Couple of questions re my application

[Joey-Jo]

I'm the principal applicant and my Canadian spouse is the sponsor. So far all that's left of my visa application to complete is the background check/my eligiblity - everything else is complete (medical, biometrics, CSQ (I will be living in Quebec), sponsor approval.

I applied for a Spouse Open Work Permit back in June and received confirmation of that yesterday, The permit lasts for two years.

My first question is related to the SOWP.. as I understand TRVs (or ETA's in my case as I am a British citizen) allow you to remain in Canada for up to 6 months, afterwhich you have to leave. So does the fact I have a two year work permit mean I can stay in Canada for that duration, or do I still have to return to UK after 6 months?

Secondly, I noticed on my my IRCC account and CIC accounts that they changed my address from my UK address to my spouse's one in Canada (I didn't amend it myself, it just seemed to be updated from their end). Is that usual?

Maybe anyone who has had a similar experience can advise?

 

[NBosprey]

So yes, your SOWP allows you to stay and work in Canada for 2 years, you do not need to leave after 6 months. As for the address change, I'm assuming you applied for Inland sponsorship so they changed it to match your current Canadian address because it's your current location. Nothing to be concerned about

 

[Joey-Jo]

So yes, your SOWP allows you to stay and work in Canada for 2 years, you do not need to leave after 6 months. As for the address change, I'm assuming you applied for Inland sponsorship so they changed it to match your current Canadian address because it's your current location. Nothing to be concerned about

Ok thanks, I was a little confused!
And yes I applied for the work permit when I was in Canada. Obviously back in the UK for a while to sort things out here while I'm waiting for a decision on the permanent residency. But this is good because I can go back and work there now while waiting for that.

 

[Joey-Jo]

Oh forgot to ask, will the fact I came back to my home country before I received the work permit (I had to to sort out personal stuff here and tie up loose ends) be a problem for me re-entering the country, do you think?

My original application was Outland by the way, not Inland.

 

[NBosprey]

Unfortunately, I can't give much advice on that as I did Inland not Outland; might want to do some digging into that. If I have this right, for Outland when your application is in the final stages of approval they will do a passport request and you will have to go to a visa office within your own country.

 

[Joey-Jo]

Unfortunately, I can't give much advice on that as I did Inland not Outland; might want to do some digging into that. If I have this right, for Outland when your application is in the final stages of approval they will do a passport request and you will have to go to a visa office within your own country.

Thanks for the reply,
Re the passport request and stamping, I believe you can get this done at at any VFS Global visa application centre in the world, it doesn't have to be your country of origin/birth. Which is good because I don't want to go back to UK for just that reason, especially if I'm already working in Canada.

 

[NBosprey]

That's good to know! Best of luck

 

[canuck78]

Oh forgot to ask, will the fact I came back to my home country before I received the work permit (I had to to sort out personal stuff here and tie up loose ends) be a problem for me re-entering the country, do you think?

My original application was Outland by the way, not Inland.

The fact you returned to the UK could be problematic if you applied inland. How long will you be in the UK? IRCC believes you are currently in Canada which is why they changed your address.

 

[Joey-Jo]

The fact you returned to the UK could be problematic if you applied inland. How long will you be in the UK? IRCC believes you are currently in Canada which is why they changed your address.

I was due to come back mid November in keeping with my 6 month ETA allowance, but had to bring my flight forward to end of September as I had things to attend to in UK, including getting rid of personal effects (basically my flat contents). The whole process is confusing to be honest, I kind of wished I hadn't bothered with the OWP now if it was going to mess things up for me or even complicate the spousal sponsorship, which so far has been going ok. They must realise that you can't just make yourself effectively homeless with no possessions in your home country whilst waiting for spousal PR if you are doing an outland application.

I will submit a query with CIC/IRCC tomorrow to explain this.

Oh just to also confirm my Spousal Application for PR was done Outland, not Inland, not sure if this has any bearing on whether I'm allowed to travel more freely whilst waiting for spousal approval, but I believe it does from what I've read.

 

[YVR123]

I was due to come back mid November in keeping with my 6 month ETA allowance, but had to bring my flight forward to end of September as I had things to attend to in UK, including getting rid of personal effects (basically my flat contents). The whole process is confusing to be honest, I kind of wished I hadn't bothered with the OWP now if it was going to mess things up for me or even complicate the spousal sponsorship, which so far has been going ok. They must realise that you can't just make yourself effectively homeless with no possessions in your home country whilst waiting for spousal PR if you are doing an outland application.

I will submit a query with CIC/IRCC tomorrow to explain this.

Oh just to also confirm my Spousal Application for PR was done Outland, not Inland, not sure if this has any bearing on whether I'm allowed to travel more freely whilst waiting for spousal approval, but I believe it does from what I've read.

You applied for OWP when you planned to stay inside Canada. That's what the OWP is for (and IRCC started to accept outland applicants to apply for OWP which used to be for inland only before).
No idea if you will have any issue when you cross the border. I think you will find out when you return to Canada.

 

[Joey-Jo]

You applied for OWP when you planned to stay inside Canada. That's what the OWP is for (and IRCC started to accept outland applicants to apply for OWP which used to be for inland only before).
No idea if you will have any issue when you cross the border. I think you will find out when you return to Canada.

Thanks, That's what I'm resigned to now. It's incredibly frustrating when your life is basically up in the air though, basically "between countries". They expect you have close ties to your home country when you make the original spousal application, yet when it comes to things like this you're suddenly expected to dump everything in your home country and move to Canada, perhaps even bringing stuff over, when there's still no certainty of whether you will get the spouse visa.

However, if I'd known this would have been an issue (me leaving Canada before the OWP was processed), I would have stayed. So this is my mistake and I accept that and will have to face the music when I go back.

 

[YVR123]

Thanks, That's what I'm resigned to now. It's incredibly frustrating when your life is basically up in the air though, basically "between countries". They expect you have close ties to your home country when you make the original spousal application, yet when it comes to things like this you're suddenly expected to dump everything in your home country and move to Canada, perhaps even bringing stuff over, when there's still no certainty of whether you will get the spouse visa.

However, if I'd known this would have been an issue (me leaving Canada before the OWP was processed), I would have stayed. So this is my mistake and I accept that and will have to face the music when I go back.

To clarify, they do not expect you to have close ties to your home country for ANY steps in a spousal sponsorship application.
The only application that needs to show close tie is for TRV and you don't need TRV as a British citizen (can travel with eTA).
Yes. You cannot bring stuffs over yet as a visitor entering before your PR is approved. Many store them in storage or other places instead of keeping a flat just for the stuffs.
And you didn't need to leave Canada after your 6 months stay, you could have applied to extend your stay as a visitor back then and continue to stay and wait for the application to process.
(very common)

I understand immigration process is not very easy to understand. But as many of us did, we learn as we go along with it.

Good luck with your return. I don't really see any issue as a British/UK passport holder.

 

[Joey-Jo]

To clarify, they do not expect you to have close ties to your home country for ANY steps in a spousal sponsorship application.
The only application that needs to show close tie is for TRV and you don't need TRV as a British citizen (can travel with eTA).
Yes. You cannot bring stuffs over yet as a visitor entering before your PR is approved. Many store them in storage or other places instead of keeping a flat just for the stuffs.
And you didn't need to leave Canada after your 6 months stay, you could have applied to extend your stay as a visitor back then and continue to stay and wait for the application to process.
(very common)

I understand immigration process is not very easy to understand. But as many of us did, we learn as we go along with it.

Good luck with your return. I don't really see any issue as a British/UK passport holder.

Thank you, that is sounding a bit more positive for me (I'm a terrible worrier - maybe because I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to all things legally-related and have tried to make sure there are no hiccups with this spouse visa application!).

I came back earlier because of stuff I needed to deal with here unexpectedly. Even if I'd stayed and waited for the OWP approval and received the permit (which I expect will be sent to my husband's address in the next couple of weeks), I would have had to come back at some point anyway to sell my car which was in storage, along with the entire contents of my old flat! I'm not sure that is really taken into account by immigration, that we do actually have a life back in our home countries which we are giving up.

 

[NBosprey]

Thank you, that is sounding a bit more positive for me (I'm a terrible worrier - maybe because I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to all things legally-related and have tried to make sure there are no hiccups with this spouse visa application!).

I came back earlier because of stuff I needed to deal with here unexpectedly. Even if I'd stayed and waited for the OWP approval and received the permit (which I expect will be sent to my husband's address in the next couple of weeks), I would have had to come back at some point anyway to sell my car which was in storage, along with the entire contents of my old flat! I'm not sure that is really taken into account by immigration, that we do actually have a life back in our home countries which we are giving up.

To the previous comment, since you are British, coming in to Canada as a visitor is very easy; your eTA is valid for up to five years. I don't think Canada is like the EU where you can only stay 3 months out of a 6 month period; so if you went back to Canada as a visitor, the 6 months would start again (I think I've never been able to get a clear answer on this). Looking at your original post, you seem to be decently along in the process. My recommendation: find forums/threads of people who applied as Outland, ideally look for comments left from other Brits, from the month you applied and earlier months to get a sense of how long the process will take. I realize you did say you will be living in Quebec and that process is...um...long to say the least. You might be able to see if other people applied for OWP as well and what happened when they came to Canada. Also recommend, your OWP will get sent to your Canadian address so your husband needs to sent it to you in the UK ASAP; its better to have that when crossing the border than saying "It's at my house". Also photocopy it and send it via registered mail (meaning you have to sign for it); learned that lesson the hard way.

 

[armoured]

I'm not sure that is really taken into account by immigration, that we do actually have a life back in our home countries which we are giving up.

It seems to me you're complaining about potential treatment - things that haven't actually happened.

Not really sure what they should have done to 'take into account' what you've done. You can wait and arrive later and arrange your affairs before travelling to Canada, you can come and work under limited circumstances, but your affairs back home are your affairs.

This is leaving aside that expecting government programs to 'take into account' the myriad of all potential life situations seems ... ahem, overly optimistic - not to say delusional. They have procedures and laws, they're actually pretty flexible (and have been updated) - but at the end of the day, they are what they are.