work permit expiring soon - help!

[canusa13]

I hope you guys can help me. I've received a ton of guidance when I was completing our family based application. Now, I'm trying to help a friend.

My friend from Brazil has been in Canada for about 3 years. She went to school here and is currently working. She is getting married to a Canadian in a couple of weeks and will apply for PR under the family category, inland. Here's the problem: her work permit is expiring at the end of August. I suggested that she just applies for an extension of her work permit, pending her PR application but apparently, this is not so easy. She thinks she needs to enrol in school and again apply for a study/work permit. For some reason, it just doesn't sound right. Can someone confirm that? I just feel so bad because if she needs to go back to school, even college alone is over $14K for one year. How do we go about getting her to stay here, able to work legally, pending her PR application? There must be away that doesn't include going back to school, right? I know she can apply for work permit at the time of filing her inland family based PR application but I'm pretty sure I read on this forum that these take forever to process and her work permit is expiring soon.

Any help/tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[starry101]

Why apply inland? Outland for Brazil is one of the fastest processing centers. I think the average time is around 5 months (as long as you have no red flags). If they apply for spousal sponsorship inland you can also apply for an open work permit. It takes about 4-5 month to process the work permit and about 2 years for the entire PR application.

Regardless which path they choose, there will be a gap. If she cannot renew her work permit she can just change conditions to a visitor visa for 6 months (simple online process that costs $100 or so). This will give her status until the new work permit or PR comes in. She may have to stop working for a couple months but that seems like a much better option than going back to school full time.

 

[canusa13]

We were hoping to find a solution that doesn't now involve her quitting her job. That doesn't sound too promising

 

[canusa13]

Could anyone else weigh in please?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

APPLY OUTLAND.

Whether she applies inland or outland, she will have to stop working at some point. With a PGWP, she cannot work on Implied Status and there is no chance that the OWP will arrive before her current permit expires.

If she applies outland, she will need to apply to change her status to visitor and have to stop working but will be a PR in a quarter of the time as with inland, or possibly even less.

 

[volkov]

please, do not listen to people on the forum for important life changing advice, some give out advice as if it is true gospel, but I have heard from other sources that have spoken directly with CIC employees that what is being said in this thread is not the way CIC is applying their interpretations

I don't want to get in a back and forth argument with anyone here, but I just urge you to try to find out your information from more official sources than internet forums, because some here do not give proper caveats when they are dispensing important advice that may or may not be true at all


just as an example, CIC call centre employees and immigration officials at the airport have given advice completely opposite to what I am reading here, so just keep in mind that if you are not reading it in black and white on a government website or hearing it directly from the CIC themselves, that you should probably verify the information for yourself with CIC and not listen to posters on an unofficial internet forum

 

[Ponga]

And whom do you expect to talk to at CIC that can give an accurate answer? Certainly not the people that answer the phones at the Call Centre.

 

[canusa13]

And whom do you expect to talk to at CIC that can give an accurate answer? Certainly not the people that answer the phones at the Call Centre.

Right? Lol

 

[canusa13]

APPLY OUTLAND.

Whether she applies inland or outland, she will have to stop working at some point. With a PGWP, she cannot work on Implied Status and there is no chance that the OWP will arrive before her current permit expires.

If she applies outland, she will need to apply to change her status to visitor and have to stop working but will be a PR in a quarter of the time as with inland, or possibly even less.

She has PGWP.
Let me ask another question: if she applies outland in June after she gets married, can she continue to work until the work permit expires at the end of August and then just stay as a visitor?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

She has PGWP.
Let me ask another question: if she applies outland in June after she gets married, can she continue to work until the work permit expires at the end of August and then just stay as a visitor?

Yes, she can work as long as the permit is valid. Prior to it expiring, she needs to apply to change her status to visitor.

 

[canusa13]

Yes, she can work as long as the permit is valid. Prior to it expiring, she needs to apply to change her status to visitor.

Thank you. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[volkov]

again, be careful listening to people on this forum, they are not officials and they have strong opinions that are more likely to be wrong as they are to be correct


I just got off of the phone to the CIC and they again confirmed what they have been saying all along consistently, if one has a legal work permit (regardless of whether it is extendable or not, I asked specifically about a non-extendable PGWP and they were 100% clear on the fact that implied status allowing the Open Work conditions of that PGWP work permit will continue after it expires) and you have applied for an OWP based on PR application inland, that Implied Status will be in effect when the original work permit expires and will allow all benefits of the original Open Work Permit, the ability to work, the ability to accept a new job, etc....


this was 100% clearly answered and there was zero doubt in this from the CIC agent... whatever internal documentation they have available must be 100% clear on these facts, as it was without hesitation and she was very clear and very certain

but don't take my word for it, call CIC yourself, that is much smarter than asking people on an anonymous unofficial internet forum... I feel better for having spent an hour on the phone today