Spousal sponsorship,IEC(Working Holiday),In-or Outside Permanent Residency

[Mark9999999999]

Hello,

since the information from CIC are really misleading I would like to post my questions here. I hope somebody can help me.

I am currently on a Working Holiday Visa (IEC) which will be expiring in 6 months and my girlfriend is Canadian and is going to sponsor me for permanent residency. We are married and I am from a visa-exempt country. Therefore Vienna would be responsible in case of an outside application. We are currently not sure what to do about the inside or outside application. Having already read a lot on the CIC homepage and in this forum, we are aware of positive and negative aspects of both sides.

Inside application: - able to apply for Open-Work Permit(but not allowed to work meanwhile under implied status). So it takes in average referring to the CIC 8 months for the first step and getting the open work-permit. And another 8 months for the CIC to review all the data. Big disadvantage is that it is always a risk leaving the country during the time of processing the permanent residency application.

Outside application: I am not allowed to work during the processing times in Canada. Now I have some questions. If my IEC(Working-Holiday) is expiring and since it is not extendable, how can I maintain legal status in Canada?
Can I apply for the visitors status?

Following is said on the homepage of the CIC :"How long can I stay in Canada while waiting for permanent residence?

You can stay in Canada while waiting for your permanent residence as long as you maintain legal status. Temporary resident status is valid for a specific period of time and you must ensure that your status as a temporary resident remains valid while you are in Canada."


Am I considered as a temporary resident?
To sum up everything: If I apply from outside Canada at the visa office in Vienna, I want to stay with my wife in Canada (understanding that working here during this time is not possible). What do I have to do to achieve this?

Thank you for all suggestions. I really need some help here because it is quite difficult getting reliable information.

Cheers

 

[steerpike]

It sounds like you understand things pretty clearly. If you apply outland, but want to stay in Canada you need to keep extending your visa. IEC, Work visa, study visa, visitor visa, whatever you want and can apply for. That's up to you. But CIC doesnt give you special status just being you applied Outland for PR. You are not automatically considered a temporary resident at all. But if you have a valid visa and keep it valid then you are. If you are unable to extend your visa then you'll have to go back to your home country.

 

[QuebecOkie]

You may be able to request your change to visitor status online. Here's CIC's page to help you figure out if you're eligible. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/my_application/apply_online.asp?d=1&q=n

 

[Mark9999999999]

Thank you very much for your responses. I will check out the homepage.Hope it is working out.

Cheers

 

[Mark9999999999]

It does not really say if I am eligible or not. I want to live in Quebec and there are apparently other rules. How can I find out if I can extend my visa over a visitors´status? Do you have any ideas. Everything depends on this step if I am able to stay in Canada during the processing times and the expiration of my IEC visa. I hope you can give me maybe some more advice. Thank you for your help.

Cheers

 

[Ponga]

Sorry, but...are you married now? You said that your gf is going to sponsor you, followed by "We are married".

If you're married, why not apply ASAP with an Inland application? Chances are you would only need to extend your status for a couple of months, as first stage approval (AIP) seems to be ~8-9 months right now. At that point, you would be eligible for an OWP, which is not available to an Outland applicant.

Or...since you would be applying Inland, you could just let your status lapse in the hopes that you have AIP within the 90 day window that you would have to apply for restoration of status anyway.

Good luck!

 

[steerpike]

Sorry, but...are you married now? You said that your gf is going to sponsor you, followed by "We are married".

Maybe he has a wife and a girlfriend. Don't judge people Ponga! ;D

I don't know the rules for Quebec, but I dont really see why he cant get a visitor visa and keep extending that visa indefiniately. Letting it lapse should be a last resort.

Mark: the online forms seem realy limited and dont always let you fill them in even tho you qualify. I would go with paper forms. Sorry i cant help with the Quebec specific rules.

 

[Mark9999999999]

Thank you for your responses. It is my wife.I read processing times are shorter if you apply from outside Canada and I am allowed to leave the country during processing time of my permanent residency application.Those are the reasons for an outside application.I was not able to find the documents I need to supply for changing after my IEC visa ends to a tourist status.Can anyone help me with this?The CIC homepage is not really clear for which I need to apply.All work visas or student visas are not possible since the IEC working holiday visa is not extendable and I do not have a job offer from a company.Thank you for your help.

Cheers