Hello all, first time poster!
I'm currently in Calgary on my IEC that started in January, I'm living with my Canadian common law partner who I met in New Zealand. I'm from Scotland.
I'd got it in my head a few months ago that we'd apply for the outland spousal PR along with the pilot open work permit and I believed that I had to do this once I was into my last 4 months of my IEC.
Fortunately we decided to make sure of this now in order to get everything together to apply and I've discovered that I was very much mistaken with my previous assumptions!
We want to stay in the country and continue to work, I'm in an unskilled temp job and my employer are considering taking me on directly.
From what I can gather from the wealth of confusing information on CIC and from the helpful FAQ and posts on here along with britishexpats I think that I have to apply for the open work permit along with an inland spousal PR so that I can stay and work in the country.
Am I right, am I allowed to move to this pilot visa from an IEC, I was getting a bit confused with the whole implied status thing which I take to mean that I can't continue to work between my IEC expiring and my OWP being issued?
I would require to get Police Checks from Australia, NZ & UK as well as my medical certs. As I think I require the OWP most urgently, I should just get this in along with the PR rather than wait to gather everything and risk my IEC expiring.
I'm a little confused by how to apply for the pilot OWP. I see the link on the FAQ that leads me to this page
Application to Change Conditions or Extend Your Stay in Canada as a Worker
but the pilot page with the info on Dec 22nd only has a link to the work permit application page which when I say I'm in Canada gives me this heading
This application package is for applicants in Canada:
and contains the form
Application for Work Permit Made Outside Canada [IMM 1295] (PDF, 343.25 KB) April 2015
Confusing much! ???
So yeah, I'm thinking this post is a bit of a clutter, sorry about that. I guess what I'm asking is...
1) To continue working in Canada beyond my IEC do I need to obtain a pilot OWP while simultaneously applying for the inland sponsorship PR?
2) Where exactly do I get the information to apply for the pilot OWP?
3) Why do they make it so complicated, lost enough of my hair getting my IEC!? (rhetorical, kinda!)
Thank you again to all the people who take the time out to help those in need. Proper heroes!