Maternity EI, work permit going to expire while waiting...eligible or not?

[alicia13]

Hi all,

I have looked hard through past posts but cannot seem to find an answer relevant to my case.

I am married to a Canadian citizen and we have applied for inland spousal sponsorship, mailed to Mississauga on February 6th, I have not received an AOR email yet.

My current status is "worker" on a closed work permit tied to my employer, which expires on March 30th 2014.

I stopped work when I got pregnant in August but I have accumulated enough hours in the past year to still qualify for maternity EI.

I spoke to someone at Service Canada today and they seemed pretty confident that I would still qualify seeing as I have enough hours but seeing as my work permit (health card, everything etc.) will expire soon and my spousal assessment won't come through until October at the earliest, will I fall between the cracks in the mean time and not be able to receive EI?

Sorry for the complicated scenario, I would really appreciate some advice.

 

[SenoritaBella]

You can find some information here: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/ei/benefits/maternityparental.shtml

Did you apply for an open work permit with your inland spousal application?
1. find out if that gives you implied status once your current work permit expires
2. find out from service canada if you need legal status(or even implied status) to continue receiving the benefits. Better to get the answers in writing, or ask them to point you to the information on their website. This is the best way to be sure you are being given factual information.

About your healthcard expiring, begin making inquiries(call the office that issues the healthcard) on whether you can have it extended while on implied status. Medical costs are expensive without insurance. Some provinces will extend your healthcard for 90 days with proof(fee receipt) that you have applied for renewal.

 

[tarina]

@A

Hi all,

I have looked hard through past posts but cannot seem to find an answer relevant to my case.

I am married to a Canadian citizen and we have applied for inland spousal sponsorship, mailed to Mississauga on February 6th, I have not received an AOR email yet.

My current status is "worker" on a closed work permit tied to my employer, which expires on March 30th 2014.

I stopped work when I got pregnant in August but I have accumulated enough hours in the past year to still qualify for maternity EI.

I spoke to someone at Service Canada today and they seemed pretty confident that I would still qualify seeing as I have enough hours but seeing as my work permit (health card, everything etc.) will expire soon and my spousal assessment won't come through until October at the earliest, will I fall between the cracks in the mean time and not be able to receive EI?

Sorry for the complicated scenario, I would really appreciate some advice.

We have the same situation.

 

[tarina]

You can find some information here: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/sc/ei/benefits/maternityparental.shtml

Did you apply for an open work permit with your inland spousal application?
1. find out if that gives you implied status once your current work permit expires
2. find out from service canada if you need legal status(or even implied status) to continue receiving the benefits. Better to get the answers in writing, or ask them to point you to the information on their website. This is the best way to be sure you are being given factual information.

About your healthcard expiring, begin making inquiries(call the office that issues the healthcard) on whether you can have it extended while on implied status. Medical costs are expensive without insurance. Some provinces will extend your healthcard for 90 days with proof(fee receipt) that you have applied for renewal.

Thank you for this advise... I never bother to ask as I thought if my visa expires I wont receive any benefits anymore as well as with my OHIP.

 

[alicia13]

@tarina

I spoke to Ontario Health Services and Service Canada this morning, if you already hold an OHIP card, when you receive your first step approval you can send them your medical receipts for the time that you didn't have coverage and they will reimburse you, that said I agree with the other poster, if you are going to go that route then better to get something in writing from them.

About the EI, the agent I spoke to said that an Acknowledgement of Receipt email from CIC should be sufficient proof that you have applied for an extension of your status but again, he said only the agents in the processing centres will be able to give you the final word on that. I would say it is worth a shot anyway!

 

[tarina]

@alicia, thanks for the info.

 

[Awesomeg]

Hi all,

I have looked hard through past posts but cannot seem to find an answer relevant to my case.

I am married to a Canadian citizen and we have applied for inland spousal sponsorship, mailed to Mississauga on February 6th, I have not received an AOR email yet.

My current status is "worker" on a closed work permit tied to my employer, which expires on March 30th 2014.

I stopped work when I got pregnant in August but I have accumulated enough hours in the past year to still qualify for maternity EI.

I spoke to someone at Service Canada today and they seemed pretty confident that I would still qualify seeing as I have enough hours but seeing as my work permit (health card, everything etc.) will expire soon and my spousal assessment won't come through until October at the earliest, will I fall between the cracks in the mean time and not be able to receive EI?

Sorry for the complicated scenario, I would really appreciate some advice.

Your case is easy... your should apply for a temporary resident permit.... that will allow you to stay legally in Canada and will allow you to maintain your EI benefits.

You should have done this a moth ago.... but its not late.

 

[alicia13]

@awesomeg
Excuse my ignorance but I have never even heard of a temporary resident permit, could you tell me what it is and why I would be eligible? I have looked at the link on CIC but I don't find it very clear. Do I apply to the visa office in my home country for it or to CIC? I'm sorry for all the questions, I really appreciate your help!

 

[SenoritaBella]

There is a difference between a "temporary resident visa" (which allows a visitor or student or worker to travel and be able to re-enter Canada) and "temporary resident permit". I think awesomeg must be referring to the "temporary resident visa" because you are not eligible for the other one.

Temporary resident permits are issued at the discretion of CIC and is only for people who are inadmissible to Canada but who feel they have a compelling reason to visit Canada. Example: someone has a criminal record which does not allow them to enter Canada but their relative in Canada needs a bone marrow transplant and this person is a suitable match. This person is eligible to apply for a 'temporary resident permit' because they need to be in Canada in order for their stem cells to the harvested and transfused to their relative.

In your case, you are already in Canada, have a work permit and are not inadmissible to Canada, so you do not qualify for a temporary resident permit. You are however, eligible to apply for any other "temporary resident status" at least 30 days before your current work permit expires by:
a) applying for renewal of your work permit (you will probably need a new LMO); or
b) applying to change your status to visitor (can not work); or
c) applying to change your status to student (you need an admissions letter).

I think is what awesomeg meant. Hope this helps!

@ awesomeg
Excuse my ignorance but I have never even heard of a temporary resident permit, could you tell me what it is and why I would be eligible? I have looked at the link on CIC but I don't find it very clear. Do I apply to the visa office in my home country for it or to CIC? I'm sorry for all the questions, I really appreciate your help!

 

[alicia13]

There is a difference between a "temporary resident visa" (which allows a visitor or student or worker to travel and be able to re-enter Canada) and "temporary resident permit". I think awesomeg must be referring to the "temporary resident visa" because you are not eligible for the other one.

Temporary resident permits are issued at the discretion of CIC and is only for people who are inadmissible to Canada but who feel they have a compelling reason to visit Canada. Example: someone has a criminal record which does not allow them to enter Canada but their relative in Canada needs a bone marrow transplant and this person is a suitable match. This person is eligible to apply for a 'temporary resident permit' because they need to be in Canada in order for their stem cells to the harvested and transfused to their relative.

In your case, you are already in Canada, have a work permit and are not inadmissible to Canada, so you do not qualify for a temporary resident permit. You are however, eligible to apply for any other "temporary resident status" at least 30 days before your current work permit expires by:
a) applying for renewal of your work permit (you will probably need a new LMO); or
b) applying to change your status to visitor (can not work); or
c) applying to change your status to student (you need an admissions letter).

I think is what awesomeg meant. Hope this helps!

@senoritabella thank you so much! I really appreciate your through response.

In my case, would changing my status from worker to visitor improve my eligibility chances for EI?
Having spoken to them on Friday it seems that my AOR from CIC will be enough.
Thanks again

 

[SenoritaBella]

I don't know whether applying for visitor status will help with your EI benefits. Sorry.

According to your post below, the agent said you need AOR from CIC as proof you applied for extension of your status. Based on that, it would be good to ask Service Canada the question below:

If you applied to change your status to visitor and provided a copies of the entire application, post-office receipt and tracking number of the package, and fee receipt, ask if they would accept them as proof that you have applied to extend your status. You will need to explain to the them that CIC does not issue AOR for extension of visitor visas, student and work permits. They only give AOR for permanent residence and citizenship applications.

If they say it is acceptable, then I guess you can think about applying to change status. I don't know whatelse (besides what I mentioned above) you could possible give them as proof anyway when CIC does not issue AORs for visitor applicaitons.

@ tarina

I spoke to Ontario Health Services and Service Canada this morning, if you already hold an OHIP card, when you receive your first step approval you can send them your medical receipts for the time that you didn't have coverage and they will reimburse you, that said I agree with the other poster, if you are going to go that route then better to get something in writing from them.

About the EI, the agent I spoke to said that an Acknowledgement of Receipt email from CIC should be sufficient proof that you have applied for an extension of your status but again, he said only the agents in the processing centres will be able to give you the final word on that. I would say it is worth a shot anyway!

@ senoritabella thank you so much! I really appreciate your through response.

In my case, would changing my status from worker to visitor improve my eligibility chances for EI?
Having spoken to them on Friday it seems that my AOR from CIC will be enough.
Thanks again

 

[alicia13]

I don't know whether applying for visitor status will help with your EI benefits. Sorry.

According to your post below, the agent said you need AOR from CIC as proof you applied for extension of your status. Based on that, it would be good to ask Service Canada the question below:

If you applied to change your status to visitor and provided a copies of the entire application, post-office receipt and tracking number of the package, and fee receipt, ask if they would accept them as proof that you have applied to extend your status. You will need to explain to the them that CIC does not issue AOR for extension of visitor visas, student and work permits. They only give AOR for permanent residence and citizenship applications.

If they say it is acceptable, then I guess you can think about applying to change status. I don't know whatelse (besides what I mentioned above) you could possible give them as proof anyway when CIC does not issue AORs for visitor applicaitons.

Just an update on how this went, I received my first maternity EI payment yesterday, I provided a mailing certificate to CPC-M and my payment receipt to Service Canada and that was enough! My work permit expired shortly after I applied but I told them that I had applied for PR+OWP back in early February and that was sufficient. Honestly I am surprised as I did not expect them to be so lenient but I'm glad that for once things immigration-related turned out better than expected!

 

[SenoritaBella]

That is awesome news! Enjoy your time off bonding with your precious bundle(s) of joy!

Just an update on how this went, I received my first maternity EI payment yesterday, I provided a mailing certificate to CPC-M and my payment receipt to Service Canada and that was enough! My work permit expired shortly after I applied but I told them that I had applied for PR+OWP back in early February and that was sufficient. Honestly I am surprised as I did not expect them to be so lenient but I'm glad that for once things immigration-related turned out better than expected!

 

[sponsort]

Just an update on how this went, I received my first maternity EI payment yesterday, I provided a mailing certificate to CPC-M and my payment receipt to Service Canada and that was enough! My work permit expired shortly after I applied but I told them that I had applied for PR+OWP back in early February and that was sufficient. Honestly I am surprised as I did not expect them to be so lenient but I'm glad that for once things immigration-related turned out better than expected!

Hello. Hope you can help me on this. I know your post was a long time ago, but my wife is in the same situation and I was wondering if you could please tell me how you kept recieving the Parental Benefits while on a “implied status” once we can only extent our SIN number after recieving the new permit. Or did they wait until you got it extended and paid back for the period you were on “implied status”?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[dking317]

Hello. Hope you can help me on this. I know your post was a long time ago, but my wife is in the same situation and I was wondering if you could please tell me how you kept recieving the Parental Benefits while on a “implied status” once we can only extent our SIN number after recieving the new permit. Or did they wait until you got it extended and paid back for the period you were on “implied status”?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi, i have the issue as yours. Did the EI pay back for you?