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Kaths

Newbie
Sep 10, 2019
9
0
Hello all!

Here's my situation...
I first arrived in Canada on an IEC visa on Aug. 23 2018 (I'm from Denmark and we only get one year). My partner and I lived in our van the first month I was in Canda and didn't have a permanent address together until Oct. 1st 2018. An immigration lawyer advised me to file for a work ext. permit to "buy time" so my partner and I can declare ourselves common-law partners after one year of living together. I filed the work extension permit application on Aug. 14 2019 and my IEC expired on Aug. 23 2019. This means I am in Canada on Implied Status at the moment waiting for Immigration to process the application.

On Oct. 1st my partner and I will submit a PR application (Canada Class, Inland, Sponsorship, Common-law). My questions are now:

- Should I submit another application for an OWP in my PR application even though I already filed for a work ext. permit previously? Can I even apply for an OWP on implied status?

- I've heard on facebook that you actually cannot apply for an extension of IEC and therefore I am technically out of status now and will not be able to apply for an OWP. Is that true?

- What happens if my work permit extension is not approved? Will I be able to apply for restoration as a visitor within 90 days and then apply for another OWP while my PR is being processed?

Hope all this makes sense and hopefully some of you are able to give me a little clarity on my situation. Basically, my biggest concerns are that I'll might not be able to work for some time here or worst case that I will be asked to leave the country and lose my status here.

Thanks a lot,

Kath.
 
Hello all!

Here's my situation...
I first arrived in Canada on an IEC visa on Aug. 23 2018 (I'm from Denmark and we only get one year). My partner and I lived in our van the first month I was in Canda and didn't have a permanent address together until Oct. 1st 2018. An immigration lawyer advised me to file for a work ext. permit to "buy time" so my partner and I can declare ourselves common-law partners after one year of living together. I filed the work extension permit application on Aug. 14 2019 and my IEC expired on Aug. 23 2019. This means I am in Canada on Implied Status at the moment waiting for Immigration to process the application.

On Oct. 1st my partner and I will submit a PR application (Canada Class, Inland, Sponsorship, Common-law). My questions are now:

- Should I submit another application for an OWP in my PR application even though I already filed for a work ext. permit previously? Can I even apply for an OWP on implied status?

- I've heard on facebook that you actually cannot apply for an extension of IEC and therefore I am technically out of status now and will not be able to apply for an OWP. Is that true?

- What happens if my work permit extension is not approved? Will I be able to apply for restoration as a visitor within 90 days and then apply for another OWP while my PR is being processed?

Hope all this makes sense and hopefully some of you are able to give me a little clarity on my situation. Basically, my biggest concerns are that I'll might not be able to work for some time here or worst case that I will be asked to leave the country and lose my status here.

Thanks a lot,

Kath.

That lawyer gave you very bad advice. IRCC doesn't like people submitting fake apps to buy time. You should have applied to change your status to visitor.

The extension app will be refused and you will be out of status. If refused as normal, you will be out of status as of the refusal date. If IRCC rejects it as incomplete, you will be considered out of status as of Aug 23rd and all work done since then will be illegal. Depending on the decision, you may or may not he able to apply for Restoration.

Submitting the OWP app with the inland PR app will not grant you any status.

It is normally not advised to apply exactly at the 1 year mark. Do you actually have definitive common-law proof to cover the one year?
 
That lawyer gave you very bad advice. IRCC doesn't like people submitting fake apps to buy time. You should have applied to change your status to visitor.

The extension app will be refused and you will be out of status. If refused as normal, you will be out of status as of the refusal date. If IRCC rejects it as incomplete, you will be considered out of status as of Aug 23rd and all work done since then will be illegal. Depending on the decision, you may or may not he able to apply for Restoration.

Submitting the OWP app with the inland PR app will not grant you any status.

It is normally not advised to apply exactly at the 1 year mark. Do you actually have definitive common-law proof to cover the one year?

So we basically filed the work permit extension and explained that we needed and extension because we are applying for PR. We have lots of proof to prove our relationship such as common-law declaration, shared bills, shared rental agreements and insurance etc.
 
So to sort out all this mess would it be better to stop working immediately and apply for a restoration as a visitor? (It's still within 90 days of the expirity of my IEC). If I'm accepted as a visitor then I can file my PR application with an OWP.
 
So we basically filed the work permit extension and explained that we needed and extension because we are applying for PR. We have lots of proof to prove our relationship such as common-law declaration, shared bills, shared rental agreements and insurance etc.

You didn't qualify for a work permit extension, so you submitted an incomplete app to try to buy more time. It has zero to do with your relationship. IRCC was tired of people doing trying to get more time by submitting incomplete apps, so they started rejecting them as incomplete and denying Implied Status.

So to sort out all this mess would it be better to stop working immediately and apply for a restoration as a visitor? (It's still within 90 days of the expirity of my IEC). If I'm accepted as a visitor then I can file my PR application with an OWP.

You can't apply for Restoration right now because until the extension app you submitted is refused/rejected, you have legal status. You can withdraw that app and then apply for Restoration or wait for it to be refused/rejected. The risk there is that if it is rejected more than 90 days from your IEC expiry, you will have no way of legalizing your temporary residency status within Canada.
 
I mailed the application in as a letter. Can I withdraw the application still? How does that work?
 
I mailed the application in as a letter. Can I withdraw the application still? How does that work?

You would need to send a Webform. If the app hasn't been entered into the system yet, then I don't know if IRCC will wait or allow the withdrawal.

And can I still apply for PR if my work ext. permit is rejected?

You can still apply for PR.

What specific common-law proofs do you have covering the full 365 days?
 
You would need to send a Webform. If the app hasn't been entered into the system yet, then I don't know if IRCC will wait or allow the withdrawal.



You can still apply for PR.

What specific common-law proofs do you have covering the full 365 days?

We have shared lease for 12 months, shared phone bill and vehicle insurance, letters from friends and family, photos, common-law declaration, an essay describing the timeline of our relationship, flight tickets from visiting each other when not living together, pay stubs with the same address, text messages...
 
We have shared lease for 12 months, shared phone bill and vehicle insurance, letters from friends and family, photos, common-law declaration, an essay describing the timeline of our relationship, flight tickets from visiting each other when not living together, pay stubs with the same address, text messages...

Basically the majority of the things from check list.

For me, it's most important that I get to stay with my partner who I love very much. I am not trying to beat the system or keep working illegally. I submitted the work ext. permit because I thought that was the only way to buy more time but have now discovered that I should just have restored my status as a visitor. I booked an appt. with an immigration lawyer next week and I hope she will be able to give some guidance on how to proceed from here.
 
We have shared lease for 12 months, shared phone bill and vehicle insurance, letters from friends and family, photos, common-law declaration, an essay describing the timeline of our relationship, flight tickets from visiting each other when not living together, pay stubs with the same address, text messages...

What do you have that covers the full year, from day 1 to day 365? Letters, photos, the stat dec, essays, tickets and texts are not common-law proofs.
 
A shared lease from day 1 to 365 and a common declaration is not proof?

We met each other 2,5 years ago but I didn't move here until 1 year ago because I was finishing my degree in Denmark. Vi visited each other ever 4 months and kept in contact everyday during that 1,5 year.
 
A shared lease from day 1 to 365 and a common declaration is not proof?

We met each other 2,5 years ago but I didn't move here until 1 year ago because I was finishing my degree in Denmark. Vi visited each other ever 4 months and kept in contact everyday during that 1,5 year.

A lease is one proof. The Stat Dec is not a common-law proof, hence why it is no longer a required document. You need other proofs or a combination showing the full year. When do your other proofs start? The bills, statements etc.
 
The shared phone bill is from day 1. We bought a vehicle together after I moved here and we're both on the insurance papers. We also have text messages and money transfers showing we've been sharing expenses since day 1.