On work permit, was dismissed, awaiting PR. What to do?

[joeschmo]

Hi everyone,

There is a lot of great information but I cannot find anything specific to my issue.

I was in Canada on a work permit, intra-company transfer, via NAFTA starting in August, 2011. One year later I married a Canadian citizen and earlier this year I was hired away from my company to work for another company. I received a six month consultant contract by exiting then re-entering the border with an invitation letter in hand. Here we are at six weeks later and I have been dismissed after the employer tried to alter my contract. That is an issue I'm dealing with separately. As I understand it I am still ok to stay in Canada till the permit expires.

I have two questions.

1.) Since I have applied for PR in April, 2014 under spousal sponsorship, what kind of new visa can I get? Is an OWP possible since I'm sponsored by my wife or do I need to find someone that will hire me and they have to apply for LMO?

2.) I have set up a numbered corporation within Canada in the past several weeks since I was on contract and it was a good way to handle taxes. I have gone through all the requirements and have 1/3 of my "board" made up of Canadians. Can I work online for clients outside of Canada without requiring a work permit? My job is one that I can easily perform from home and have clients wire payment to my corporation. Is this something I can do or do I still need some sort of work permit?

Thank you in advance!

 

[scylla]

1. It depends how you applied for PR. If you applied outland - then no OWP. If you applied inland - then you will qualify for an OWP once you have first stage approval which is currently taking 13 months to complete. So you'd still be about a year out from qualifying.
2. Yes - you can work for clients outside of Canada.

 

[joeschmo]

Hi Scylla,

Thank you VERY much for this. I finally got through to a representative at CIC today and he confirmed what you said in your post. He also confirmed for me that my stay is valid regardless of whether or not my employment is still current as I can stay for the duration of my permit. Near the end of my current stay I can apply for a visitor visa. By the time that runs out I'll have my initial review underway (based on current processing time of 13 months).

Since I lost my job, will I still be able to travel back and forth outside of the country before the current permit expires even with my job having ended before the expiration date? I forgot to ask this question.

Thanks again!