Implied Status as a Worker

[potatotoman]

Hi,

I am currently working in Canada on a work holiday visa under IEC. My visa expires next week.

I have applied for common law sponsorship with my Canadian partner inland. I also submitted an open work permit application with my common law sponsorship application.

Am i correct in thinking I can continue working under implied status after my current work visa expires? They received my application in early August so I expect I should have a decision on the open work permit soon.

Also, should I expect the decision / correspondence on my open work permit through my online cic account that I linked my application to? |So far they have only mentioned the common law sponsorship application.

Any help or advice would be great!

Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

My understanding is that the OWP through inland sponsorship is an entirely different type of work permit than the IEC. Also the IEC is by definition non-extendable. So in this case, implied status would not cover the IEC and you would need to stop working after it expires and wait until you get OWP to continue working again.

There are ample posts on this topic with numerous opinions, if you searched historical posts.
Here is the best explanation I found on another site: http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Implied_Status_IEC

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

Hi,

I am currently working in Canada on a work holiday visa under IEC. My visa expires next week.

I have applied for common law sponsorship with my Canadian partner inland. I also submitted an open work permit application with my common law sponsorship application.

Am i correct in thinking I can continue working under implied status after my current work visa expires? They received my application in early August so I expect I should have a decision on the open work permit soon.

Also, should I expect the decision / correspondence on my open work permit through my online cic account that I linked my application to? |So far they have only mentioned the common law sponsorship application.

Any help or advice would be great!

Thanks!

You most definitely cannot continue working when your IEC runs out next week. As Rob said above..the IEC falls into its own little category and cannot be extended, that includes via implied status. You have no choice but to stop working until your OWP is granted.

 

[potatotoman]

Thank you for the responses.

I asked the same question off my immigration lawyer and had the following response..

"In reply to your question below, please be advised that you can continue working under the terms of your old work permit provided that you submitted a work permit application and the applicable $255 work permit extension processing fee with your PR application. Also, please be advised that you will lose your implied status as a worker if you leave the country"

I was skeptical so I thought I would ask here. Is she incorrect in saying this?

 

[potatotoman]

If anyone could help with the second part of my query that would be great!

"Also, should I expect the decision / correspondence on my open work permit through my online cic account that I linked my application to? |So far they have only mentioned the common law sponsorship application."

Thanks!

 

[Rob_TO]

Thank you for the responses.

I asked the same question off my immigration lawyer and had the following response..

"In reply to your question below, please be advised that you can continue working under the terms of your old work permit provided that you submitted a work permit application and the applicable $255 work permit extension processing fee with your PR application. Also, please be advised that you will lose your implied status as a worker if you leave the country"

I was skeptical so I thought I would ask here. Is she incorrect in saying this?

The wording of the rules is very confusing on the CIC website, and they don't differentiate the IEC specific class of work permit, with general work permits. As such you will most often get the response from your lawyer that it's fine to continue working, and will even be told so if you call the CIC call centre.

However as per the link I posted to above, and what others state, is that your lawyer is indeed wrong as IEC is in a different class that simply can't benefit from implied status.

What complicates this even further, is that tons of people continue working on expired IEC visas under the assumption of implied status, and in vast majority of cases are not caught so nothing happens. On this forum though we've seen a few cases of those that are caught, are deemed to have been working illegally, and seeing delays in their PR apps because of it. There are extensive threads on the topic if you do a search.

 

[WeegieInOttawa]

If anyone could help with the second part of my query that would be great!

"Also, should I expect the decision / correspondence on my open work permit through my online cic account that I linked my application to? |So far they have only mentioned the common law sponsorship application."

Thanks!

At the time that my IEC permit was due to expire i was planning on submitting my PR app (i ended up not due to personal circumstances at the time) and when i called the CIC call centre they told me i could keep working (as an "extension" of my IEC visa ) while my PR app was being processed. She offered to send me an email with the link to that info. I said yes. Came off the phone so happy as i . Receive the email with the link. Open it. In RED writing on the web page there was a statement that stated IEC is non extendable and the following info/rules does not apply to those on an IEC. I couldnt believe it.

That was my first dealing with the call centre and couldnt believe they had given out such insanely inaccurate advice that would have led to me breaking the law if i had followed it without double checking in the link.

THAT is how i found this forum, through doing my own research. And since then i have read countless stories about them being wildly wrong and just generally giving out any old info they like.

 

[potatotoman]

The wording of the rules is very confusing on the CIC website, and they don't differentiate the IEC specific class of work permit, with general work permits. As such you will most often get the response from your lawyer that it's fine to continue working, and will even be told so if you call the CIC call centre.

However as per the link I posted to above, and what others state, is that your lawyer is indeed wrong as IEC is in a different class that simply can't benefit from implied status.

What complicates this even further, is that tons of people continue working on expired IEC visas under the assumption of implied status, and in vast majority of cases are not caught so nothing happens. On this forum though we've seen a few cases of those that are caught, are deemed to have been working illegally, and seeing delays in their PR apps because of it. There are extensive threads on the topic if you do a search.

Thanks again. I really appreciate you helping me out.

OK it sounds like I am not legally supposed to continue working but nobody will find out unless I leave the country and re enter? This is confusing! I have been looking at the link you sent. Is it up to date? I'm told this changes all the time.

I looked though many threads on this forum and what you are saying seems to be true but it is unlikely anything would happen if i continue working.

Is it through my online CIC account that they would communicate about the OWP? Is it linked to my PR application?

 

[Rob_TO]

Thanks again. I really appreciate you helping me out.

OK it sounds like I am not legally supposed to continue working but nobody will find out unless I leave the country and re enter? This is confusing! I have been looking at the link you sent. Is it up to date? I'm told this changes all the time.

I looked though many threads on this forum and what you are saying seems to be true but it is unlikely anything would happen if i continue working.

Is it through my online CIC account that they would communicate about the OWP? Is it linked to my PR application?

Some people have been caught in Canada while working on expired IEC. It just depends if IRCC wants to take the effort to check. Whether you're working or not is known mainly to the CRA/SIN departments, and they don't routinely talk to IRCC. As I said, most people don't seem to get caught but it's up to you if you want to take the risk. If caught, then as I said your app could see significant delays while IRCC investigates the illegal work.

For OWP app, as far as I know you simply get it in the mail. No idea if it's linked to PR app in your account, I would ask this question to inland thread.