My experience reentering without status during inland PR application

[redhotgalego]

Hello all,

I´ve seen many posts asking for advice before leaving Canada during an inland PR application. The general consensus seems to be that it isn´t advisable: a refusal to reenter the country would mean an immediate withdrawal of your application. However, usually, as long as you have a visitor visa, work permit or some other sort of status, there isn´t really much to worry about. As I said, many people ask about leaving but few come back to tell us how it went (which usually means that it went well), so I decided to share my experience, which I think is valuable since I was in a tougher spot than most of you will be. However, before I start, I should make a couple things clear.

1. Unless you are a Canadian citizen, you will never have granted access into Canada.
2. Ultimately, whether or not you can enter Canada is totally up to the criteria of the border officers that you encounter. These people, in my experience, will try to help you and be understanding of your situation, but that doesn´t mean they aren´t serious about their duty. The fact that I was allowed to enter Canada in this situation does not mean that the same will happen to you.
3. Do never lie. I could have said that I was just coming to visit for a few weeks or something like that and try to hide my tricky situation. I didn´t. I explained to the officers what my situation was and we went from there. If they find out you are lying, independently of your situation, nobody will try to help you, and you will most likely be rejected immediately. There are a few cases of people on this forum who made that mistake, don´t become one of them.

How did I get here:

In December 2017, I submitted a PR Inland application sponsored by my wife. My first mistake was to not hire a lawyer to handle it and think that I was smarter than I seem to be. If you live in Victoria, BC, send me a PM and I´ll recommend you a very good lawyer, too bad I didn´t contact her earlier. I also submitted an open work permit application with my PR app. I was wrongly told that, once I submitted my application, I´d have implied status and did not need to restore my visitor status. This is not true (EDIT: this is not true for PR applications, if you also submit an OWP application, then yes, you have implied status). If you have status when you submit your application, you should try to maintain it until your PR is approved. Having a valid status in the country is NOT a condition to obtaining PR, but it is a condition to obtaining the OWP. Even though I had visitor status when I submitted my OWP, it turns out I missed the OWP fee. By the time I paid, my status had expired and the OWP was "postponed until PR is granted". That was my second mistake.

My third mistake was to be unaware that, in order for them to grant me PR, I´d need a passport with at least 6 more months of validity. Since my passport was expiring in January 2019 (13 months after submitting my application) and my country, Spain, only renews passports from within Spain unless you already have PR, I had no alternative to going back home to get a new passport, take my chances at the border and continue my application with an updated passport.

Preparation:

I spoke with a few people from the CIC call centre. Some were optimistic that the border officer would be understanding of my situation, some were more pessimistic, but they all agreed that I had no other option. However, that is not what I wanted from them. What I wanted was advice on what documents I should bring to prove to the border agents that my story was true. They all responded with something like "there is no specific document that will grant you access to Canada, you should bring your passport and get an ETA". That is true, but it´s always a good idea to travel with evidence that will support your story or answer questions that the officers might have.

So this is what I brought:

-My spouse. Perhaps the most important thing when crossing the border during an inland PR application. Few people would want to ruin their day by splitting a family in half and wasting months, if not years, of their lives.
-Marriage certificate. Bring something to prove that you have a relationship with that person.
-Travel records. Prove that you haven´t been away from Canada for too long. Travelling for no longer than three weeks is advisable.
-Tenancy agreement. Prove that you live together, that you do it in Canada and that you´ve been doing it for a while.
-Messages from CIC. If you have submitted an application, bring anything that shows that, in fact, you have. Don´t bring the forms that you filled out since that does not prove that you ended up submitting them.
-Prove of financial support. Bank records, proof of employment of spouse, health insurance... show them that you don´t need to work in Canada.

So I land at YVR, Vancouver, and head to immigration. First, do not split: even if there are two lines, one for Canadians and one for foreign nationals, groups must always remain together and go through the foreign nationals line. We went through the booth that takes your picture and asks you questions. It printed a receipt and we headed to the immigration officer. This officer did not hesitate for a second before sending us to another officer to analyze our case. We explained the situation to this person, who did not seem very happy. He barely asked a couple questions. After some typing, he marked our receipt with giant red letters saying something like 701 STATUS and told us that we were good to go. GOOD TO GO! That sounded like music. So we went to get our suitcases and leave the airport. However, "good to go" must not mean exactly what I thought it did. Before leaving the airport you have to give someone your receipt, and as soon as this person saw the red, giant 701 code, he sent us to customs.

At customs, we explained the same story. My theory is that the first officer wanted customs to confirm that I had submitted an application because, after some typing, looking at the computer and almost no questions, the officer from customs let us finally go.

Interestingly, they did not stamp my passport and did not give me any status. In other words, the immigration officers allowed me back in Canada without status. I was hoping that they´d give me some kind of status so that I could reapply for OWP but I wasn´t that lucky. They never really asked many questions, I carried all those documents across the world for nothing and the experience was certainly nervewracking, but I learnt that, in most cases, if you are honest, they will rather make an effort to understand your situation and find a way to help you out instead of having to deal with the hustle of sending you back. Particularly at airports, where sending you back is much more complicated than telling you to go back the way you came.

So that´s it! I had a lot of anxiety for months and, in the end, it all worked out great. The worst part of the process was that we never really knew what was going on. They typed, looked at stuff on the computer and even stamped our receipt a few times before keeping it and walking us to the exit (so I never got to see what they stamped). It was unexpected and frustrating to be sent to customs after being told that we were "good to go", and I never knew how much in trouble I was. I guess that it´s better for them not to tell you much until they make a final decision. After re-entering, I still have no idea if they were feeling generous and made an exception in an exceptional case or if they tend to follow this same procedure every time in similar situations. All I know is that I can continue with my application and that I´ll be much more careful in the future.

I hope my experience can help someone. Good luck to you all!!

Edit: As some of you have pointed out, I might actually have valid status again. I will call CIC to verify my status and update this post.

 

[Buletruck]

Thanks for taking the time to detail your adventure.

 

[YVR123]

A question.
Don't you get a "fresh" visitor status once you re-enter without stamp? (6 months as default)

 

[1887CAN]

A question.
Don't you get a "fresh" visitor status once you re-enter without stamp? (6 months as default)

I was about to say the same thing, stamp or no stamp, you have valid status for a maximum of 6 months on entry to Canada as an EU national, unless your passport is stamped with an expiry date for less than 6 months. You may also be issued with a visitor record that reduces, or extends your stay beyond 6 months. I’ve previously been given a visitor record for visitor status lasting 12 months.

 

[EJH]

A question.
Don't you get a "fresh" visitor status once you re-enter without stamp? (6 months as default)

Even without a stamp, they will know you are here, and if you overstay. So, yes, fresh status.

 

[1887CAN]

Hello all,

I´ve seen many posts asking for advice before leaving Canada during an inland PR application. The general consensus seems to be that it isn´t advisable: a refusal to reenter the country would mean an immediate withdrawal of your application. However, usually, as long as you have a visitor visa, work permit or some other sort of status, there isn´t really much to worry about. As I said, many people ask about leaving but few come back to tell us how it went (which usually means that it went well), so I decided to share my experience, which I think is valuable since I was in a tougher spot than most of you will be. However, before I start, I should make a couple things clear.

1. Unless you are a Canadian citizen, you will never have granted access into Canada.
2. Ultimately, whether or not you can enter Canada is totally up to the criteria of the border officers that you encounter. These people, in my experience, will try to help you and be understanding of your situation, but that doesn´t mean they aren´t serious about their duty. The fact that I was allowed to enter Canada in this situation does not mean that the same will happen to you.
3. Do never lie. I could have said that I was just coming to visit for a few weeks or something like that and try to hide my tricky situation. I didn´t. I explained to the officers what my situation was and we went from there. If they find out you are lying, independently of your situation, nobody will try to help you, and you will most likely be rejected immediately. There are a few cases of people on this forum who made that mistake, don´t become one of them.

How did I get here:

In December 2017, I submitted a PR Inland application sponsored by my wife. My first mistake was to not hire a lawyer to handle it and think that I was smarter than I seem to be. If you live in Victoria, BC, send me a PM and I´ll recommend you a very good lawyer, too bad I didn´t contact her earlier. I also submitted an open work permit application with my PR app. I was wrongly told that, once I submitted my application, I´d have implied status and did not need to restore my visitor status. This is not true. If you have status when you submit your application, you should try to maintain it until your PR is approved. Having a valid status in the country is NOT a condition to obtaining PR, but it is a condition to obtaining the OWP. Even though I had visitor status when I submitted my OWP, it turns out I missed the OWP fee. By the time I paid, my status had expired and the OWP was "postponed until PR is granted". That was my second mistake.

My third mistake was to be unaware that, in order for them to grant me PR, I´d need a passport with at least 6 more months of validity. Since my passport was expiring in January 2019 (13 months after submitting my application) and my country, Spain, only renews passports from within Spain unless you already have PR, I had no alternative to going back home to get a new passport, take my chances at the border and continue my application with an updated passport.

Preparation:

I spoke with a few people from the CIC call centre. Some were optimistic that the border officer would be understanding of my situation, some were more pessimistic, but they all agreed that I had no other option. However, that is not what I wanted from them. What I wanted was advice on what documents I should bring to prove to the border agents that my story was true. They all responded with something like "there is no specific document that will grant you access to Canada, you should bring your passport and get an ETA". That is true, but it´s always a good idea to travel with evidence that will support your story or answer questions that the officers might have.

So this is what I brought:

-My spouse. Perhaps the most important thing when crossing the border during an inland PR application. Few people would want to ruin their day by splitting a family in half and wasting months, if not years, of their lives.
-Marriage certificate. Bring something to prove that you have a relationship with that person.
-Travel records. Prove that you haven´t been away from Canada for too long. Travelling for no longer than three weeks is advisable.
-Tenancy agreement. Prove that you live together, that you do it in Canada and that you´ve been doing it for a while.
-Messages from CIC. If you have submitted an application, bring anything that shows that, in fact, you have. Don´t bring the forms that you filled out since that does not prove that you ended up submitting them.
-Prove of financial support. Bank records, proof of employment of spouse, health insurance... show them that you don´t need to work in Canada.

So I land at YVR, Vancouver, and head to immigration. First, do not split: even if there are two lines, one for Canadians and one for foreign nationals, groups must always remain together and go through the foreign nationals line. We went through the booth that takes your picture and asks you questions. It printed a receipt and we headed to the immigration officer. This officer did not hesitate for a second before sending us to another officer to analyze our case. We explained the situation to this person, who did not seem very happy. He barely asked a couple questions. After some typing, he marked our receipt with giant red letters saying something like 701 STATUS and told us that we were good to go. GOOD TO GO! That sounded like music. So we went to get our suitcases and leave the airport. However, "good to go" must not mean exactly what I thought it did. Before leaving the airport you have to give someone your receipt, and as soon as this person saw the red, giant 701 code, he sent us to customs.

At customs, we explained the same story. My theory is that the first officer wanted customs to confirm that I had submitted an application because, after some typing, looking at the computer and almost no questions, the officer from customs let us finally go.

Interestingly, they did not stamp my passport and did not give me any status. In other words, the immigration officers allowed me back in Canada without status. I was hoping that they´d give me some kind of status so that I could reapply for OWP but I wasn´t that lucky. They never really asked many questions, I carried all those documents across the world for nothing and the experience was certainly nervewracking, but I learnt that, in most cases, if you are honest, they will rather make an effort to understand your situation and find a way to help you out instead of having to deal with the hustle of sending you back. Particularly at airports, where sending you back is much more complicated than telling you to go back the way you came.

So that´s it! I had a lot of anxiety for months and, in the end, it all worked out great. The worst part of the process was that we never really knew what was going on. They typed, looked at stuff in the computer and even stamped out receipt a few times before keeping us and walking us to the exit. It was unexpected to be sent to customs after being told that we were "good to go", and I never knew how much in trouble I was. I guess that it´s better for them not to tell you much until they make a final decision. After re-entering, I still have no idea if they were feeling generous and made an exception in an exceptional case or if they tend to follow this same procedure every time in similar situations. All I know is that I can continue with my application and that I´ll be much more careful in the future.

I hope my experience can help someone. Good luck to you all!!

See my post above, and if you want to you, consider reapplying for your OWP. You may need to pay the fees again, but I’m adamant you now have valid status, meaning you should be able to apply for a OWP.

Bear in mind that it’ll take three to four months for approval, so if you think PR will be approved quicker than that, it may not be worth applying again. If you’re unsure, perhaps contact your lawyer for advice.

Thanks for posting your experience, it’ll be very helpful for people to see. The CBSA officers are not heartless monsters. I’ve found them very helpful in my experiences. They’re stern, but fair. They have a job to do, and as one once told me, they’re not in the habit of breaking up families. They want people to reunited and stay together. There are, however, rules to be followed and enforced.

 

[redhotgalego]

Thanks, everyone, for the comments. I will call CIC on Monday and verify my status. I will update my post with whatever they tell me. Thanks again!

 

[np08]

Couldn't help but notice this:

was wrongly told that, once I submitted my application, I´d have implied status and did not need to restore my visitor status. This is not true. If you have status when you submit your application, you should try to maintain it until your PR is approved.

It is true. Your problem is that you messed up the fees and your application was returned. So that cancels the whole thing and then when you're sending the correct one you're out of status, of course. But the only thing a family class PR applicant needs to do to get an OWP is to correctly fill out the form and pay the $255 fee. If you do that, you'll pretty much be approved. Which is why the implied status helps so many people - fill out the form, pay the correct fees, and you'll get your OWP in a few months while not having to extend your status in the meantime.

I want to emphasize this so someone new reading doesn't get confused. Of course, for people who do want to be extra safe, it can never hurt to put in an extension request as well.

My third mistake was to be unaware that, in order for them to grant me PR, I´d need a passport with at least 6 more months of validity.

You can't even enter most countries if your passport is expiring in less than 6 months and you know the last step in the process is a passport request where you send in the passport to get it stamped.

Lawyer fees for this tend to be pretty high. People pay thousands of dollars for normal, straightforward applications. Unless the case is really complicated or the applicants don't have a satisfactory level of English so as to properly understand the forms, I don't think lawyers are needed. Most people on this forum will tell you so. It's all about being prepared and doing your research and spending some time on this forum probably before sending in the app.

 

[1887CAN]

Couldn't help but notice this:



It is true. Your problem is that you messed up the fees and your application was returned. So that cancels the whole thing and then when you're sending the correct one you're out of status, of course. But the only thing a family class PR applicant needs to do to get an OWP is to correctly fill out the form and pay the $255 fee. If you do that, you'll pretty much be approved. Which is why the implied status helps so many people - fill out the form, pay the correct fees, and you'll get your OWP in a few months while not having to extend your status in the meantime.

I want to emphasize this so someone new reading doesn't get confused. Of course, for people who do want to be extra safe, it can never hurt to put in an extension request as well.



You can't even enter most countries if your passport is expiring in less than 6 months and you know the last step in the process is a passport request where you send in the passport to get it stamped.

Lawyer fees for this tend to be pretty high. People pay thousands of dollars for normal, straightforward applications. Unless the case is really complicated or the applicants don't have a satisfactory level of English so as to properly understand the forms, I don't think lawyers are needed. Most people on this forum will tell you so. It's all about being prepared and doing your research and spending some time on this forum probably before sending in the app.

This is all very good information to point out. And you’re right to make the distinction that the implied status issue was indeed correct. It was the fact the application was returned that caused the implied status to expire, not that it was never in place.

I sent in a visitor visa extension application after IRCC received my PR & OWP, just in case for any reason my application was returned. My OWP was approved before they’d even started processing the visitor visa extension. I thought the $100 cost of this, and a few hours completing the paperwork was worth it for the reassurance it provided, even if it proved to be unnecessary in the end.

The paperwork for the PR application shouldn’t be difficult for a native English or French speaker, or anyone with a good proficiency of either language. It’s a little complicated at times, but if you’re thorough and take your time, there really isn’t any need for a lawyer to do it for you. If anyone feels they can’t do it, then by all means hire a lawyer, but I’ve heard of fees anywhere from $3k to $7k just for completing the application package.

This issue with the OWP payment seems to catch a lot of people out. There’s been countless post on here about it. It’s likely due to the fee being made up of two separate payments due at the same time, and people miss that one off. IRCC should probably issue a change to the guide to specify the exact amount or give an option on the fee payment site that includes the fees combined. I can see this issue continuing to occur in the future.

 

[redhotgalego]

It is true. Your problem is that you messed up the fees and your application was returned. So that cancels the whole thing and then when you're sending the correct one you're out of status, of course. But the only thing a family class PR applicant needs to do to get an OWP is to correctly fill out the form and pay the $255 fee. If you do that, you'll pretty much be approved. Which is why the implied status helps so many people - fill out the form, pay the correct fees, and you'll get your OWP in a few months while not having to extend your status in the meantime.

None of us is exactly correct (I´ll edit my first post to clarify this). Yes, OWP submitted while in status grants implied status. PR application, however, does NOT grant implied status. That was my mistake, to think that both applications provided implied status when, for some reason, only one does.

 

[np08]

This is all very good information to point out. And you’re right to make the distinction that the implied status issue was indeed correct. It was the fact the application was returned that caused the implied status to expire, not that it was never in place.

I sent in a visitor visa extension application after IRCC received my PR & OWP, just in case for any reason my application was returned. My OWP was approved before they’d even started processing the visitor visa extension. I thought the $100 cost of this, and a few hours completing the paperwork was worth it for the reassurance it provided, even if it proved to be unnecessary in the end.

The paperwork for the PR application shouldn’t be difficult for a native English or French speaker, or anyone with a good proficiency of either language. It’s a little complicated at times, but if you’re thorough and take your time, there really isn’t any need for a lawyer to do it for you. If anyone feels they can’t do it, then by all means hire a lawyer, but I’ve heard of fees anywhere from $3k to $7k just for completing the application package.

This issue with the OWP payment seems to catch a lot of people out. There’s been countless post on here about it. It’s likely due to the fee being made up of two separate payments due at the same time, and people miss that one off. IRCC should probably issue a change to the guide to specify the exact amount or give an option on the fee payment site that includes the fees combined. I can see this issue continuing to occur in the future.

Yes, I think $100 is definitely worth the peace of mind and it's an extra layer of security. In my case we didn't do it because we're lucky enough in the sense that, even if something had gone wrong and I couldn't apply for the OWP til AIP, we still would have been fine financially with me not working. But I've seen people in total panic mode because they can't afford to not work for the next 8 months, but now they're out of status and what do they do - those people should absolutely extend their status on time.

The paperwork for the PR application shouldn’t be difficult for a native English or French speaker, or anyone with a good proficiency of either language. It’s a little complicated at times, but if you’re thorough and take your time, there really isn’t any need for a lawyer to do it for you. If anyone feels they can’t do it, then by all means hire a lawyer, but I’ve heard of fees anywhere from $3k to $7k just for completing the application package.

I agree. Especially since a lot of these relationships are between a native Canadian and a foreigner, in which case the language issue shouldn't be there. But hey, I have friends who are also applying right now and even with one of them being a native speaker they went straight to a lawyer because all the forms are just confusing and scary to them and they don't wanna deal - people like that should definitely not mess with it. For the majority though, it's really not worth the huge fees (when I hear how much my friend pays per visit to his lawyer, I wanna scream that this is way too simple to cost that much, but hey, it's their life and their application.)

I think that people should just take their time and do their research. I knew my relationship was going in this direction for years before we actually got to the point of applying. So I've been lurking here for a long time and had a very good grasp on the process by the time we got married and started putting it all together. A lot of posters here are in the, "Hi, guys! We just got married. I heard I can apply for residence now. What should we do?" category and that's just... Jesus. Sit down and spend a few hours at least grasping the basics first, lol.

This issue with the OWP payment seems to catch a lot of people out. There’s been countless post on here about it. It’s likely due to the fee being made up of two separate payments due at the same time, and people miss that one off. IRCC should probably issue a change to the guide to specify the exact amount or give an option on the fee payment site that includes the fees combined. I can see this issue continuing to occur in the future.

I agree 100% and I've mentioned it before. They definitely need to clear that up. When we were applying, I was also confused and had to double check on the forum. It's so easy to mess up and with the amount of applications that are returned due to it, you'd think they'd have done something about it already.

 

[np08]

None of us is exactly correct (I´ll edit my first post to clarify this). Yes, OWP submitted while in status grants implied status. PR application, however, does NOT grant implied status. That was my mistake, to think that both applications provided implied status when, for some reason, only one does.

No, we are correct. No one is saying the PR application grants implied status. Only the OWP one does. This is something you can get confirmed by anyone here if you ask in any of the threads or post a new one.

 

[redhotgalego]

No, we are correct. No one is saying the PR application grants implied status. Only the OWP one does. This is something you can get confirmed by anyone here if you ask in any of the threads or post a new one.

I meant that you didn´t specify that this only applies to OWP applications and not PR applications, which is what caused my confusion and trouble in the first place. My PR application was never returned, there was nothing wrong with it, and it was submitted while I still had visitor status. However, that did not matter when my status expired, it did not grant me implied status because that´s something that only OWP apps can do, which I think is crucial to remark. The way you phrased it is confusing, in my opinion, and that´s why I said that none of us was correct, because both of our points were incomplete in some way.

Thanks for the feedback and clarifications though. Hopefully, we can prevent others from repeating my mistakes.

 

[1887CAN]

None of us is exactly correct (I´ll edit my first post to clarify this). Yes, OWP submitted while in status grants implied status. PR application, however, does NOT grant implied status. That was my mistake, to think that both applications provided implied status when, for some reason, only one does.

I can see the confusion, a lot of people make that mistake. IRCC make a point at the bottom of PR application guide to state that you must maintain valid status throughout the process. Relying on implied status for PR isn’t an option and they don’t mention the OWP processing in the PR guide as it’s not madatory to apply for one. The spousal OWP program is only a pilot too, it’s not officially part of the PR application. It’s a big risk relying on implied status, a lot of people don’t understand it fully and it’s way safer to extend your visitor status, just in case the OWP application is returned.

They announced a few weeks ago they were extending the pilot into December 2019, but after that they could cancel it. I doubt they would, it seems to be a great success for all involved.

With that said, you seem to have lucked out in being able to apply again with you now re-validated status. I hope you get your OWP approved soon and then you’re at least able to work whilst the PR processing is concluded.

 

[redhotgalego]

I can see the confusion, a lot of people make that mistake. IRCC make a point at the bottom of PR application guide to state that you must maintain valid status throughout the process. Relying on implied status for PR isn’t an option and they don’t mention the OWP processing in the PR guide as it’s not madatory to apply for one. The spousal OWP program is only a pilot too, it’s not officially part of the PR application. It’s a big risk relying on implied status, a lot of people don’t understand it fully and it’s way safer to extend your visitor status, just in case the OWP application is returned.

They announced a few weeks ago they were extending the pilot into December 2019, but after that they could cancel it. I doubt they would, it seems to be a great success for all involved.

With that said, you seem to have lucked out in being able to apply again with you now re-validated status. I hope you get your OWP approved soon and then you’re at least able to work whilst the PR processing is concluded.

Thanks! One more thing I´ll add, the border officer mentioned that leaving Canada cancels any implied status. I´m not entirely sure of the implications of this (I don´t even think it has any as long as you return soon and considering you get status again when you re-enter), but just in case someone finds the info useful.