Multiple Visa Application possible?

[lXlXero]

I am a US permanent resident married to a Canadian citizen. We are gathering the needed documents to apply for an out-land family class sponsorship. Unfortunately, the FBI background clearance takes a few months, and by the time we apply and i receive my PR card, it would be around August or September of 2013. Both me and my wife see this much time apart as unacceptable, and are trying to figure out a way for me to be with her legally while awaiting the PR to arrive. Our main concern is the fact that if i stay with her for 6 moths (max allowed as a visitor), i would not be able to work or go to college, which is not an option as we are both college students with part time minimum-wage jobs (not exactly what i'd call "Financially Stable").
We thought i might be able to apply for a temporary work permit and/or a student visa. Is it possible to apply for both PR visa and either a work or student visa at the same time?
Any other alternatives or ideas you can suggest would be greatly appreciated as well.

[Edit] : We have been married since 2010 and been in a relationship since 2006.

 

[scylla]

Sure - you can apply for a study permit. However this process will likely take a few months as well. First you'll need to be accepted by a school and then apply for a study permit. Keep in mind that foreign students pay substantially higher tuition than domestic students (you should look into this before deciding if this is the way you want to go). To be approved for a study permit, you'll need to show a bank balance with first year tuition + $10K living expenses.

To qualify for a work permit, you'll first need to find an employer willing to hire you. That employer will then have to apply for a labour market opinion (lmo) and as part of this process, prove they advertised and were unable to find a Canadian to hire for the role. If the LMO is approved, you can then obtain a work permit. Due to the amount of waiting and paperwork involved and because not all LMOs are approved, many employers are extremely hesitant to consider foreign candidates. However you can always give it a try.

Hope this helps.

 

[lXlXero]

Thanks a bunch for the reply!
Kinda puts a damper to things but your information helps a lot and is greatly appreciated!
We are going to have rethink our plans and go over all our options, but i'm still hopeful we will find some way to make it come together =)

 

[scylla]

Just to add...

I'm not sure why you are assuming it will be August or September 2013 before you are issued your PR visa. If there are no issues with your application, your file could be processed in just a few months (my husband's file was process in four months a few years ago and I believe many Americans are getting through at around the six month mark right now). I know there are official processing times posted on the CIC web site. However if you read what these processing times are, you'll see they represent how long it took CIC to complete processing for 80% of applications. This means this number is not an average and many get through significantly faster.