Professor's wife's study permit application -- not in implied status?

[begaana]

My wife and I are in a predicament. I am a new professor at McGill University. We applied for spousal sponsorship back in March, and in the meantime my wife was able to enter Canada on a multiple-entry visit visa, ending in May 2013, but stamped for Dec. 30, 2012, meaning that under normal circumstances she should have left the country before that date. I am a Canadian citizen by birth, she is a Pakistani citizen.

McGill offers free French classes to the spouses of new professors. Knowing all of our circumstances, McGill advised my wife to get a CAQ (Certification d'acceptation du Quebec) from the Quebec government and a federal study permit in order to allow her to take these classes. We were skeptical that this was possible, but we asked McGill's representatives repeatedly, and followed their advice, assuming that they knew better than we did. They say that they have a special program that they have worked out with the government for such cases. My wife received the CAQ on Nov. 22, and since we were coming close to Dec. 30, I emailed the McGill representative and our lawyer to make sure that if she applied for a study permit, she would be in implied status. They both answered that she would be legally entitled to remain in Canada while the study permit was being processed. In our understanding, if you are implied status, you should not leave the country, therefore after she applied for her study permit on Nov. 30, I cancelled our plans to leave the country for the holidays.

On Jan. 14 my wife called CIC to ask about her study permit application. They informed her over the telephone that it would be rejected due to ineligibility, and that furthermore she had overstayed her visit visa. We were both shocked and horrified at this news. We are calling upon McGill to take responsibility for their advice, and we hope that they will be helpful. However, what I don't understand at all is, if a study permit applicant is in implied status until the application has been processed, then how can CIC assert that my wife has overstayed her visa, given that she applied for a study permit, and has not yet even received written notice of the rejection of her application?

Any thoughts, and ideas about how to proceed, would be very much appreciated.

 

[enfield]

Hi,

My wife and I are in a predicament. I am a new professor at McGill University. We applied for spousal sponsorship back in March, and in the meantime my wife was able to enter Canada on a multiple-entry visit visa, ending in May 2013, but stamped for Dec. 30, 2012, meaning that under normal circumstances she should have left the country before that date. I am a Canadian citizen by birth, she is a Pakistani citizen.

McGill offers free French classes to the spouses of new professors. Knowing all of our circumstances, McGill advised my wife to get a CAQ (Certification d'acceptation du Quebec) from the Quebec government and a federal study permit in order to allow her to take these classes. We were skeptical that this was possible, but we asked McGill's representatives repeatedly, and followed their advice, assuming that they knew better than we did. They say that they have a special program that they have worked out with the government for such cases. My wife received the CAQ on Nov. 22, and since we were coming close to Dec. 30, I emailed the McGill representative and our lawyer to make sure that if she applied for a study permit, she would be in implied status. They both answered that she would be legally entitled to remain in Canada while the study permit was being processed. In our understanding, if you are implied status, you should not leave the country, therefore after she applied for her study permit on Nov. 30, I cancelled our plans to leave the country for the holidays.

On Jan. 14 my wife called CIC to ask about her study permit application. They informed her over the telephone that it would be rejected due to ineligibility, and that furthermore she had overstayed her visit visa. We were both shocked and horrified at this news. We are calling upon McGill to take responsibility for their advice, and we hope that they will be helpful. However, what I don't understand at all is, if a study permit applicant is in implied status until the application has been processed, then how can CIC assert that my wife has overstayed her visa, given that she applied for a study permit, and has not yet even received written notice of the rejection of her application?

Any thoughts, and ideas about how to proceed, would be very much appreciated.

According to rules, if you are in Canada on TRV and wish to study, you must leave Canada and apply from your home country.

 

[amikety]

Good luck on getting them to be responsible. Mount Royal in Calgary did something very similiar to me. They didn't even blink or care. I wasted $150 because of their ignorance (the ignorance of the International Admissions Advisor of all people). I even wrote their president and he didn't even bother to reply. My only form of 'justice' is bashing them here to international students....

It'll be easy for them to feign responsibility as they aren't immigration lawyers or professionals.

Your lawyer, on the other hand, should be fired - unless he never deals with students and doesn't represent any international students as a rule.

You've found out the hard way about the risk with Implied Status - it's a risk if you rely on it. I would suggest getting together a new TRV application along with the fees for restoration of status asap.