Working abroad while processing PR inside Canada application Spouse Category

[c_soubrier]

Hi there!!!

My name is Carlos and I am Spanish. My situation is detailed below:

- I arrived to Canada with the IEC Working Holiday Visa last Oct 2012 and I have been living in Ottawa since then.

- On June 2013, I submitted the PR application form (family category inside Canada - my Canadian wife is sponsoring me) plus the application to extend my visa (IMM5710E application to change conditions, extend my stay or remain in Canada as a worker).

- On October 2013, my IEC Working Holiday Visa expired (CIC has told me that I have an implied status given that I submitted the IMM5710E before the expiration of my IEC Working Holiday Visa. The problem is that I haven't any CIC document as evidence of my implied status).

- I have only received one email from CIC telling me that they have received my application and in the CIC website the status of my application is: processing 11 months.

- I have just found a job in a Canadian company and they need to send me to South Corea for six months in a couple of weeks.

- I have called CIC several times and they have told me that "it is up to the border agent" to let me in Canada once I finish working abroad. They have also told me that if I leave Canada I will loose my implied status.

I believe I can take the risk. The reason is that CIC should have finished investigating my wife by the time I will have to come back. Hopefully, my wife will receive my visa extension by mail or email and send it to me before I have to cross the Canadian border. I believe I better have something else besides my European passport to go through customs (just in case).

Another detail is that I still have to pass the medical test. I don't think it would be an issue to do it outside of Canada if CIC requests it while I am abroad.

I think I have covered all the possibilities and logically I should not have any problem (nowadays its pretty common professionals processing immigration papers in whatever country while they are somewhere else in business trips...).

Please let me know your opinion and if I should be aware of any detail that would ruin my PR application.

Thank you very much for your time.

Carlos

 

[Rob_TO]

You seem to have a few issues.

1. IEC visa is not extendable, so technically there is no such thing as implied work status with an IEC visa. If your IEC visa expired, you can no longer work. Although the chance to get caught is rare, some people have been caught and now face long delays in their inland application.
Not to mention if you leave Canada and lose implied status, you will DEFINITELY not have valid work status anymore so you would be working illegally if being paid by a Canadian company.

2. For inland apps, it's a mandatory requirement that sponsor and applicant MUST cohabit together. If either leaves to work in another country while other stays in Canada, the application will be rejected. See here for example of a recent rejected case where inland couple was not living together due to employment: http://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/sponsorship-within-canada-class-rejected-due-to-r124a-t175097.0.html

3. If CIC finds out that you are no longer residing in Canada, they may decide to simply terminate your inland application.

 

[c_soubrier]

Hi Rob_TO,

Thanks a lot for your prompt answer.

By the things you say, I will only be allowed to work again in Canada once I get the AIP. The thing is I wouldn't be working in Canada. I would be working in South Korea with a South Korean work permit (obviously being paid by a Canadian company). Following this theory, the risk I am running is CIC terminating my inland application by noticing that I am outside Canada and therefore not cohabiting with my partner during the whole application period.

It is unbelievable that all foreigner professionals processing the inland spouse PR application have run the risk to ruin their application (even actually ruin it) not only because of overseas professional relocation, but also relocations in Canada...

There has to be a way. What if I let know the company the issue and we start processing a LMO. Would it make any difference?

Thanks

 

[canuck_in_uk]

It is unbelievable that all foreigner professionals processing the inland spouse PR application have run the risk to ruin their application (even actually ruin it) not only because of overseas professional relocation, but also relocations in Canada...

There has to be a way. What if I let know the company the issue and we start processing a LMO. Would it make any difference?

Thanks

CIC offers the option to submit an outland application, which is really what you should have done. Whoever advised you to apply inland really did you a disservice.

An option you should really consider at this point is to withdraw your inland application and submit outland through Paris. There is no requirement for you to remain in Canada or to be cohabiting in Canada with your wife. She can remain in Canada while you are in South Korea. With a PR app in process and a visa-exempt passport, you should have no issues re-entering Canada as a visitor when your time in South Korea is done. The Paris office is very quick, you will probably have PR in about 8-10 months.

You would not require an LMO or work permit to work for a Canadian company in South Korea.

 

[Rob_TO]

As long as all your work is done solely in S.Korea, and none of the work is actually done in a Canadian branch of the office or on Canadian soil, then yes just having the S.Korean work permit is fine. However it would be good to also inform the company that you don't hold a valid Canadian work permit to see if it will be an issue.

As canuck mentioned, you should have applied outland, and just extended your visitor status if you wanted to remain in Canada during processing. It doesn't matter what the reason is or if you have an LMO or not... you simply can't live separate from your spouse while an inland app is in process.
You would need to withdraw your inland app, and submit a brand new outland app from scratch, if you really wanted to leave the country to work.

If you decide to remain in Canada and continuing the inland app, then you won't be able to work until you get the OWP after stage 1 approval (11 months), OR if you can find an employer to get you a closed work permit via the LMO process, you can work in Canada with that.

 

[zardoz]

To the OP.

Normally, people who are going to apply to immigrate as Permanent Residents have decided to do so after studying the rules and requirements. They then plan the application based on their particular circumstances. If those circumstances change, they have to adapt within the rules, either by declining opportunities or withdrawing their applications and resubmitting via an alternative route.

For those that are unable to understand these procedures, immigration consultants/lawyers exist to guide the applicants and manage the process for them.

As an inland applicant, with an expiring IEC, you should have been made aware that you would not be able to work until the OWP application that was submitted with the PR application became active once the PR application received AIP. If a consultant told you otherwise, sack them.

You have now a stark choice. Take the overseas job or continue with the inland PR application. You cannot do both.

 

[c_soubrier]

Thank you very much guys. This forum is amazing!!