Current temp worker sponsorship questions

[BudDudandSlash]

Hello,

My name is Marc and I am currently living in Saskatoon, SK on a temporary work permit. I've been working here for about 8 months now and living with my girlfriend here since January (the day I crossed the border from the United States). I am trying to find a way to continue my work permit here, and it seems like a conjugal sponsorship would be the best way, as I am not a high skilled worker but have been in a committed relationship for nearly 2 years. I'm feeling pretty lost in a sea of information right now and am looking on some input of the best way I can stay before my permit expires in January 2013.

Thanks

 

[computergeek]

My name is Marc and I am currently living in Saskatoon, SK on a temporary work permit. I've been working here for about 8 months now and living with my girlfriend here since January (the day I crossed the border from the United States). I am trying to find a way to continue my work permit here, and it seems like a conjugal sponsorship would be the best way, as I am not a high skilled worker but have been in a committed relationship for nearly 2 years. I'm feeling pretty lost in a sea of information right now and am looking on some input of the best way I can stay before my permit expires in January 2013.

What was the basis of your original work permit?

There are three types of relationships for family class sponsorship of a partner:

- Spousal. For this, you must be married. You are eligible in this class as soon as you are legally married (although you need a copy of the marriage certificate to submit the application).
- Common-law. For this, you must have lived together for at least one year. Thus, if you have lived together for 12 months on the day your work permit expires, you can submit a common-law class application the day your work permit expires - but that isn't going to extend your work permit. If you apply via the inland process, you can submit a request for an open work permit, but that won't be granted for about 11 months (sponsor approval or "AIP"). Inland applications pretty much require that you stay in Canada for the duration of the application.
- Conjugal. For this you must prove that there are legal/social impediments that don't allow you to live together but you are in a committed relationship. Of the three types of relationships this is the MOST difficult to prove. From what you've described you won't qualify in this category.

None of these are going to allow you to extend your current work permit. Hence my original question, because you may need to either return back to the US and await an outland application to be completed (approximately 14 months from beginning to end) or try to obtain a job offer allowing you to remain - that requires an employer able to get an LMO for your position. There are some areas in which employers can obtain or even have open LMOs for certain lower skill jobs (NOC C or D).

There may also be province specific options - check the PNP program in your province (it will have a website) and see if they have a program. You may also find a provincial program for lower skill level positions for temporary foreign workers as well (e.g., Alberta).

Good luck!

 

[BudDudandSlash]

I currently have an open work permit I obtained through being a full time student in the US. I graduated before coming into Canada, so I wouldn't have a reason to return to school. Ideally, I'm looking to extend my permit with an open status, rather than being locked down into my current job in case we decide to move or I am offered a new job in the future.

My reason for coming to Canada at all is to continue my relationship, and obviously I do not want that to end. But you're saying that even being sponsored through a relationship for permanent residency won't allow me to continue working still? It wouldn't be any use if I could stay in the country but not work, as I would be reduced to either being entirely dependant on my girlfriend to live or working illegally, neither of which I want to do.

As for my job, I am a route sales representative for a company called Unifirst, but I don't feel like this position will pass me through the LMO process.

 

[scylla]

But you're saying that even being sponsored through a relationship for permanent residency won't allow me to continue working still?

Correct. Being sponsored for PR will unfortunately not allow you to keep working.

 

[BudDudandSlash]

Wow, that's rough. I guess I need to rethink my approach to this then. The wording of "permanent residency" feels a little misleading, but that's why I'm here asking so many questions. I feel it's safe to assume that citizenship or dual citizenship would allow me to work anywhere, but from what I understand that would be much tougher to acquire. I'm feeling pretty stuck now. Thank you both for the help so far.

 

[scylla]

Just to be clear - you can certainly work in Canada without a permit once you are actually a permanent resident. But you don't qualify to work in Canada while your application for PR is being processed (the application can take anywhere from several months to a few years to process depending on how you apply and where you're from).

To become a citizen of Canada, you must become a PR first.

 

[BudDudandSlash]

Oh, so permanent residency would allow me to work in Canada? That's good news- and I'm assuming that would act similar to my current open-status work permit? That seems to be what I want then. Waiting a few months isn't too painful, considering I can still work here and support myself until the end of January just fine- but a year or more would be very tough. I'm also reading that applying for PR inland takes longer than outland? That seems very backwards to me, and it's hard to understand why.

 

[scylla]

Based on the information you've provided, you won't qualify to apply until next January. To qualify to apply, you must either be married or common law (you won't qualify for conjugal). Assuming you don't want to get married soon and are aiming for common law, you'll have to wait until you've lived together for a minimum of one full year before applying. Or did you and your girlfriend live together before moving here?

As an American, you should definitely apply outland (faster).

 

[computergeek]

Oh, so permanent residency would allow me to work in Canada? That's good news- and I'm assuming that would act similar to my current open-status work permit? That seems to be what I want then. Waiting a few months isn't too painful, considering I can still work here and support myself until the end of January just fine- but a year or more would be very tough. I'm also reading that applying for PR inland takes longer than outland? That seems very backwards to me, and it's hard to understand why.

As a Permanent Resident you have the right to live and work anywhere in Canada. You just don't get an open work permit while the application is in process.

Actually, it's not clear to me given the current US situation that inland is slower than outland. Inland is listed as 11 months for sponsor approval + 8 months for applicant approval, but quite a few people are now reporting 10 months for sponsor approval and 2 months for applicant approval. Outland US is listed at 2.5 months for sponsor approval + 12 months for applicant approval, but nobody really knows because the Buffalo office (which handled all the US applications) was closed recently and everything moved to Ottawa. So officially, US outland is still "faster" based upon historical data, but outland seems to be getting slower and inland seems to be getting faster. Of course, your personal application processing time will vary regardless of which process you use.

Good luck!

 

[scylla]

Actually, it's not clear to me given the current US situation that inland is slower than outland. Inland is listed as 11 months for sponsor approval + 8 months for applicant approval, but quite a few people are now reporting 10 months for sponsor approval and 2 months for applicant approval. Outland US is listed at 2.5 months for sponsor approval + 12 months for applicant approval, but nobody really knows because the Buffalo office (which handled all the US applications) was closed recently and everything moved to Ottawa. So officially, US outland is still "faster" based upon historical data, but outland seems to be getting slower and inland seems to be getting faster. Of course, your personal application processing time will vary regardless of which process you use.

Wow - I didn't realize the Buffalo VO closure had made that much of an impact. That's really too bad.

 

[computergeek]

Wow - I didn't realize the Buffalo VO closure had made that much of an impact. That's really too bad.

At the time of closure, the backlog for spousal sponsored applications in Buffalo was more than double that of Ottawa, LA, Seattle, Detroit and NYC combined based upon my reading of the open data project backlog information. There's simply no way that one can readjust processing on this scale (Buffalo was the highest volume visa office in the world, handling something like 20% of ALL outland applications) without it having an impact, even temporarily. I'm sure Ottawa will be able to catch up - at some point.

Inland processing times have been expected to drop for a while (presumably the backlog was because they changed computer systems) and while there's no official data yet, by monitoring the inland thread the time for stage 1 has decreased from 12 months (last spring) to 10 months (folks in early November are now getting AIP). What has surprised me is how many people get AIP and Stage 2 at the same time, or within a month or two. Not everyone, but a substantial number, especially it would seem those from the US. Again, this isn't reflected in the reported data, this is more my sense in monitoring the inland and outland threads.

 

[BudDudandSlash]

Well, this all seems pretty doable and I should be able to apply at the end of January 2013, since that will mark 1 year I've lived with my girlfriend, for common-law. The problem then would be what do I do for the potential 1 year processing time? Even if I can live here during process, not being able to work and support myself would do me absolutely no good. The other option being outland processing, which would possibly mean having to leave my girlfriend for a year- also really not a good option.

On that note, are there crazy long processing times for marriage? And if we were to go that route, what are the hurdles/benefits over common-law? That might be a big question but thanks to anyone who is able to tackle it.

 

[scylla]

The processing times are the same regardless of whether you're married or common law. One advantage to applying as a married couple is that you could marry now and submit the sponsorship application sooner (rather than waiting until January). When you apply as common law, you must be able to prove that you have lived together for a minimum of one full year through evidence such as joint leases, shared utility bills, mail sent to the same address, etc. You don't have to prove that you have been living together for a full year with the marriage route - although you do have to supply proof that your relationship is genuine. Hope this helps.

 

[computergeek]

Well, this all seems pretty doable and I should be able to apply at the end of January 2013, since that will mark 1 year I've lived with my girlfriend, for common-law. The problem then would be what do I do for the potential 1 year processing time? Even if I can live here during process, not being able to work and support myself would do me absolutely no good. The other option being outland processing, which would possibly mean having to leave my girlfriend for a year- also really not a good option.

On that note, are there crazy long processing times for marriage? And if we were to go that route, what are the hurdles/benefits over common-law? That might be a big question but thanks to anyone who is able to tackle it.

Don't confuse INLAND and OUTLAND with your location, no matter what the CIC website says. YOU can be inside Canada and apply OUTLAND without any problems (people do it all the time). You do have to live inside Canada to apply for the in-Canada class, however.

So you are right - you could go back to the US and work while the application is in process, visiting Canada through the process. Or you can try to find a job in Canada with an employer willing to jump through the hoops necessary (an LMO). Depending upon your field and where you are, you may find some are more willing than you might otherwise suspect. I recently pointed someone whose primary job was being a waitress at a site that listed over a dozen jobs for employers willing to hire foreign workers, and being waitstaff is not a high skill job by any means. It definitely isn't great, and while those wait times might seem a bit long to you, for some countries the wait times are in the 2-3 YEAR category - and they won't be allowed to come visit their partner in Canada until the whole thing is finished.

 

[BudDudandSlash]

That's some good info, and I'm very sure my job would try everything in their power to keep me (there is a huge turnover rate at my job and it would take over a month to train someone to do what I do). My worry about the LMO is what the government would have to say about it. Maybe my fastest course of action would be to apply for marriage as soon as possible while simultaneously applying to extend my current work permit under my current employer? Thanks again, everyone.