Hi Guys,
Just wanted to say Hi, I have been following the forum for awhile and thought I would finally join in.
A little about me, I am being sponsored by my spouse and our application was received in early January 2014. I am currently on a PGWP which is set to expire in middle of September 2014. Obviously I am pretty upset that I am going to have to give up my job here in Northern Saskatchewan. Like a lot of people I am regretting applying inland through the sponsorship program. Knowing what I know now I would have applied through the provincial nominee program etc. however, back in January the time for stage 1 was only 6-7 months.
I like other people on PGWP were also dealt a cruel hand when in May, Canada changed the LMO rules which previously allowed employers to get people on PGWP a 2 year work permit without advertising the position.
The one piece of advice I do have for people on PGWPs is to have a lawyer put your application together. I have seen a lot of debate on here discussing whether you get implied status if you submit an OWP with your application. Back in January I looked through the forums and it seemed that I would not get implied status, so I did not submit the OWP with my application. Given the delays with CIC I have recently explored every avenue to keep working, and from my discussions with CIC on 3 separate occasions they confirmed that I would have in fact had implied status and be able to keep working. My employer has contacted our local MP (with my consent) to enquire about keeping me employed, and they too said if I had submitted an OWP I would have been able to continue working. Following this my employer spoke to an immigration lawyer about my options, and he too confirmed I would have had implied status and could have kept on working. The bad news now is CIC, the MP and the Lawyer, all said there was no way you can add a OWP to an application once it has been received. Obviously I don't want anyone to have any trouble with their application by mistakenly thinking they have implied status when they do not, but I also would hate to see people give up tens of thousands of dollars when they could have kept working. So my advice for people already on work permits is to hire a good immigration lawyer to discuss your options before submitting your application. Both the lawyer and the MP advised me to withdraw my application and apply again before my PGWP expires that way I would in-fact get implied status and continue being able to work.