Out of Status -- What to do?

[pomato]

My boyfriend of six years is currently out of status. He completed his BBA in Canada in 2012, and, in order to keep his status while he awaited his acceptance to an MBA program, was advised to apply for his PGWP. He wasn't informed at the time that this would be the only time he would be able to apply for the PGWP, and was only granted six months as he was awaiting extension of his passport. He was informed by an agent at the call centre that he could apply to get the balance of his PGWP (up to 2.5 years) when he completed his MBA. He got a study permit with no problems and went back to school.

When he completed his MBA last October, he was informed that he could not apply for the remainder of his PGWP. We were given two options to keep him in the country - get an LMIA from an employer (nearly impossible as far as our experience goes) or I could sponsor him as a common-law partner. This is the route we took.

We were finally able to submit our inland sponsorship application with an OWP application in August, and did so under advisement from an immigration lawyer who is now acting as our representative. We were informed at the time that it would likely be only about 3 months for him to be issued his OWP. We received an update last week that he will have to wait 16 months until we are AIP before he can get his OWP. This is obviously a long time for him to be here and unemployed. He wants to work and stay here, but it seems like the only option is for him to leave Canada in order to work.

We're stuck and looking for advice. Would it be better for him to be out of status and stay and wait the 16 months or should he go home, we withdraw our application and start a new outland application while he is out of the country? does anyone have a similar experience they could share?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[profiler]

My boyfriend of six years is currently out of status. He completed his BBA in Canada in 2012, and, in order to keep his status while he awaited his acceptance to an MBA program, was advised to apply for his PGWP. He wasn't informed at the time that this would be the only time he would be able to apply for the PGWP, and was only granted six months as he was awaiting extension of his passport. He was informed by an agent at the call centre that he could apply to get the balance of his PGWP (up to 2.5 years) when he completed his MBA. He got a study permit with no problems and went back to school.

When he completed his MBA last October, he was informed that he could not apply for the remainder of his PGWP. We were given two options to keep him in the country - get an LMIA from an employer (nearly impossible as far as our experience goes) or I could sponsor him as a common-law partner. This is the route we took.

We were finally able to submit our inland sponsorship application with an OWP application in August, and did so under advisement from an immigration lawyer who is now acting as our representative. We were informed at the time that it would likely be only about 3 months for him to be issued his OWP. We received an update last week that he will have to wait 16 months until we are AIP before he can get his OWP. This is obviously a long time for him to be here and unemployed. He wants to work and stay here, but it seems like the only option is for him to leave Canada in order to work.

We're stuck and looking for advice. Would it be better for him to be out of status and stay and wait the 16 months or should he go home, we withdraw our application and start a new outland application while he is out of the country? does anyone have a similar experience they could share?

Thanks in advance for any help!

It is interesting that you have been told that he has to wait for AIP to get an OWP. Was he out of status when the application was submitted? OWP's take 4 months to process, so from August it would not be available until December. Unfortunately, you may have to stick with your lawyer's advice here, as there is no easy way to step-around your representative without them knowing. You could ask if you can see your GCMS notes, or access to myCIC.

 

[pomato]

Yes, he was out of status when our application was submitted. That's the reason they've given us for the 16 month delay. I've looked at the spreadsheet on these forums and see that people are getting OWPs after just a few months, and wonder if we'll actually fall into that category as well.

So frustrating....

 

[profiler]

Yes, he was out of status when our application was submitted. That's the reason they've given us for the 16 month delay. I've looked at the spreadsheet on these forums and see that people are getting OWPs after just a few months, and wonder if we'll actually fall into that category as well.

So frustrating....

How long is he out of status?

 

[pomato]

A year.

 

[profiler]

A year.

There are remedies for correcting status, but you have to have applied before 90 days. Yeah that's no good.

Is it possible he can work remotely? If he can telecommute, then you can bypass the need for a work permit..

 

[pomato]

Hmmmm.. Interesting. We never thought of that. Thanks!

He applied for the balance of his PGWP, which he had been told he could get following his MBA graduation, within the 90 days. By the time we heard back it was beyond that, so we started moving on the sponsorship app.

 

[profiler]

Hmmmm.. Interesting. We never thought of that. Thanks!

He applied for the balance of his PGWP, which he had been told he could get following his MBA graduation, within the 90 days. By the time we heard back it was beyond that, so we started moving on the sponsorship app.

If he is going to try to telecommute, make sure it's not with a company in Canada.

 

[scylla]

He applied for the balance of his PGWP, which he had been told he could get following his MBA graduation, within the 90 days.

Unfortunately whoever told you this gave you wrong advice. The remainder of the PGWP was lost once he started his MBA.

At this point he really has two choices: (1) remain in Canada without working until he has AIP; (2) leave Canada, withdraw the inland application and submit an outland application