Messy situation / general advice needed

[chrismgallen]

Hi all,

Please excuse the slightly lengthy story here.

I am currently living in Canada with my Canadian common-law partner and 2-year-old son on my second IEC work permit which expires in just under 3 weeks. I do not currently have any new work permit or anything lined up beyond that point due to an LMO application falling through unexpectedly. I don't want to leave my son and girlfriend behind and return to the UK for a particularly extended period and have been considering remaining as a visitor for now, though that will stretch us extremely thin financially.

I am currently completely overwhelmed with all of the information out there and am simply looking for some objective advice from people who know more than I do about everything. I know that we are hypothetically eligible for family-class sponsorship but am not sure of the best options for us regarding inland/outland, open work permits etc.

I am hoping to get back to working as soon as possible but wish to do everything correctly - for starters, the prospect of being out of work for an extended period is already driving me crazy, but more seriously, we cannot survive financially for too long without me working.

If I apply outland through the UK, sponsor assessment is quoted as 90 days, with an additional 29 months for final decision
If I apply within Canada, sponsor assessment is quoted at 17 months with an additional 8 months for final decision (overall faster)

I honestly don't understand how applying for an open-work permit alongside permanent residency works or if I can even do this with either in or outland applications...

As I say, I just need some solid advice from someone at this point please - I'm desperately concerned at the prospect of extended time away from my family.

 

[Ponga]

First of all...take a deep breath and try to relax.

The processing time for an Outland application for you is substantially quicker than ~ 29 months. Most [recent] applicants from the UK are completing the entire process in ~ 6-8 months. Check the Outland UK thread here to get more information.

Applying Inland would allow you to work in ~ 4 months, thanks to the new pilot program that CIC launched on December 22, 2014. This will allow an Inland applicant to receive an Open Work Permit (as long as the applicant has maintained their legal status) much faster than before. Prior to this program, the applicant needed to have reached the first stage approval (AIP) to be eligible for an OWP.

So, if you want to work ASAP (and remain in Canada during the entire PR process), you could submit an Inland application.

If you simply want to get through the PR process ASAP (but would not be eligible for the OWP), apply Outland. You can still remain in Canada with an Outland application, as long as you apply to change the conditions of your stay, from worker to visitor...which seems easy enough to do for most people.

Unfortunately, time is your enemy since you only have 3 weeks to do `something', so perhaps applying to change your conditions ASAP would be priority for you, no matter which `route' you choose for your PR application.

Good luck!

*Edit* Whoa...I see (from your other posts) that you started asking questions about sponsorship back in August of 2013. Why did you wait so long to apply?

 

[Rob_TO]

. I know that we are hypothetically eligible for family-class sponsorship but am not sure of the best options for us regarding inland/outland, open work permits etc.

There is nothing hypothetical about it. As long as you've cohabited with your partner for at least 12 months (and have proofs of it), you are eligible. You could have applied as soon as you reached 12 months.

For outland, the times posted on CIC site are completely useless. London office recently started processing applications for Pakistan applicants (which was previously done in Islamabad office) which is the sole reason their times have skyrocketed. For a UK citizen, as mentioned above the time will be closer to 6-8 months.

Since you are currently on a work visa with 1 year validity, CIC may also choose to process your outland application in CPC-Ottawa. Again this would probably be around 6 months processing times.

It's a tough call on whether to go outland or inland. Inland may get you working again a couple months sooner, but overall you would be stuck in the inland process which takes 2+ years to get your PR status. Unlike outland, posted inland times on CIC site are very accurate.