IEC to PR - path of least resistance?

[borttbort]

Thank you in advance for all the help you folks provide here.

Brief background.
I am a Canadian Citizen, my girlfriend of 3 years currently has an IEC visa set to expire Aug 2019. My gf was here in NB with me from Aug 2018 to March 2019 but is currently home visiting family. She works as a geriatric nurse in Germany and is working there now, she is expecting to return to Canada in her existing visa in June 2019. We have decided we want to be together and for her to apply for PR.

Questions
1. What is path of least resistance for her to get PR? From what I have read I am not sure if we should apply now while she is in Germany with me as common law sponsor (outbound right?) or if it would be better for her to come back to Canada on her visa, us to get married and then apply for spousal inland.
2. When we apply for PR, I have read that we should also include a request for an open work permit. My gf already has a job here in her field but its as an assistant not a proper nurse like she is in Germany. My gf would also like to do a 2 year college course to become an LPN here but I understand that she cannot hold a work and study permit at the same time.

With all that said working will need to come before studying so am I correct in saying that our best bet would be to do an outland application now because it's fastest? Would my gf still be able to come here on implied status or her existing visa while that application was being processed?

There is a lot to take in and its even harder when there are options to evaluate. Thanks for reading.

B

 

[Mar1219]

Thank you in advance for all the help you folks provide here.

Brief background.
I am a Canadian Citizen, my girlfriend of 3 years currently has an IEC visa set to expire Aug 2019. My gf was here in NB with me from Aug 2018 to March 2019 but is currently home visiting family. She works as a geriatric nurse in Germany and is working there now, she is expecting to return to Canada in her existing visa in June 2019. We have decided we want to get married and for her to apply for PR.

Questions
1. What is path of least resistance for her to get PR? From what I have read I am not sure if we should apply now while she is in Germany with me as common law sponsor (outbound right?) or if it would be better for her to come back to Canada on her visa, us to get married legally at justice of peace and then apply for spousal inland.
2. When we apply for PR, I have read that we should also include a request for an open work permit. My gf already has a job here in her field but its as an assistant not a proper nurse like she is in Germany. My gf woudl also like to do a 2 year college course to become an LPN here but I understand that she cannot hold a work and study permit at the same time.

With all that said working will need to come before studying so am I correct in saying that our best bet would be to do an outland application now because it's fastest? Would my gf still be able to come here on implied status or her existing visa while that application was being processed?

There is a lot to take in and its even harder when there are options to evaluate. Thanks for reading.

B

Hi,

1. You wouldn’t qualify as common law as you mentioned you were only living together from August 2018 to March 2019, you need to live together consistently for a year to qualify. I think the best thing to do in your case is to have her visit you here as soon as possible, get married, and apply inland. It usually takes around a year but it seems that CIC is processing apps pretty quickly, I’ve seen some applicants from last summer having their process completed around this time.

2. Yes you should apply for an OWP. If she can get an OWP and go back to the job she already had secured here, that would be great. My suggestion is to wait until the whole process is over for her to go to school when she is PR because the cost of attending school here being a PR vs being an international student is absolutely crazy. As soon as my spouse receives OWP he is going to start working to save up for the program he wants until he is PR. This seemed like the most practical plan.

She would be able to come here with her current status and once she submits the application along with the OWP application she would receive implied status until you receive an answer about the OWP. But note that it’s pretty rare for an OWP to ever get denied so you should be ok!

Hope this helps at all, I am an inland app so I don’t know as much about Outland and their timelines but I hope this helped in any way. If you have any more questions feel free to send me a message!

 

[borttbort]

Hi,

1. You wouldn’t qualify as common law as you mentioned you were only living together from August 2018 to March 2019, you need to live together consistently for a year to qualify. I think the best thing to do in your case is to have her visit you here as soon as possible, get married, and apply inland. It usually takes around a year but it seems that CIC is processing apps pretty quickly, I’ve seen some applicants from last summer having their process completed around this time.

2. Yes you should apply for an OWP. If she can get an OWP and go back to the job she already had secured here, that would be great. My suggestion is to wait until the whole process is over for her to go to school when she is PR because the cost of attending school here being a PR vs being an international student is absolutely crazy. As soon as my spouse receives OWP he is going to start working to save up for the program he wants until he is PR. This seemed like the most practical plan.

She would be able to come here with her current status and once she submits the application along with the OWP application she would receive implied status until you receive an answer about the OWP. But note that it’s pretty rare for an OWP to ever get denied so you should be ok!

Hope this helps at all, I am an inland app so I don’t know as much about Outland and their timelines but I hope this helped in any way. If you have any more questions feel free to send me a message!

Mar1219 that helps so much its just such a relief to be able to ask these kinds of questions someplace and get a reasonable answer from someone who has been there before. I like that plan alot.. realistically she won't be back here until June but would have 2 and a half months left on her IEC and then presumably an OWP after that. If I can bother you with one more question.... when her IEC is over and she is on OWP waiting for PR is she able to leave the country and return during that time? The homesickness is real. Thanks again.

 

[jddd]

Mar1219 that helps so much its just such a relief to be able to ask these kinds of questions someplace and get a reasonable answer from someone who has been there before. I like that plan alot.. realistically she won't be back here until June but would have 2 and a half months left on her IEC and then presumably an OWP after that. If I can bother you with one more question.... when her IEC is over and she is on OWP waiting for PR is she able to leave the country and return during that time? The homesickness is real. Thanks again.

If applying inland, short trips are generally tolerated. Anything over 3 weeks will lead to further scrutiny. Inland applicants are required to stay in Canada for the duration of the application. You will see this in the guide.

Also, every entry is decided by whatever officer she encounters, should CBSA choose not to allow her to Canada the application will be deemed abandoned and thereby cancelled.

Do an outland application if she wishes to visit her country regularly.

 

[LinkinMark]

I have just taken this path myself.
Just another couple of things to add. If you choose to apply inland, the IEC program does not have the benefit of "implied status" so if her permit expires and you are still waiting for the OWP, she cannot continue to work until the OWP arrives. You can benefit from implied status as a visitor though.

They do specify inland as being a person residing in Canada, leaving the country is generally not advised. I did leave for a week though and encountered no problems. But if for any reason she is denied entry while the application is in progress, then it will likely be cancelled.

I applied for inland sponsorship in September 2018 and they are now finished with my application and I am waiting for a landing interview. All in just over 6 months. So at the moment they really seem to be getting through them quickly.
I've also been keeping an eye on the January 2019 thread and a lot of those applicants are having their OWPs approved in around 2 months

 

[borttbort]

I have just taken this path myself.
Just another couple of things to add. If you choose to apply inland, the IEC program does not have the benefit of "implied status" so if her permit expires and you are still waiting for the OWP, she cannot continue to work until the OWP arrives. You can benefit from implied status as a visitor though.

They do specify inland as being a person residing in Canada, leaving the country is generally not advised. I did leave for a week though and encountered no problems. But if for any reason she is denied entry while the application is in progress, then it will likely be cancelled.

I applied for inland sponsorship in September 2018 and they are now finished with my application and I am waiting for a landing interview. All in just over 6 months. So at the moment they really seem to be getting through them quickly.
I've also been keeping an eye on the January 2019 thread and a lot of those applicants are having their OWPs approved in around 2 months

LinkinMark, that is an interesting discrepancy worth noting. So what you are saying is the IEC is a finite thing, for us its over Aug 30th and thats final. In order for us to have a smooth transition we would need to have an OWP in place for her before IEC is over. To me that suggests, we should begin an outland application now as she will not be back in country for another 2 months and then have only 2 months here before her IEC expires is that what you are suggesting? Can you clarify on what you mean by benefiting from implied status as a visitor? Does that mean during the between between IEC being over and OWP being issues that she can stay in Canada and 'visit' without working? Thanks for your help.

 

[Mar1219]

LinkinMark, that is an interesting discrepancy worth noting. So what you are saying is the IEC is a finite thing, for us its over Aug 30th and thats final. In order for us to have a smooth transition we would need to have an OWP in place for her before IEC is over. To me that suggests, we should begin an outland application now as she will not be back in country for another 2 months and then have only 2 months here before her IEC expires is that what you are suggesting? Can you clarify on what you mean by benefiting from implied status as a visitor? Does that mean during the between between IEC being over and OWP being issues that she can stay in Canada and 'visit' without working? Thanks for your help.

I believe he is saying she should switch her status in Canada to visitor before you apply so she would be able to get that implied status. Yes a visitor can be in Canada without working. Either way, you have to get married because you don’t qualify for common law. So you just have to ask yourself if it would be better for you guys to apply Outland, not be together during the process and have her still be able to work in Germany during that time, or apply inland, be together during the process and get an OWP to work in Canadá but not the same job she’s doing in Germany. She can even visit Canada as a visitor during an outland process but when she gets the biometrics request she would have to leave Canada to go to a different country to get them done. Inland apps are exempt from biometrics.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

LinkinMark, that is an interesting discrepancy worth noting. So what you are saying is the IEC is a finite thing, for us its over Aug 30th and thats final. In order for us to have a smooth transition we would need to have an OWP in place for her before IEC is over. To me that suggests, we should begin an outland application now as she will not be back in country for another 2 months and then have only 2 months here before her IEC expires is that what you are suggesting? Can you clarify on what you mean by benefiting from implied status as a visitor? Does that mean during the between between IEC being over and OWP being issues that she can stay in Canada and 'visit' without working? Thanks for your help.

IRCC has recently updated the IEC Implied Status situation. A person can continue working on Implied Status.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1476

 

[LinkinMark]

IRCC has recently updated the IEC Implied Status situation. A person can continue working on Implied Status.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1476

Wow that's great! Guess I should've brushed up on my knowledge first

 

[LisaH]

IRCC has recently updated the IEC Implied Status situation. A person can continue working on Implied Status.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1476

Thank you for posting that information about implied status! Could you please advise me on proper "visa" to apply for to insure my status while my PR and OWP are in process? I applied 2 weeks ago and my IEC WP expires in 2 weeks and I want to insure my valid status in case my OWP is returned for some reason. I am still working for my same employer during my implied status, and was questioning a "visitor visa" while working... p.s.: I understand if my OWP is returned I cannot work...Thanks.

 

[borttbort]

Wow that's great! Guess I should've brushed up on my knowledge first

That's better than good, its great! Canuck in UK for the win. Ok I need to regurgitate this one more time. Forget outland, we don't qualify for common law. She needs to get here on her IEC and as soon as she does we get hitched then submit an inland PR application along with an OWP application. Under the new rule, she would have implied status meaning basically a continuation of her IEC until the OWP is issued. That's great and applications are going through relatively quickly right now so maybe just 6 - 8 months of working before she could get PR and then go back to school right? right? Right! Aroooo!

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Thank you for posting that information about implied status! Could you please advise me on proper "visa" to apply for to insure my status while my PR and OWP are in process? I applied 2 weeks ago and my IEC WP expires in 2 weeks and I want to insure my valid status in case my OWP is returned for some reason. I am still working for my same employer during my implied status, and was questioning a "visitor visa" while working... p.s.: I understand if my OWP is returned I cannot work...Thanks.

You don't need to apply for anything but yes, you should apply for a visitor extension a few days before your IEC expires as a back-up to maintain status in case the OWP app is returned.

 

[LinkinMark]

That's better than good, its great! Canuck in UK for the win. Ok I need to regurgitate this one more time. Forget outland, we don't qualify for common law. She needs to get here on her IEC and as soon as she does we get hitched then submit an inland PR application along with an OWP application. Under the new rule, she would have implied status meaning basically a continuation of her IEC until the OWP is issued. That's great and applications are going through relatively quickly right now so maybe just 6 - 8 months of working before she could get PR and then go back to school right? right? Right! Aroooo!

Correct but if for some reason your application is returned to you, you lose your implied status. So best to follow what Canuck said and apply for a visitor extension as backup

 

[borttbort]

I like to call that the belt and suspenders approach. I should probably know this but the term is confusing... visitor extension does not permit someone to work does it? If IEC was over and OWP gets rejected and we defaulted to visitor status she would have to stop working until she got an OWP approved right?

 

[LisaH]

Someone on another forum said that if Visitor Extension (submitted to guarantee staying in status in case error on apps) is processed before the new OWP, that you lose implied status to WORK . Is that true???