Overstaying my Work Holiday Visa

[australiacanada]

Hello everyone,

I am in a bit of a predicament right now. My current work holiday visa will expire at the end of this month, and I am still yet to receive my new visa. I am not sure if I will receive the new one BEFORE the old one expires. My employer is aware that my current visa is about to expire, but he is under the impression that I have a grace period to continue working until my new one is approved.

From what I understand, this is not the case. But because of the nature of my job it is imperative that I keep working. If there is a problem with the processing of my new visa, it may take much longer than the end of the month for this to be resolved. I am wondering if there is any exceptional circumstances in which someone with a WHV can continue to work if they're waiting on a new work holiday visa. If there isn't, and I decide to continue working (probably for no more than 2-3 weeks) after my current visa expires, is it likely that the Port of Entry officer will be aware that I overstayed my visa and worked illegally in the country? Are they likely to interogate me and contact my work place? If I tell them that I applied for a change to Visitor status while in Canada (therefore I have implied status) is there anyway for them to know that I have still been working?

Is it likely they would not grant me another visa because of this???

 

[HoneyEllis]

I am an Aussie who had a WHV 2008 - 2010.
I worked under 'implied status' (S.186 of the Immigration Act) whilst my application for a work permit was being processed.
My understanding is that so long as you've applied for a new permit prior to the expiration of your current permit you get the benefit of implied status.
I can't directly answer your other questions - however I think that CRA (the tax office) would know when you were working, and it's likely that the information could be known to CIC. I don't think it's worth the risk -if you get caught you'll likely get an exclusion order or something equally terrible. I remember being on implied status and the CIC officer told me not to jay-walk! So be careful

 

[PMM]

Hi

I am an Aussie who had a WHV 2008 - 2010.
I worked under 'implied status' (S.186 of the Immigration Act) whilst my application for a work permit was being processed.
My understanding is that so long as you've applied for a new permit prior to the expiration of your current permit you get the benefit of implied status.
I can't directly answer your other questions - however I think that CRA (the tax office) would know when you were working, and it's likely that the information could be known to CIC. I don't think it's worth the risk -if you get caught you'll likely get an exclusion order or something equally terrible. I remember being on implied status and the CIC officer told me not to jay-walk! So be careful

'


There is no implied status for IEC working holiday visas.

 

[HoneyEllis]

Hi
'


There is no implied status for IEC working holiday visas.

PMM - I was on implied status after my working holiday visa expired. PM me if you want more details ... I have letters from CIC confirming my implied status.

 

[Sarco]

Hi HoneyEllis,

I'm in your exact situation and would love to hear more about implied status under working holiday visas. I'm on the IEC work permit from the UK. Can you give me any more details?

Thanks,
Sarco

 

[nevenj]

Hi HoneyEllis,

I'm in your exact situation and would love to hear more about implied status under working holiday visas. I'm on the IEC work permit from the UK. Can you give me any more details?

Thanks,
Sarco

There is a difference between Australian and UK IEC programs.

Australian IEC
Q: Can I participate in the Canadian IEC initiative more than once?

A: Yes, you may participate in the IEC initiative more than once under the Canada-Australia youth mobility arrangement. The current policy has no limit to the number of times you can participate under the program as long as you continue to meet the age criteria and all other admissibility and eligibility requirements. You do not have to wait for your current work permit to expire before reapplying but the earliest you may mail a new IEC application to our office is 12 weeks before your current work permit expires. You must submit the correct Program Participation Fee with any new application. You may wish to obtain the other documentation even if your work permit is not expiring in 12 weeks (eg. police check and traffic history printout should be dated within 6 months from when we receive your application).


UK IEC
I have participated in the IEC on a previous occasion. Now that participation is restricted to two one-year periods, does my previous participation restrict my ability to travel to Canada in the future?

No. The new policy of two one-year participation periods is not being implemented retroactively. So even if you have previously participated in the IEC, you will still be able to participate twice, assuming you can demonstrate eligibility to do so. Please note this only applies to those who participated prior to the 2011 initiative.

 

[NBaker]

The Foreign Worker Manual provides the following information about extensions under the permits issued for IEC programs:

Conditions of work permit: participants under the working holiday category may receive an open work permit with a validity period of 12 months (See Appendix E for details); participants under the one of the other two categories may receive employer-specific work permits with a suggested validity period that reflects the length of their contract of employment. Participants holding an employer-specific work permit must submit an application either online or by mail to CPC-Vegreville if they wish to change the conditions imposed on their work permit (e.g., change in employer).
(Use the following link for instructions on how to do this: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/extend-worker.asp). The validity period of a C21 work permit may not exceed the validity period of a participant‘s passport. IEC participants may not request to extend their stay under IEC unless the extension is within the original authorized period of stay as per their LOI.

So being able to extend the terms and conditions is based upon the original LOI - letter of introduction. If you meet the criteria for the LOI then implied status exists if the application was submitted prior to expiration, however, if criteria is not met then there is no implied status.

 

[lamsnaps]

I am an Aussie who had a WHV 2008 - 2010.
I worked under 'implied status' (S.186 of the Immigration Act) whilst my application for a work permit was being processed.
My understanding is that so long as you've applied for a new permit prior to the expiration of your current permit you get the benefit of implied status.
I can't directly answer your other questions - however I think that CRA (the tax office) would know when you were working, and it's likely that the information could be known to CIC. I don't think it's worth the risk -if you get caught you'll likely get an exclusion order or something equally terrible. I remember being on implied status and the CIC officer told me not to jay-walk! So be careful

Hey HoneyEllis....... would I be able to email with you for more info about how you got implied status? (I can't PM you since I just signed up here. Maybe PM me your email and i'll reply via email) I'm an Aussie living in Vancouver and currently in a situation where it's quite likely that I won't get my new working holiday visa before my current one expires, so just trying to come up with a backup plan.

 

[HoneyEllis]

Hey HoneyEllis....... would I be able to email with you for more info about how you got implied status? (I can't PM you since I just signed up here. Maybe PM me your email and i'll reply via email) I'm an Aussie living in Vancouver and currently in a situation where it's quite likely that I won't get my new working holiday visa before my current one expires, so just trying to come up with a backup plan.

Hi Lamsnaps,

Have you checked out the other (more recent) threads on this issue - seems to be some debate about 'implied status'? Might be worth taking a look at!

 

[Line.a]

IECs cannot be extended at all. You'd have to apply online to change conditions of your stay. You'll be on implied status once its sent off and you get an email verification until a decision is made. Or go flagpole!

 

[Lukehe]

My girlfriend and I are/were in the EXACT same situation as you. Aussies, on IEC, expired for about a month before we got our new ones.

I read almost every thread on the subject on this forum and others, so I learned that we don't get implied worker status blah blah blah. Subsequently we were pretty stressed out, worried that the border guard would not let us through because we had been, technically, working illegally for about a month.

We eventually got our new visas - We crossed the border a couple of ago and had absolutely no problem. No questions, no interrogations, nothing.

In summary, while the law may indicate otherwise; (depending on your individual circumstances) you can probably safely assume that the border agents know about all the CIC delays, and are reasonable people. Ether that, or they don't care if you overstay and work by a handful of weeks. Being Aussies, it's safe to say that we are likely to be pretty low risk in their eyes. They have bigger fish to fry.

I know there are very few threads from people who have successfully made it through (because I'm sure once they get their issue resolved there is no need to post on this forum!), so I just want to reassure you that, at least in our case, the worst case scenario was very far from what actually transpired.

Don't stress, chances are, you'll be ok!

 

[GRETZKY99]

Lol would IEC think of upping the age from 30 to possible 35 or older, as im 31 i have been approved for IEC WHV (was approved prior to my 30th birthday) due to family constraints i may not be able to go (expires Feb 2014) 5mths to go to try and get everything sorted...is there and extension option for me ? Or was this my last chance overall.

 

[scylla]

i may not be able to go (expires Feb 2014) 5mths to go to try and get everything sorted...is there and extension option for me ? Or was this my last chance overall.

You have to make it to Canada by Feb 2014 to activate your visa or you lose it. There is no extension option available.

 

[GRETZKY99]

You have to make it to Canada by Feb 2014 to activate your visa or you lose it. There is no extension option available.

But how would the POE Officers view it if i enter Canada only to just activate my IEC WHV just to return to Australia a couple of days later and then return back to Canada like 12mths later after saving more money up ???

Plus Im flying from Australia, so i would be certainly more inclined not to take this route. I suppose let it lapse is my only choice...waste of money in the end (damm FAMILY)

 

[Jamesdavid3]

I am also still working even though my IEC has expired, since I sent out my PR application before my IEC expired that gives me Implied Status.

Reading some of the comments in this thread it looks like many of you did the same thing, glad to see it.