Inland spousal sponsorship - spouse pausing studies to work

[Zuzu1983]

Hello,
I'm a citizen by birth sponsoring my wife who is currently completing a Bachelor's degree as a foreign student. She has about 1 semester left after the current one for her program, however, our preference would be for her to work under an OWP until she gets her PR, then finish off her studies (much lower tuition and no obligation to be full time) once she is a PR.
Her current student permit expires end of August. We submitted her PR sponsorship on March 12.
What happens if in August she still hasn't heard back for the OWP... can she be kicked out if her study permit is not renewed but we are awaiting her PR response?
We are applying from Quebec, so I'm also worried getting an OWP will take longer since it looks like it can only be done after she gets her CSQ (true or false?).

My current understanding of the rules is:
- She can apply for OWP because she has proper temp status in Canada
- If she loses status during PR application, she can stay inland (really not sure about this)
Many thanks!

 

[Ponga]

Hello,
I'm a citizen by birth sponsoring my wife who is currently completing a Bachelor's degree as a foreign student. She has about 1 semester left after the current one for her program, however, our preference would be for her to work under an OWP until she gets her PR, then finish off her studies (much lower tuition and no obligation to be full time) once she is a PR.
Her current student permit expires end of August. We submitted her PR sponsorship on March 12.
What happens if in August she still hasn't heard back for the OWP... can she be kicked out if her study permit is not renewed but we are awaiting her PR response?
We are applying from Quebec, so I'm also worried getting an OWP will take longer since it looks like it can only be done after she gets her CSQ (true or false?).

My current understanding of the rules is:
- She can apply for OWP because she has proper temp status in Canada
- If she loses status during PR application, she can stay inland (really not sure about this)
Many thanks!

Because she still has status in Canada, combined with the Inland Spousal Sponsorship application already submitted, it's possible that she could receive the all mighty `AOR' email from IRCC, officially indicating that the application has been received before August. At that point, she would be eligible to apply for the OWP.

If she has not received the AOR close to when her study visa expires, THEN she should apply to extend her stay, changing her status to visitor. During the time to process, she would still have legal status as Maintained Status, until IRCC has made a decision on her request.

Hopefully, she will have her PR by then, which makes most of what I've typed, moot.

Although there is a Public Policy that waives the requirement for an Inland applicant to have legal status (which she did have when she applied, no matter what), don't let her lose her status. It would only add to the angst.

 

[YVR123]

Hello,
I'm a citizen by birth sponsoring my wife who is currently completing a Bachelor's degree as a foreign student. She has about 1 semester left after the current one for her program, however, our preference would be for her to work under an OWP until she gets her PR, then finish off her studies (much lower tuition and no obligation to be full time) once she is a PR.
Her current student permit expires end of August. We submitted her PR sponsorship on March 12.
What happens if in August she still hasn't heard back for the OWP... can she be kicked out if her study permit is not renewed but we are awaiting her PR response?
We are applying from Quebec, so I'm also worried getting an OWP will take longer since it looks like it can only be done after she gets her CSQ (true or false?).

My current understanding of the rules is:
- She can apply for OWP because she has proper temp status in Canada
- If she loses status during PR application, she can stay inland (really not sure about this)
Many thanks!

If she stops studying, her status is not valid any more. I think she can stay as valid student status for 150 days after she stops studying. (regardless of her study permit expiry date)

She should extend her stay as visitor while waiting for the OWP to be processed.

 

[Zuzu1983]

Because she still has status in Canada, combined with the Inland Spousal Sponsorship application already submitted, it's possible that she could receive the all mighty `AOR' email from IRCC, officially indicating that the application has been received before August. At that point, she would be eligible to apply for the OWP.

If she has not received the AOR close to when her study visa expires, THEN she should apply to extend her stay, changing her status to visitor. During the time to process, she would still have legal status as Maintained Status, until IRCC has made a decision on her request.

Hopefully, she will have her PR by then, which makes most of what I've typed, moot.

Although there is a Public Policy that waives the requirement for an Inland applicant to have legal status (which she did have when she applied, no matter what), don't let her lose her status. It would only add to the angst.

Thank you for your input. A few questions...
- It could take this many months just for the AOR? (March to August) - I was expecting a few weeks at most...
- I did not mention, but we also want her to be able to keep working, so in that case, I think since it's so tight to get an OWP approved before the end of her study permit, she will need to extend her student status so that she can work. Visitor status would not allow her to work, right?

 

[YVR123]

Thank you for your input. A few questions...
- It could take this many months just for the AOR? (March to August) - I was expecting a few weeks at most...
- I did not mention, but we also want her to be able to keep working, so in that case, I think since it's so tight to get an OWP approved before the end of her study permit, she will need to extend her student status so that she can work. Visitor status would not allow her to work, right?

She needs to be actively studying to work part time under her study permit. She cannot work if she quit school.
Visitor cannot work.

 

[canuck78]

Hello,
I'm a citizen by birth sponsoring my wife who is currently completing a Bachelor's degree as a foreign student. She has about 1 semester left after the current one for her program, however, our preference would be for her to work under an OWP until she gets her PR, then finish off her studies (much lower tuition and no obligation to be full time) once she is a PR.
Her current student permit expires end of August. We submitted her PR sponsorship on March 12.
What happens if in August she still hasn't heard back for the OWP... can she be kicked out if her study permit is not renewed but we are awaiting her PR response?
We are applying from Quebec, so I'm also worried getting an OWP will take longer since it looks like it can only be done after she gets her CSQ (true or false?).

My current understanding of the rules is:
- She can apply for OWP because she has proper temp status in Canada
- If she loses status during PR application, she can stay inland (really not sure about this)
Many thanks!

When did she stop studying? If she has already stopped studying the school is supposed to report her as not attending and she should cancel her status in up to 90 days. In reality that doesn’t always happen. If she stopped studying full-time she must stop working. If so she is working illegally. She will only have implied status if she maintains her study permit and receives AOR from her OWP. If she is working illegally stop and hope that the school hasn’t reported her as not attending.

 

[Zuzu1983]

When did she stop studying? If she has already stopped studying the school is supposed to report her as not attending and she should cancel her status in up to 90 days. In reality that doesn’t always happen. If she stopped studying full-time she must stop working. If so she is working illegally. She will only have implied status if she maintains her study permit and receives AOR from her OWP. If she is working illegally stop and hope that the school hasn’t reported her as not attending.

No, she is currently studying full time (winter/spring 2023), she's doing all her classes as she should, and working part time as allowed. We were just wondering for the upcoming Fall 2023 semester, about the different scenarios and timelines.
Ideally, if she's able to get an OWP before the start of the Fall semester, that would be our ideal situation (and finish her degree after she gets her PR), but if she doesn't have it, she'll maintain her status and enroll full time for the Fall semester, for sure.
It's just that in her line of work (teaching music), you're 1:1 with students, so having to stop working for a few months mean you might lose your students as they'll find another teacher, so our priority will be to preserve her ability to work (legally of course).
Thank you for the insights!

 

[scylla]

Thank you for your input. A few questions...
- It could take this many months just for the AOR? (March to August) - I was expecting a few weeks at most...
- I did not mention, but we also want her to be able to keep working, so in that case, I think since it's so tight to get an OWP approved before the end of her study permit, she will need to extend her student status so that she can work. Visitor status would not allow her to work, right?

- Plan on 2-3 months.
- Correct. Visitors are not allowed to work.