Canadian citizen marrying a foreign worker

[immigration_sos]

Hello,

My boyfriend and I have been together for 4 years. I am a Canadian citizen and he is a Malaysian citizen.

We are in a situation where he doesn’t have enough time to extend his current work permit. He has been working with the same company for about 5 years, however, his work permit has just ended (Nov 30th). He has a 90-day grace period to extend his work permit.
Last year, his LMO was approved. However, the paperwork is now expired. We know that to re-submit LMO, it will take another 3-4 months, which is not enough time to apply for his work permit.

He just submitted his PR application under CEC earlier this month. This means that he is unable to apply for the bridging work permit because in order to apply, his work permit needs to be valid at least for another 4 months.

We are hoping to move to Malaysia for good in June 2014. Right now, we are seeking ways to ensure that he can stay and work here legally until then. One way is to get married asap so he can apply an open work permit. Is this feasible?

Any information is appreciated.

 

[scylla]

No - being married to you doesn't qualify him for an open work permit.

The only way he can qualify for an open work permit through you is if you marry him and then sponsor him through the inland (within Canada) route. If you do this, he will qualify for an open work permit once first stage processing has been completed for the application. First stage processing currently takes 11 months.

Long story short - marriage to you doesn't solve the problem he's currently facing.

 

[immigration_sos]

Thank you scylla. Is there any other way for him to be able to extend his stay here legally? Do you think he still have enough time to re-submit his LMO?

 

[scylla]

He could apply to restore his status and also change his status to "visitor". Assuming this request is approved, he will be able to stay but will have to stop working.

If he wants to continue working, then he needs an approved LMO. I don't know if he has enough time to re-submit his LMO before the 90 days runs out. Hopefully someone else will be able to comment.

 

[Matthew Iwama]

No LMO = No Job

As scylla has pointed out, they will issue him an OWP through Inland spousal, but that will take closer to a year.

His best bet is to try and find a company who already has LMOs available so that he can apply for restoration as a worker. He can try looking through Craigslist or Kijiji but he might just end up working at a fast-food chain. It would keep him in the country though.

 

[zardoz]

We are hoping to move to Malaysia for good in June 2014.

If this is the case, why is he wasting time applying for PR through CEC? Just curious...