sophieb said:My spouse and I were in a similar situation a few months ago. We applied for his PR through the inland sponsorship program in May 2013. He currently has his open work permit and we are waiting for the final stage of approval to be completed. Anyways, we planned a trip to visit his family in the UK in February when he received his open work permit. However, at the last minute I decided to call Citizenship and Immigration and the Border Services Agency to make sure it is ok for him to leave Canada. Both agencies advised us against him traveling outside of Canada because there is no guarantee that you will be let back into the country under you current status. According to the immigration and border service officers, it is up to the digression of the individual border service officer to let you back in or not. I find this confusing because I thought he would be able to travel with an open work permit. Also, there should be a set policy between both agencies. The border service told me that he would only get back in under his current immigration status if he left the country due to the death of a family member outside of Canada and we would need to provide a death certificate. As a result, we ended up cancelling our trip at the last minute because we did not want to risk him losing his immigration status. Ultimately, both agencies advise against traveling outside of Canada before you get you PR card.
Ok I'm getting really confused with this travel outside of Canada. I don't understand several things......
1-if the Border Servives Agency and CIC don't "talk" to each other that means that you should be fine when you come back providing that you are from an exempt visa country (you are allowed to stay for 6 months if I'm not mistaken).
2- if you have AIP and a work permit that means that you are not here illegally therefore you have some kind of status (whatever you want to call it) but you are allowed to be in Canada and to work while waiting for your PR.
3- if you are a working (with your work permit) and the company where you are employed tells you that you need to go for a business trip...what happens, you are not allowed back in?!?
In my understanding is that once you have AIP and a work permit you are "legitimate" and therefore the Border Services Agency should not have any issues provided that you have all your paper work proving that you are waiting for PR. Right?