Question about in canada pr app relating to open work permit

[patrick91]

theres not much on the cic site about this. can anyone give me some more info? basically, im a canadian citizen, my wife is here in canada from the US with me on a visitor visa, and we want to apply inland. we know all the pros and cons of both, and this is what we've decided. so, you must apply for an open work permit with the inland pr app in order to be put on implied status. basically what im asking, is, she doesn't need a job offer/LMO, does she? and as soon as the app is accepted at vegreville, shes on implied status??? please just post any info you have about this, i'd really appreciate it

 

[CharlieD10]

An Open Work Permit (OWP) does not require an LMO or job offer, that's why it is open.

Implied status means you have applied for an extension of your current status but have not received an answer as yet. Your wife needs to apply for extensions of her visitor status, based on the fact that you are sponsoring her inland for PR. She should do this 30 days before her current status expires. You won't get an answer before the 30 days are done, but the application for the extension of the visitor status is what gives her implied status, not the application for an OWP with her Inland PR application.

Her Inland PR application will not be opened for another 10 months after submission, by that time her current visitor record would be long expired and she would be out of status. She is required to maintain legal status while waiting for the PR application to be processed, which is why you need to extend her visitor status.

 

[patrick91]

i thought that including the app for an open work permit with inland pr app automatically puts my wife on implied status though.. thats what a call center agent told me :S and that she wouldnt have to continually apply for visitor extensions...

 

[canadianwoman]

Yes, it does. She's on implied status right away.

 

[RobsLuv]

The "key" to this is that, in order to benefit from "implied status", the inland PR application and the extension application (with the Work Permit option checked as a change of condition, plus the $150 fee paid) has to be received by CPC-Vegreville before her current status expires. What usually trips up US applicants is that they often are admitted to Canada without being documented - so unless you can prove the date your wife entered the country (with a Visitor Record or a passport stamp), I highly recommend that you NOT apply inland. You'd be setting yourselves up to have the application delayed by transfer to a local office for processing before they give first stage approval and that can get her "stuck" in Canada without status (or the ability to work) for years!

That said, why would you submit inland and wait (even for a straight-forward ap) 9-10 months just to get an open work permit when Buffalo is currently finalizing spousal aps in as little as 6 months (and then she'd be able to work anyway immediately after landing)? I know Buffalo's posted timeline is 11 months, but I've seen - just this past week - three or four spousal aps finalized within 6 months of receipt by Buffalo. I know you say you know the pros and cons but it honestly doesn't make sense unless you're under some preconceived notion that she has to do this to stay with you while waiting for her PR to finalize. Or that the OWP will come sooner than the PR request from Buffalo (not likely). Apply inland and you're 12-18 months (at best) waiting for finalization and you lose the right of appeal. You can apply outland and still apply to extend her status as a visitor while she waits. Your call, of course, but please make sure you know why your reasons for applying inland are sound - and, basically, unless someone is already in Canada with a work permit and wanting to preserve their right to continue to work (or go to school if it's a study permit), the general consensus is that inland is not the way to go - especially for US citizen applicants. In the four plus years I've been around here, there's only been one US person who didn't regret applying inland. Good Luck.

 

[patrick91]

She has a visitor record. She has a stamp in her passport from when she game, and the CBSA officer even gave her an immigration document upon arrival indicating place of entry, her immigration client ID number, everything. So that shouldn't be an issue with us. Also, I know about the processing times. The thing is, we just don't want to take the chance of having to spend time apart. We've been apart for so long now and it'd just kill both of us to be apart again for an extended period of time. I know that CIC would probably renew her visitor record for however long it took for her to get PR, but just incase of a lengthy outland process, we both didn't want to take the risk. Money isn't really an issue, she doesn't need to work, I'm making more than enough to support us both. The most important thing to us is that we're together so we took that into greatest consideration. Even if it takes a year or more to get approved, as long as she's here legally on implied status, it doesn't really matter. And I can't see any reason for us needing to appeal. Neither of us have criminal records, inadmissability issues or anything like that, we provided a lot of proof to prove the geniuness of our relationship, so I think we should be fine. But thank you so much for the post, I really appreciate it.

 

[Baloo]

Are you aware that traveling outside of Canada is not advised when you have an inland app active?
If she had to travel to an emergency outside of Canada, she could be at risk (albeit small) of the inland app' being terminated.

FWIW If you pay for the outland application online (sending the full app' to CIC later) and you include the receipt with the extension of stay request, she is very, very likely to be granted a long extension.


The problem that can occur is, if a mistake is made (not by you) on an inland app', it is not going to be easy to rectify.

 

[patrick91]

Hi Baloo, thanks for the reply. Yes, we know that travelling outside Canada during the inland process is not advised, but we can't see a reason why she would need to. I mean, her family is generally healthy, if one of them had a real emergency where life and death was an issue then sure she'd probably go back, but thats unlikely. Well, I've already sent the application off. So I guess we're going inland. Thanks a lot for the reply Baloo!