Common-law open work permit refusal - Please help me!

[cwiseman10]

Hi, My partner and I are from the UK and she has received a placement at a college in Ottawa, she has her study/work permit for that. I have since tried to apply for the open work permit as her partner and just had it refused. Not really sure what to do as you have to pay for the college placement (which is expensive!) in order to get your study visa and have to have that permit in order for myself to get the OWP. It's very important that I am able to go with her. We're a couple that have been together for 4 years, its not an option for her to go alone.

Everything was filled out as asked. As far as I understood, if she gets the study permit then as her common-law partner, I should be able to get an open work permit.

Has anyone any experience with applying for an 'access to information request' and if so do they actually give you a more detailed reason for refusal?

According to the letter of refusal, this is the reason:
You have not demonstrated that you come within the exceptions under section 186 of the regulations exempting you from the requirement to obtain a work permit or that your employment in Canada comes within the exceptions to section 203 of the regulations. As a result, your offer of employment must be the subject of determination labour market impact assessment before a work permit can be issued to you. Your employer in Canada should contact the local office of Service Canada to begin this process.

I looked up those sections and I can't understand what their reason for refusal is. The only thing I can think of it that we didn't include enough voluntary additional supportive documents, but everything that was asked for was supplied.


Is anyone able to shed some light on this for us? We would really appreciate any help. Thank you

 

[scylla]

Based on the refusal reason, they don't believe you qualify for the open work permit.

I'm guessing the reason is that you didn't provide adequate proof you are common law. What proof did you supply with the application to prove you have been living together for at least one full year?

 

[cwiseman10]

Based on the refusal reason, they don't believe you qualify for the open work permit.

I'm guessing the reason is that you didn't provide adequate proof you are common law. What proof did you supply with the application to prove you have been living together for at least one full year?

I provided them with the required IMM5409 common law partner form which was signed and stamped by a Notary Public. To be honest that is all we provided as that is all that was asked for. In hindsight, it does seem kind of stupid now having not provided any other documents but as that was all they asked for I figured it would be adequate. We have a tenancy agreement, bill statements, joint bank account that we could provide

 

[scylla]

The form is not enough. You need to prove you have lived together for the year through the type of evidence you have described. That's definitely why you were refused.

 

[cwiseman10]

The form is not enough. You need to prove you have lived together for the year through the type of evidence you have described. That's definitely why you were refused.

Thank you so much for your help. What confuses me is if the reason was for not providing enough documentation to support my proof of relationship, why can they not use the feature of asking for more proof instead of a flat out refusal. Anyway, thanks again!

 

[scylla]

Thank you so much for your help. What confuses me is if the reason was for not providing enough documentation to support my proof of relationship, why can they not use the feature of asking for more proof instead of a flat out refusal. Anyway, thanks again!

The simple answer is that applications have to be complete when they are received - and CIC assesses applications based on the documentation submitted (complete or incomplete). This places the onus on the applicant to submit a complete application and encourages applicants to do a thorough job of putting an application together. Otherwise people would just submit the minimum knowing that CIC would request anything missing - creating bigger workloads for officers and substanitally extending processing times.