 6 months. She can come to Canada as a visitor while the app processes.

Don't go through the lawyer. Do the app yourselves.

 

[zardoz]

It's unclear to me if the OP was expecting NAFTA/ICT to be applicable to him or his wife.
As a Canadian citizen, it certainly would not be relevant to his relocation, as he can simply walk over either border and work legally.
It might be applicable to the OP's wife however, if the employment that she has is covered by those.

My observation is that there was too little research done on this move before it was actually executed. It had the potential to be extremely easy.

 

[michaellu4345]

Thanks all! We are just going to do Outland - we're definitely not taking the risk of getting turned around at the border, at that point it's not worth it to sell or store our stuff waiting on paperwork while she can't work for half a year anyways. If we keep the condo in the US and she keeps her job that's going to work out way better for everyone than having a bored wife at the house with my credit card for 4 or 5 months will

Probably still keep trying for the LMIA and temp work permit in the interim, my understanding is those are two separate applications so she could have an Outland in process and still get a closed work permit if we found the right job?

It's unclear to me if the OP was expecting NAFTA/ICT to be applicable to him or his wife.
As a Canadian citizen, it certainly would not be relevant to his relocation, as he can simply walk over either border and work legally.
It might be applicable to the OP's wife however, if the employment that she has is covered by those.

My observation is that there was too little research done on this move before it was actually executed. It had the potential to be extremely easy.

You are correct, their interpretation of the whole NAFTA/ICT thing is that because I don't have any work permit or visa application, there is nothing they can attach the wife's permit to like they would if I was just an American with a work permit. It would only apply if her employer had an office in Canada (they don't) and was willing to transfer her. Would have been nice to know before I moved though...

Anyways my mistake entirely now I just have to figure out how to fix it. Legal research isn't exactly my strong point (I spend most of my day building stuff or fixing stuff) so it's fair to say I missed a few things. Man I thought I read everything though! Trusted HR to figure it out and obviously that hasn't worked - so Outland it is! Time to rack up some frequent flyer miles...