Experts help please: Landing in case of ENFORCED "out of status"

[Sevgilim]

Background:
I am on work permit for more than 6 years in Canada, my wife just finished her PhD here in Canad about 4 months ago. I was accepted on a PNP and currently at the very final stage. Our status was OK all these years.

About five months ago, I was asked to send my passport digital copy by e-mail and to pay RPRF fees. I did, then after 2 months they sent me a letter asking me to get a new passport because my passport was about to expire on Aug 1st.

I was asked to send the new passport to get the PR visa. I got a new passport and send it, firstly, as a digital copy by e-mail. Then, I got a "Visa Ready Letter" asking to send my passport with my family' passports and recent photos for all.

- My old passport expired in August 1st, as well, the Work Permit (WP can not exceed passport expiry date). Also, my wife study permit, and my 7 years old Son's visiting permit are expired same day because I am the main applicant. Only our 3 years child is a Canadian citizen by birth.

- I could not apply to extend the work permit before its expiry as usual because I was still applying to a new passport and just waiting for it (without new passport the extension application has no meaning because I was still limited by the old passport expiry date)

- Unfortunately, I got the new passport about 17 days after the expiry of both the old passport and all our permits (Work, Study, Visit), hence, we were enforced to be out of status without any other option.

Then, I sent the digital copy of the new passport by e-mail as required.

Finally, I got a "Visa Ready Letter" asking to send my passport with my family' passports and recent photos for all of us.

- I sent our passports to processing office and they were received on that office on Sept 18th

Currently, we are waiting for our passports and the PR visas, hopefully, we would get the passports back before the end of this month.

The only problem now is we are out of status since Aug 1st (we did not have a choice about that).

My questions are explained in the following points:
Assuming we have received our PR visas soon, should we expect any problems in case of doing "inland" landing procedures due to our "out of status"?

Would making the landing procedures at POE be easier in terms of asking about current status? or it is just the same process and questions?

Do we need to apply for status restoration if our PR status would be received before 90 days from my WP expiry date?

What if the PR visas would be sent to us after the 90 days from WP expiry date, should we expect a removal possibility or any problem?

Applying for status restoration plus extending our permits would cost us as about 1000 dollars, and will need 2-3 months, hence, the decision will be made, mostly, after we would get our passports back, so, is applying for restoration of status is a must for landing (inland or at POE)?

I would be so grateful if you can help me understand what are the best options available for us now.

Thanks in advance!

 

[coshx]

Background:
I am on work permit for more than 6 years in Canada, my wife just finished her PhD here in Canad about 4 months ago. I was accepted on a PNP and currently at the very final stage. Our status was OK all these years.

About five months ago, I was asked to send my passport digital copy by e-mail and to pay RPRF fees. I did, then after 2 months they sent me a letter asking me to get a new passport because my passport was about to expire on Aug 1st.

I was asked to send the new passport to get the PR visa. I got a new passport and send it, firstly, as a digital copy by e-mail. Then, I got a "Visa Ready Letter" asking to send my passport with my family' passports and recent photos for all.

- My old passport expired in August 1st, as well, the Work Permit (WP can not exceed passport expiry date). Also, my wife study permit, and my 7 years old Son's visiting permit are expired same day because I am the main applicant. Only our 3 years child is a Canadian citizen by birth.

- I could not apply to extend the work permit before its expiry as usual because I was still applying to a new passport and just waiting for it (without new passport the extension application has no meaning because I was still limited by the old passport expiry date)

- Unfortunately, I got the new passport about 17 days after the expiry of both the old passport and all our permits (Work, Study, Visit), hence, we were enforced to be out of status without any other option.

Then, I sent the digital copy of the new passport by e-mail as required.

Finally, I got a "Visa Ready Letter" asking to send my passport with my family' passports and recent photos for all of us.

- I sent our passports to processing office and they were received on that office on Sept 18th

Currently, we are waiting for our passports and the PR visas, hopefully, we would get the passports back before the end of this month.

The only problem now is we are out of status since Aug 1st (we did not have a choice about that).

My questions are explained in the following points:
Assuming we have received our PR visas soon, should we expect any problems in case of doing "inland" landing procedures due to our "out of status"?

Would making the landing procedures at POE be easier in terms of asking about current status? or it is just the same process and questions?

Do we need to apply for status restoration if our PR status would be received before 90 days from my WP expiry date?

What if the PR visas would be sent to us after the 90 days from WP expiry date, should we expect a removal possibility or any problem?

Applying for status restoration plus extending our permits would cost us as about 1000 dollars, and will need 2-3 months, hence, the decision will be made, mostly, after we would get our passports back, so, is applying for restoration of status is a must for landing (inland or at POE)?

I would be so grateful if you can help me understand what are the best options available for us now.

Thanks in advance!

@ Sevgilim: What you have done is a serious act of misrepresentation and inadmisibility. It is a problem to run out of status while applying for PR. I guess you thought you could get the PR before your status expire knowing fully well your passport is about to expire. They may even deny you entry based on that. I expected you'd have made adequate preparation a long time ago no matter your country of origin.

Well, my advise for you is to quickly apply for Bridge Open Work Permit. It's a 1 year extension for applicants whose cases are processed @ CPP-Ottawa. This way, even if immigration talks, you can say that your application for BOWP is in progress. I hope you also know that there's a limit to how much time you can spend in Canada on implied status.

Here is the link to the Govt bulletin on BOWP.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2013/ob485A.asp


Warning for you: You don't take things for granted when dealing with immigration. They can make your life very miserable if you want to prove you're too smart.

coshx!

 

[arif.jabbar]

Well I second coshx, I would highly recommend you to contact call center and ask their opinion.

In case they say you to apply for BOWP, then do so.. don't think about $1000.

 

[coshx]

@ Sevgilim: Do you even know that your SIN has expired? SIN expires on the day your work permit expires. Therefore, you are not allowed to work anymore. You can only keep working if you've applied for a new work permit. You will be on implied status until CIC decides on your application. From your explanation, it is obvious you were in a tight situation. I just expected you to have done something about expired passport 6 months before work permit expiry. It is even advised that people should apply for renewal about 4 months to expiry. Also, another thing also is that many countries don't accept passport with less than 6 months expiry into their countries. That's why CIC asked you to provide another passport. I know someone that CIC refused to process his documents because he was out of status.

I'm sorry the way I wrote earlier. I was just hurt you wasted too much time not doing the right thing. If you'd asked this question in August, people could have given you clues very early. Meanwhile, the decision is yours to make. Since CIC issued you passport request & you've sent your passports to them, I will advise you to go to border instantly to land the day you receive your passport back.

you can also read the post today on processing of COPR.

it was mentioned that 'people who have valid status in Canada...'.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/bulletins/2013/ob545.asp

Please, check this link for a little explanation of implied status.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=188&t=17

Hope this helps!

coshx!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Well, my advise for you is to quickly apply for Bridge Open Work Permit. It's a 1 year extension for applicants whose cases are processed @ CPP-Ottawa. This way, even if immigration talks, you can say that your application for BOWP is in progress. I hope you also know that there's a limit to how much time you can spend in Canada on implied status.

In order to apply for a BOWP, a person must "Have valid status on a work permit that is due to expire within 4 months". The OP is out of status, so he doesn't qualify and would not receive any form of Implied Status from applying.

- My old passport expired in August 1st, as well, the Work Permit (WP can not exceed passport expiry date). Also, my wife study permit, and my 7 years old Son's visiting permit are expired same day because I am the main applicant. Only our 3 years child is a Canadian citizen by birth.

- Unfortunately, I got the new passport about 17 days after the expiry of both the old passport and all our permits (Work, Study, Visit), hence, we were enforced to be out of status without any other option.

Firstly, if you are still working, then you are working illegally and that will cause you serious problems.

Secondly, you were not "enforced out of status". CIC didn't force you to wait to renew your passport. You could have simply renewed it earlier in the year and saved yourself all of this trouble. It is entirely your responsibility to maintain your status.

 

[Sevgilim]

Dear coshx, arif.jabbar, and canuck_in_uk,

Thank you all very much for your kind responses! very appreciated!

Kindly let me explain some points and ask more questions if you do not mind, I really need your kind help.

- What I meant with the word "enforced" was "un avoided" or "could not avoid"

- First time I was asked to send my passport it was valid for about more 4 months. Since I am already in Canada I never know that the passport must be valid for longer time (actually, still do not understand the reason), my imagination/expectation at that time was that the PR visa will be available within 2-3 months and I can do landing within 1 week, so everything would happen under my original status. But the processing at immigration consumed about 1.5 months before telling me that I need to provide a new passport, hence, the out of status became "un-avoidable"

- I never thought about being "smart" dealing with the immigration, this is the last thing to think about. For more than 6 years in Canada I used to apply for WP extensions on earlier time. Only this time I could not apply for extension because the expected passport expiry, then all documents expired together at same day while my application for a new passport was under "very long time" processing at another country before it is done and sent to me. The problem was, "un-avoidably", created because my new passport came too late from my original country and my old passport expired before the arrival of the new one.

What were my options/alternatives without valid passport except waiting for a new one? At that time I was thinking that applying for a new passport earlier may leave me without any passport for unknown period of time while I was expecting the immigration to request my passport at anytime. I really still do not know what did I missed at that stage. As well, my country's consulate said on their website not to apply for a new passport too early.

- Actually, after the expiry of my documents I was not sure what exactly should I do. I have spent weeks reading hundreds of posts in different forums and searching online about a similar case to know what are my possibility.

Only few days ago, I have learnt that I became "out of status" and I have only 90 days for applying for "restoration". Fortunately, still within the 90 days period of time and my online PR status saying a decision has been made.

- While I am expecting to have the PR visa soon, may be before the end of 90 days grace time, I was really very confused that having the PR visa will fix my un-avoided out of status automatically. No bad intentions at all, believe it or not, "just ignorance" about the appropriate procedure.

- I did not plan to be out of status for even one day because this situation would forbid me working. When this strange situation happened I had to stop working since the expiry date, do you think I will plan to stop working ( for more than 2 months now)? Similarly my wife could not work for the same reason, this is the actual reason behind the $1000 concern. Previously I had no concerns about any fees or money issues, and this is behind my choice of PNP stream despite I was qualified to other streams.

My Corrective Action
Kindly, correct me if I am missing the best correction action. What I have concluded so far, and going to do, is the following:
1- apply for status restoration for all the family
2- apply for Bridging Open Work Permits
3- Whenever we receive the PR visas we have to do landing at POE (not inland) because we do not have a valid status now

My questions now
1-Regarding landing, is the application for status restoration and BOWP allow us to do "inland" landing or not? Because it would be difficult for my wife and the two kids to go to POE at the border especially we do not have a car at present time.

2- Is it better for us to apply for "status restoration" plus Graduate WP for my wife and Open Work Permit for myself as a "spouse" or no difference?, just thinking.

3- Is applying for status restoration and BOWP or OWP will provide us an "implied status" or not? if not what would be our status?

4- Should I expect a serious problem during landing procedure? to what extent?

Finally, I would like to thank you all again for providing your help to me and my family at this critical situation which, again, I did not plan to go through it and risk all the time, effort, expenses, and most important our PR chance.

All my respects.

 

[Sevgilim]

@ coshx,

Even asking in August would not make any difference because at August 1st the documents were expired and the new passport not arrived yet, so it is the same situation all the time, even before the expiry date, I could not apply for WP extension without the new passport. I understand it was my fault not reviewing the whole situation long time earlier.

Thank you!

 

[coshx]

Dear coshx, arif.jabbar, and canuck_in_uk,

Thank you all very much for your kind responses! very appreciated!

Kindly let me explain some points and ask more questions if you do not mind, I really need your kind help.

- What I meant with the word "enforced" was "un avoided" or "could not avoid"

- First time I was asked to send my passport it was valid for about more 4 months. Since I am already in Canada I never know that the passport must be valid for longer time (actually, still do not understand the reason), my imagination/expectation at that time was that the PR visa will be available within 2-3 months and I can do landing within 1 week, so everything would happen under my original status. But the processing at immigration consumed about 1.5 months before telling me that I need to provide a new passport, hence, the out of status became "un-avoidable"

- I never thought about being "smart" dealing with the immigration, this is the last thing to think about. For more than 6 years in Canada I used to apply for WP extensions on earlier time. Only this time I could not apply for extension because the expected passport expiry, then all documents expired together at same day while my application for a new passport was under "very long time" processing at another country before it is done and sent to me. The problem was, "un-avoidably", created because my new passport came too late from my original country and my old passport expired before the arrival of the new one.

What were my options/alternatives without valid passport except waiting for a new one? At that time I was thinking that applying for a new passport earlier may leave me without any passport for unknown period of time while I was expecting the immigration to request my passport at anytime. I really still do not know what did I missed at that stage. As well, my country's consulate said on their website not to apply for a new passport too early.

- Actually, after the expiry of my documents I was not sure what exactly should I do. I have spent weeks reading hundreds of posts in different forums and searching online about a similar case to know what are my possibility.

Only few days ago, I have learnt that I became "out of status" and I have only 90 days for applying for "restoration". Fortunately, still within the 90 days period of time and my online PR status saying a decision has been made.

- While I am expecting to have the PR visa soon, may be before the end of 90 days grace time, I was really very confused that having the PR visa will fix my un-avoided out of status automatically. No bad intentions at all, believe it or not, "just ignorance" about the appropriate procedure.

- I did not plan to be out of status for even one day because this situation would forbid me working. When this strange situation happened I had to stop working since the expiry date, do you think I will plan to stop working ( for more than 2 months now)? Similarly my wife could not work for the same reason, this is the actual reason behind the $1000 concern. Previously I had no concerns about any fees or money issues, and this is behind my choice of PNP stream despite I was qualified to other streams.

My Corrective Action
Kindly, correct me if I am missing the best correction action. What I have concluded so far, and going to do, is the following:
1- apply for status restoration for all the family
2- apply for Bridging Open Work Permits
3- Whenever we receive the PR visas we have to do landing at POE (not inland) because we do not have a valid status now

My questions now
1-Regarding landing, is the application for status restoration and BOWP allow us to do "inland" landing or not? Because it would be difficult for my wife and the two kids to go to POE at the border especially we do not have a car at present time.

2- Is it better for us to apply for "status restoration" plus Graduate WP for my wife and Open Work Permit for myself as a "spouse" or no difference?, just thinking.

3- Is applying for status restoration and BOWP or OWP will provide us an "implied status" or not? if not what would be our status?

4- Should I expect a serious problem during landing procedure? to what extent?

Finally, I would like to thank you all again for providing your help to me and my family at this critical situation which, again, I did not plan to go through it and risk all the time, effort, expenses, and most important our PR chance.

All my respects.

@ Sevgilim:

Your corrective action points are the right steps to be taken.
1. You can do inlanding at service canada offices. Appointment can be up to 6 weeks.
2. Applying for restoration does NOT put you on implied status. Please, see the link http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5551ETOC.asp
3. The issue is that you took too long since Aug. It is 2 months now. To apply for a new passport, you need to apply when your passport is just less than 6 months to expire. That's how you save yourself. Similar thing happened to me. My passport had less than 6 months to expire. But I was issued PR visa 5 months to expiry. I went home & made a new passport & I landed.

What I don't know is how long the application for restoration takes. How the decisions are made. If favorable or unfavorable. That's why I expected you'd have done this since August when you just got your new passport. You should apply for restoration as it is the only way forward for you now.

Meanwhile, you must include a letter with your application explaining the situation that made you run out of status. (1). Due date for a passport request is usually 2 months. That obviously put you in a tight situation. (2). You could not get a new passport early as your country requires the old passport. etc.

Hope this helps!

coshx!

 

[Edmontonbound]

I am indeed sorry to learn about your case. However, I am a little baffled that you waited so long to renew your passport and that you didn't know the expiry of your passport would put you in real trouble. It sounds incredible, doesn't it? It may get complicated. If I were you, I would take help of an immigration attorney to sought things out. Nobody is here an expert (with no offense to anybody). Laws can be different. So, you know. Good luck.

 

[Sevgilim]

URGENT Update!

Firstly, thanks a lot coshx, and Edmontonbound!

The PR Visas are stamped on our passports and mailed to us (expected to arrive to our home within 48 hours or so). Now, I have 3 specific questions before making any wrong step:

1- Is applying to both "restoration of status" and "BOWP" Still required to do landing at POE ?

2- Is applying to any kind of Work Permit (or any permit) now still makes sense? if not what is the best option?

3- What are the potential troubles during landing at POE in my case? how can we avoid them if any?

Thanks again to everyone helping us!

 

[SALSAL]

@ sevgilim

Congrats for PR! Almost, I am in the same situation as yours with minor differences.
** Without-status for 40 days
** We got the PR and the COPR forms last week
** One of my girls (5 years old) got one minor TYPO/data-entry error in her COPR, the YEAR of her first entry date is written as 2008 while the correct year is 2006. Plus, she is on my passport (like all my kids) and we have entered together in 2006 and never leave Canada since then.

@ all Hero Members of this great forum, You are real HEROS.

We are planning to do landing at POE after 2 weeks. An Immigration Consultant told me that doing landing at POE should correct the current without-status issue because each one of us will technically leave Canada and Re-enter on a new/different visa with a new status, well, still feeling not convinced, especially, he was not sure about the TYPO error at the beginning then he became convinced that it is a data-entry error and can be corrected on the computer system during landing process.

Should I just tell the Immigration Officer about this TYPO/data-entry error during landing process or contact the Ottawa processing office again and ask for a new COPR for her alone (this may take long time of course)?

My HEROS, I really need your knowledgeable suggestions.

God Bless YOU.

 

[coshx]

URGENT Update!

Firstly, thanks a lot coshx, and Edmontonbound!

The PR Visas are stamped on our passports and mailed to us (expected to arrive to our home within 48 hours or so). Now, I have 3 specific questions before making any wrong step:

1- Is applying to both "restoration of status" and "BOWP" Still required to do landing at POE ?

2- Is applying to any kind of Work Permit (or any permit) now still makes sense? if not what is the best option?

3- What are the potential troubles during landing at POE in my case? how can we avoid them if any?

Thanks again to everyone helping us!

Congrats! Sevgilim. Sorry I didn't check the forum last night. NO need to apply for restoration anymore. Just go straight to the US border & do your landing. Technically, you have left the Canada for US. Don't mention to US officer about it. Just say you want to flag pole. They will stamp your passport & give you a paper that you will return to the Canadian Border Officer. Don't do inland landing @ service canada office bcos they may request for your work permit.

Hope this helps!

coshx!

 

[coshx]

@ sevgilim

Congrats for PR! Almost, I am in the same situation as yours with minor differences.
** Without-status for 40 days
** We got the PR and the COPR forms last week
** One of my girls (5 years old) got one minor TYPO/data-entry error in her COPR, the YEAR of her first entry date is written as 2008 while the correct year is 2006. Plus, she is on my passport (like all my kids) and we have entered together in 2006 and never leave Canada since then.

@ all Hero Members of this great forum, You are real HEROS.

We are planning to do landing at POE after 2 weeks. An Immigration Consultant told me that doing landing at POE should correct the current without-status issue because each one of us will technically leave Canada and Re-enter on a new/different visa with a new status, well, still feeling not convinced, especially, he was not sure about the TYPO error at the beginning then he became convinced that it is a data-entry error and can be corrected on the computer system during landing process.

Should I just tell the Immigration Officer about this TYPO/data-entry error during landing process or contact the Ottawa processing office again and ask for a new COPR for her alone (this may take long time of course)?

My HEROS, I really need your knowledgeable suggestions.

God Bless YOU.

Congrats SALSAL. Just go straight to the US border & do your landing. Technically, you have left the Canada for US. Don't mention to US officer about it. Just say you want to flag pole. They will stamp your passport & give you a paper that you will return to the Canadian Border Officer. Don't do inland landing @ service canada office bcos they may request for your work permit.

 

[SALSAL]

@ coshx

Thank you!

Any suggestion regarding the TYPO/data-entry error in my girl's COPR doc?

-SAL

 

[Sevgilim]

Dear COSHX,

Thank you very much! your answers were so helpful.

As well, I appreciate all the forum members who provided their help and knowledge in such a critical time.

I was not happy at all being out of status, I do not like to break the law or the rules in general, never happen all my life. Now I feel, relatively, better.

@ SALSAL
Thanks and congratulations for you as well.

Thanks again everyone!