December 2023 Inland Spousal Sponsorship

[damientian]

AOR received 23 December 2023

Wow congratulations ! Is it an inland application ? And what is the exact time of AOR ? It's surprising to see that IRCC still work on Saturday ! I thought they are all in Christmas vacation now

 

[October applicant]

Thats pretty quick.

 

[Tarikla]

Wow congratulations ! Is it an inland application ? And what is the exact time of AOR ? It's surprising to see that IRCC still work on Saturday ! I thought they are all in Christmas vacation now

IRCC only follow the stat holidays, aka Dec 25 and 26. Maybe some agents booked the week with vacation days, but they'll definitely be people working Dec 27-29.

 

[M32]

Wow congratulations ! Is it an inland application ? And what is the exact time of AOR ? It's surprising to see that IRCC still work on Saturday ! I thought they are all in Christmas vacation now

Thanks! yes its inland, Ontario, I got it at 3PM east time. I think they approved my documents on Friday and the system just sends an automated AOR email on Saturday

 

[October applicant]

What was your province of destination?

 

[ShirleyFalcata]

OWP for Spousal sponsorship cannot be delivered at the border, because one of the conditions is that you have a status IN Canada. When at the border, technically you're not in Canada and thus don't have a status. Several people tried to get it at the border and they almost all failed.

What you can do is wait until your current work permit is expiring in less than 2 weeks then apply for the OWP with your email receipt stating you submitted your application. There's a new public policy that enable you to do so without the AOR if your current document expire in less than 2 weeks (it is detailed at the bottom of the guide for the spousal sponsorship open work pemit: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/family-sponsorship/spouse-partner-children/spouse-common-law-partner-canada-open-work-permit.html )

This way you'll have maintained status and can continue working as your current work permit will be maintained until a decision is made on your new request.

Thanks for your reply.

After reading your advice which totally makes sense, we gave up the idea of trying at the boarder. We submitted the OWP application online yesterday (within 2 weeks before expiry date of current OWP). I have two questions regarding the OWP application:

1- During my OWP application, the digital photo that I submitted was in .PDF format while IRCC required .JPG format. Do I provide my digital photo in .jpg format on Web Form as soon as possible or am I waiting for IRCC to contact me and provide this document?

2- Since I am waiting for the decision of my OWP application, my status (as a worker) is maintained. Do I need to apply for a visitor record (VR)? I was told that as long as I get VR, my status will be a visitor and I could not work anymore. Is that true?

Many thanks for your help and Merry Christmas!

 

[ShirleyFalcata]

You have to apply online through gc key. Even though you haven’t received AOR, and your current work permit expires within 2 weeks, you would be able to apply without AOR, you need to submit application submission confirmation email along with other documents. You would be on an implied status.

Thanks so much. We did exactly what you suggest. Now we are just waiting for AOR of pr application or OWP.

Merry Christmas!

 

[October applicant]

Thanks for your reply.

After reading your advice which totally makes sense, we gave up the idea of trying at the boarder. We submitted the OWP application online yesterday (within 2 weeks before expiry date of current OWP). I have two questions regarding the OWP application:

1- During my OWP application, the digital photo that I submitted was in .PDF format while IRCC required .JPG format. Do I provide my digital photo in .jpg format on Web Form as soon as possible or am I waiting for IRCC to contact me and provide this document?

2- Since I am waiting for the decision of my OWP application, my status (as a worker) is maintained. Do I need to apply for a visitor record (VR)? I was told that as long as I get VR, my status will be a visitor and I could not work anymore. Is that true?

Many thanks for your help and Merry Christmas!

Hi,

If your current status is a 'temporary worker'(work permit) and you have applied for your new open work permit application within the expiry of your current work permit, you would be in an implied status after your current work permit expires and until you get your decision on your new open work permit application. Once you get positive decision on your new open work permit application you would be on a temporary worker status again until you get a positive decision on your sponsorship application, and become a PR. There is no visitor record or visitor status in this entire process. You do not need to apply for a visitor record at all.

 

[October applicant]

I believe when you answered your open work permit application questionnaire on GC Key, you might have not had 'Family Information form (IMM 5707)' in the personal checklist. Where did you find that form and where did you upload that? Since you would also need to submit your marriage certificate along with this form, did you combine your marriage certificate and IMM 5707 form and submit it as one document?

 

[ShirleyFalcata]

Hi,

If your current status is a 'temporary worker'(work permit) and you have applied for your new open work permit application within the expiry of your current work permit, you would be in an implied status after your current work permit expires and until you get your decision on your new open work permit application. Once you get positive decision on your new open work permit application you would be on a temporary worker status again until you get a positive decision on your sponsorship application, and become a PR. There is no visitor record or visitor status in this entire process. You do not need to apply for a visitor record at all.

Thanks for your quick reply that is crystal clear and useful for us.

 

[ShirleyFalcata]

I believe when you answered your open work permit application questionnaire on GC Key, you might have not had 'Family Information form (IMM 5707)' in the personal checklist. Where did you find that form and where did you upload that? Since you would also need to submit your marriage certificate along with this form, did you combine your marriage certificate and IMM 5707 form and submit it as one document?

I print IMM5707 and used scanned version combined with my declaration of common-law relationship (in your case, marriage certificate). All of my other documents that I integrated into one file and upload it.

Some people reported the OWP application without IMM5707. Please see the previous thread:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/open-work-permit-application-questions-while-waiting-for-pr-application-to-process-spouse-or-common-law-in-canada-class.786809/page-2

It seems that IMM5707 is not required right now. I submitted it though.

 

[October applicant]

So you have combined IMM 5707, declaration of common-law relationship, Current work permit copy, Sponsorship Application submission confirmation Email all as one document and uploaded in Client information?

 

[ShirleyFalcata]

So you have combined IMM 5707, declaration of common-law relationship, Current work permit copy, Sponsorship Application submission confirmation Email all as one document and uploaded in Client information?

Yes.

In addition, based on online guidelines, it also requires the birth certificate of my dependent children that show both parents’ names. I do not quite understand why the birth certificate of dependent children is needed. I included it anyways.

I do not know if what I am doing is correct...I will keep you updated.

 

[October applicant]

I heard somewhere in a You tube video to combine all these extra documents and upload in the client information. I believe what you did is correct, and I believe ignoring IRCC instructions and not including IMM5707 doesn't make sense. It would be better to include IMM 5707 along with the application one way or the other.

 

[ShirleyFalcata]

I heard somewhere in a You tube video to combine all these extra documents and upload in the client information. I believe what you did is correct, and I believe ignoring IRCC instructions and not including IMM5707 doesn't make sense. It would be better to include IMM 5707 along with the application one way or the other.

The inconsistency between guidelines and online system sometimes drive me crazy. What I learned from this forum is whenever you have a doubt, just submit with a letter of explanation to clarify what you thought. This is what I did for submitting IMM5707. I submitted a short text saying that I could not find where to submit IMM5707. So I submitted in the Client Information section.