Leaving and re-entering Canada on an Open Work Permit

[dutchct]

Sorry if this comes up so many times. I'm super paranoid my wife won't be able to come back into Canada. The difference between a work permit and a visa can be quite confusing.

My wife and I are planning to visit the US for Christmas. We will be crossing a land border and then flying in the states.

She is currently on an OWP and is a Japanese citizen. We are currently in the process of getting her PR.

Is it safe for her to travel to America for 10 days and return to Canada and retain her work permit? While I'm asking, on a separate trip, could she visit other countries like Japan and return with out problems?

 

[scylla]

The short answer is that there's never a guarantee someone will be allowed back into Canada - even with the OWP. The fact she is visa exempt should mean she is able to re-enter without issues. But the reality is that anything can happen.

This is why those applying for spousal sponsorship via the inland route should remain in Canada for the duration of the process. If you leave and can't return, this effectively cancels the application.

So again - she most likely will be absolutely fine. But there's always some chance, no matter how small, that she won't be.

 

[Netz]

Sorry if this comes up so many times. I'm super paranoid my wife won't be able to come back into Canada. The difference between a work permit and a visa can be quite confusing.

My wife and I are planning to visit the US for Christmas. We will be crossing a land border and then flying in the states.

She is currently on an OWP and is a Japanese citizen. We are currently in the process of getting her PR.

Is it safe for her to travel to America for 10 days and return to Canada and retain her work permit? While I'm asking, on a separate trip, could she visit other countries like Japan and return with out problems?

A permit is a paper which Allows u to study/work in Canada.
A visa is a stamp which allows you to enter Canada, depending whether it is a single entry visa or a multiple entry.

Is your wife from a visa exempt country? does your wife has a valid visa and when does her owp and visa expires.?

If she has a valid visa (not expired) she can come back to Canada.
If her OWP is valid she can retain her status and work legally.

 

[dutchct]

Looking through her passport, she doesn't have any kind of visa in there. Just a stamp.

So, from what I can gather because she is from an exempt country (Japan), she was never required to get a visa.

Her open work permit expires in 2017.

 

[scylla]

Looking through her passport, she doesn't have any kind of visa in there. Just a stamp.

So, from what I can gather because she is from an exempt country (Japan), she was never required to get a visa.

Her open work permit expires in 2017.

Correct - she doesn't require a visa.

But again, re-entery is never guaranteed. (Even if she had a visa it would still not be guaranteed.) So while very small, leaving the country during an inland application always comes with some risk.

 

[dutchct]

Thank you Scylla.

I guess we've decided to risk it, but the worst outcome is quite scary.

 

[dutchct]

Hi there, so, everything seemed to go well.. Almost too well.

We drove back into Canada from America. The border guard basically just asked us a few questions, looked at my wife work permit and let us through. No stamp or anything. I imagine he scanned both of our passports though. We didn't even get out of the car to go inside.

Is the lack of stamp on her passport going to cause an issue with our PR application? Presumably they recorded her returning to Canada?