Hello,
I would really appreciate if anyone could advice me on my situation.
I am a Bangladeshi Citizen. I graduated with an overall A from one of the Top 10 universities in Canada with an Honours BSc in April last year, 2018. I've also accumulated some prestigious scholarships during my time. I was in Canada on a student visa from 2013-2018 during my degree. Now I want to apply to return to Canada on a student visa.
I have been accepted into a fully-funded PhD program at the University of Toronto starting September 2019.
Long story short: During my final few months in Canada, I have worked illegally without a valid work permit for 5 months from May till October. I've also overstayed my visa by 4 months. This was completely unintentional, I was unaware of the policy and I took the visa rules lightly. Essentially, I was waiting for my Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) application to pull through. Once it got rejected I immediately left Canada. (PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS)
My question is:
1) According to the canada website, they'll reject my student visa application unless 6-months have passed since the date of I ceased working illegally. I.e. the 6 month ban.
Website link: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ents/study-permits/assessing-application.html
My 6 months from the day I've left Canada will be April, 2019. Does that mean that my visa will be assessed as normal, if I apply after 6 months? Essentially, what are my chances of getting a visa? Am I admissible? I will ofcourse offer a letter of explanation as to why I failed to follow the immigration rules.
2) I did not receive any direction to leave, departure order, exclusion order or deportation order from the government of Canada, to my notice, before I left. Just the letter that said my PGWP has been rejected.
The letter said that I should leave 90 days after the gradaution of my studies or after my visa expires whichever comes first (Visa expiration came first).
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...lity/reasons/authorization-return-canada.html
Do I have to submit an Authorization To Return to Canada?
3) Do I need to do anything else? Will they let me return?
Thank you very much for hearing me out. Please let me know your thoughts and opinions.
MORE DETAILS:
My student visa was valid until the day of the expiration of my passport in June 23rd, 2018. I was late in renewing my passport, partly because I was under the assumption that there was an expedited renewal process, as stated on the website for the Bangladeshi High Commission in Ottawa at the time. However, when I went to renew my passport on June 3rd,2018, I was told that there was no such option.
Under the normal process, my new passport arrived on July 23rd, 2018, 30 days after the expiration of my student permit. I immediately collected all my documents and submitted my post-graduate work permit (PGWP) on July 29th, 2018. I was under the impression that, if I had explained a valid reason for overstaying my visa with my temporary resident visa application, my overstay would be admissible. I did not know that this was only the case for a renewal of the same visa status.
On October 2nd, 2018, my PGWP got rejected. The reason clearly and justly stated, was that I applied without a valid study permit. However, when I had applied for my PGWP, I was under the impression that I would be eligible as long as I applied within 90 days of my graduation (April 30th). I did not realize that the rules for acquiring a PGWP was strictly dependent on me having a valid study permit at the time of application.
As I investigated my situation further, I realized, in hindsight, that I had been working illegally since I graduated on May 1st, 2018.
My program of study required an research project during my final year, which I conducted in a cancer research lab. Since I was a productive member and trained on the necessary techniques as well as met all the health and safety requirements, I was given a job offer immediately after I graduated. Basically I continued doing my work at the lab. At that time, I thought my study permit, which doubled as a work permit, would allow me to work full-time off-campus during non-school terms. I did not know that the work permit is not valid after I graduated.
I continued to work, falsely assuming I had a valid work permit until I applied for my PGWP, after which I continued to work under the false assumption of applied work status. During this time, I didn’t realize that I did not, under any circumstances, have permission to work.
After the news of my rejection, I consulted an immigration lawyer immediately, who advised me to leave the country as soon as possible. I quite my job immediately the next day on October 3rd. I then proceeded to take a few weeks to get my affairs in order, namely I needed to find someone to take over my lease, cancel all my payments and bills and book a flight to Bangladesh. On October 22nd, I left Canada voluntarily.
.
Timeline:
2018
April 30th End of studies
June 5th Applied for Passport Renewal
June 23rd Expiration of Passport/Expiration of Study Permit
July 23rd Passport Renewal approved
July 29th Applied for PGWP/ 90 days after graduation
October 2nd Rejection of PGWP
October 3rd Quit Job
October 22nd Left Canada
2019
March 27th Received offer of Admission from Toronto
April 22nd 6 months after date of departure from Canada (own set date)
Overall:
I would really appreciate if anyone could advice me on my situation.
I am a Bangladeshi Citizen. I graduated with an overall A from one of the Top 10 universities in Canada with an Honours BSc in April last year, 2018. I've also accumulated some prestigious scholarships during my time. I was in Canada on a student visa from 2013-2018 during my degree. Now I want to apply to return to Canada on a student visa.
I have been accepted into a fully-funded PhD program at the University of Toronto starting September 2019.
Long story short: During my final few months in Canada, I have worked illegally without a valid work permit for 5 months from May till October. I've also overstayed my visa by 4 months. This was completely unintentional, I was unaware of the policy and I took the visa rules lightly. Essentially, I was waiting for my Post-Graduate Work Permit (PGWP) application to pull through. Once it got rejected I immediately left Canada. (PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS)
My question is:
1) According to the canada website, they'll reject my student visa application unless 6-months have passed since the date of I ceased working illegally. I.e. the 6 month ban.
Website link: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ents/study-permits/assessing-application.html
My 6 months from the day I've left Canada will be April, 2019. Does that mean that my visa will be assessed as normal, if I apply after 6 months? Essentially, what are my chances of getting a visa? Am I admissible? I will ofcourse offer a letter of explanation as to why I failed to follow the immigration rules.
2) I did not receive any direction to leave, departure order, exclusion order or deportation order from the government of Canada, to my notice, before I left. Just the letter that said my PGWP has been rejected.
The letter said that I should leave 90 days after the gradaution of my studies or after my visa expires whichever comes first (Visa expiration came first).
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...lity/reasons/authorization-return-canada.html
Do I have to submit an Authorization To Return to Canada?
3) Do I need to do anything else? Will they let me return?
Thank you very much for hearing me out. Please let me know your thoughts and opinions.
MORE DETAILS:
My student visa was valid until the day of the expiration of my passport in June 23rd, 2018. I was late in renewing my passport, partly because I was under the assumption that there was an expedited renewal process, as stated on the website for the Bangladeshi High Commission in Ottawa at the time. However, when I went to renew my passport on June 3rd,2018, I was told that there was no such option.
Under the normal process, my new passport arrived on July 23rd, 2018, 30 days after the expiration of my student permit. I immediately collected all my documents and submitted my post-graduate work permit (PGWP) on July 29th, 2018. I was under the impression that, if I had explained a valid reason for overstaying my visa with my temporary resident visa application, my overstay would be admissible. I did not know that this was only the case for a renewal of the same visa status.
On October 2nd, 2018, my PGWP got rejected. The reason clearly and justly stated, was that I applied without a valid study permit. However, when I had applied for my PGWP, I was under the impression that I would be eligible as long as I applied within 90 days of my graduation (April 30th). I did not realize that the rules for acquiring a PGWP was strictly dependent on me having a valid study permit at the time of application.
As I investigated my situation further, I realized, in hindsight, that I had been working illegally since I graduated on May 1st, 2018.
My program of study required an research project during my final year, which I conducted in a cancer research lab. Since I was a productive member and trained on the necessary techniques as well as met all the health and safety requirements, I was given a job offer immediately after I graduated. Basically I continued doing my work at the lab. At that time, I thought my study permit, which doubled as a work permit, would allow me to work full-time off-campus during non-school terms. I did not know that the work permit is not valid after I graduated.
I continued to work, falsely assuming I had a valid work permit until I applied for my PGWP, after which I continued to work under the false assumption of applied work status. During this time, I didn’t realize that I did not, under any circumstances, have permission to work.
After the news of my rejection, I consulted an immigration lawyer immediately, who advised me to leave the country as soon as possible. I quite my job immediately the next day on October 3rd. I then proceeded to take a few weeks to get my affairs in order, namely I needed to find someone to take over my lease, cancel all my payments and bills and book a flight to Bangladesh. On October 22nd, I left Canada voluntarily.
.
Timeline:
2018
April 30th End of studies
June 5th Applied for Passport Renewal
June 23rd Expiration of Passport/Expiration of Study Permit
July 23rd Passport Renewal approved
July 29th Applied for PGWP/ 90 days after graduation
October 2nd Rejection of PGWP
October 3rd Quit Job
October 22nd Left Canada
2019
March 27th Received offer of Admission from Toronto
April 22nd 6 months after date of departure from Canada (own set date)
Overall:
- I overstayed my last valid visa by 121 days
- During that time, I applied for another visa (Not the same visa but a PGWP) after 36 days of my visa expiration
- Waited for an answer for 65 days
- I left 20 days after my decision.
- I worked without a valid permit for 154 days
- During that time, I applied for a PGWP 90 days after my graduation
- Waited for 65 days for an answer
- Quit my work 1 day after my decision
