loocyb1008 said:
Hi adlmer,
I think (could be wrong) that you still need to have one of the two following statements printed on your study permit to be able to work off campus while you hold the study permit and while you are waiting for a pgwp (and so would need to have your study permit amended if it doesn't state one of these two things).
This is a quote from www . cic . gc . ca / english / study / work-offcampus . asp:
"You must have one of the following conditions or remarks printed on your study permit in order to apply for a SIN for off-campus work:
*May work 20 hrs per week off-campus or full-time during regular breaks if meeting criteria outlined in section 186(v) of IRPR
*May accept employment on or off campus if meeting eligibility criteria as per R186(f), (v) or (w). Must cease working if no longer meeting these criteria
If your study permit does not have one of the above conditions or remarks, you must submit a request for an amendment to your study permit before you can apply for a SIN. There is no fee for this request."
I think it really has more to do with getting a SIN to be able to work off campus. Yes, people who hold a sp issued prior to June 2014 are eligible if they fall under the eligibility criteria but they still have to go through the verification process and get one of the statements printed on their study permit before they can begin working off campus. My question is, and I probably need to call Service Canada about this, is that I already have a SIN that is still valid that was issued prior to these newer rules that allowed me to work on-campus only, so is that SIN now valid for off-campus work?
Another reason why you need to have one of those statements printed on your study permit is because technically your employer is supposed to check and see if authorization is given on your permit (meaning it needs to be printed on the permit). Here is a quote from www . servicecanada . gc . ca / eng / sin / employers / expiry . shtml:
"Before hiring a new employee
You must see the employee's existing immigration document authorizing him or her to work in Canada (e.g. work permit, study permit) and verify that it has not expired."
This is from University of Toronto's website cie . utoronto . ca / Coming / Prepare-for-Arrival / Working-in-Canada . htm:
"If you received your study permit before June 1st and you have never applied for an off campus work permit or a Work Authorization letter from CIC you need to apply for an amendment to your study permit. Upon approval, CIC will send you a new study permit which includes one of the following statements:
May work 20 hrs per week off-campus or full-time during regular breaks if meeting criteria outlined in section186(v) of IRPR
May accept employment on or off campus if meeting eligibility criteria as per R186(f), (v) or (w). Must cease working if no longer meeting these criteria
The amended study permit will help you get a Social Insurance Number and work in Canada. Go to the Social Insurance Number page to find out how you can apply for a SIN."
I also really question whether or not CIC call agents know what they are talking about. It seems that they don't really know their own system with how many different answers they give for the same question. It would be really nice if CIC would spell out this issue more clearly on their website on one page, there is a lot of ambiguity in what they have written.
I fall under the same circumstances and I'll give you my experience
I called CIC
8 times . first four times was in may and then i call 4 more times in August.
two out of those 8 times the agent told me that I needed the amendment in order to start working. the other 6 times they said i did not need it because, just like you, I already had a SIN and it was still valid.
One of them told me 'The amendment (or the confirmation to work off campus) is so you can go to service canada and get your SIN number, but if you already have a SIN, then you don't need the amendment'
There was another one who put me on hold for like 5 minutes while she checked with a supervisor and she came back to me and said 'no, you don't need the amendment because you already have a SIN, you are eligible to work'
and finally there was one who was the answer I fell more sure about. After explaining the whole issue I specifically asked him if I would get in trouble with CIC if I worked without that amendment. He answered: "No, you won't get in trouble with CIC, However, you might find it difficult to find jobs because your employer might not believe you're eligible to work because the remarks is not printed on your student permit. In that case, and for your own peace of mind, you can choose to voluntarily get the amendment so it has the remark in there and your employer won't think you're lying. But as far as the CIC is concerned, you're already allowed to work"
So my intake in this is: We are all allowed to work because the requirements to be eligible to work are the same as the ones for applying for a PGWP. Before starting to work
you need a SIN and in order to get that SIN you
may need an amendment. IF you can get it done, then get it done, so you will have that peace of mind.
