How to apply for Open work permit from within Canada

[woodennickle]

Hello,

My situation:
My girlfriend is from Korea. She moved here 12 months ago, and has lived with me for the entire time. We are currently gathering all of documents so I can sponsor her as common law. In the mean time she has applied for an extension of a tourist visa and still awaiting the response. This part seems fine.

She wants to apply for an open work permit at the same time. She has heard from her friends here that she can apply for both at the same time, from within Canada. I have been on the CIC website looking at the process and eligibility to apply for an open work permit, and everything says it is for when applying from outside of Canada.

My Question #1:
Can she apply for a working visa at the same time as applying for common law, from within Canada. And if yes, anyone know the correct website link to do so on CIC?

Question # 2:
Can she apply for these visas even though we have not received a response for the extension visa?

Question #3:
Can she apply for both of these visas at the same office? Therefore, needing only one copy of official documents from her home country...

Thanks so much for any help.

 

[scylla]

I would very strongly recommend that you join the Family Sponsorship section of the forum. This is where these topics are discussed. The short answer is that to qualify for an open work permit, you have to sponsor your girlfriend using the inland (within Canada) application process. You must include the OWP application with the sponsorship application. The OWP application will be approved approximately four months after the entire application package is received.

 

[woodennickle]

I would very strongly recommend that you join the Family Sponsorship section of the forum. This is where these topics are discussed. The short answer is that to qualify for an open work permit, you have to sponsor your girlfriend using the inland (within Canada) application process. You must include the OWP application with the sponsorship application. The OWP application will be approved approximately four months after the entire application package is received.

Thank you so much for your answer. So just to verify, both applications of the Common law and OWP would be submitted at the same time to the same office?

 

[scylla]

Yes - same time and same office.