PR app in canada after visa expired on previous visa

[carsa]

I am in the process of applying for PR using the PNP sponsored by the company I am currently working for in Canada. I am in Canada on a work permit.

I entered Canada in '09 on a 6 month business visitors visa to provide professional services to a client. While in Canada a work permit application was made for work in Ontario for the Canadian branch of the company I worked for at that time. My visitor visa expired but the lawyer assured me since the work permit application was being processed, that I could stay in Canada until it was completed. I was in Canada 4 months without a visa until my work permit was approved.

A few months after my worker visa was received I fetched my work permit from the border and was accused of staying illegally. I still got my work permit and have been working in Canada for just over a year (having also changed jobs with a new work permit).

So my question is how will this affect my PR application? It will appear that I stayed in Canada illegally, did the lawyer make a mistake by assuring me I could stay?

Any comment would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[ethels]

If you applied work permit before the expiry of your visitor visa, then technically your lawyer is right. Its called implied status. Therefore this will have NO impact to your PR application in any way.

SOURCE: OP 11 TEMPORARY RESIDENTS

A temporary resident must apply to extend their period of authorized stay before it ends. If they
have done so, their period of authorized stay as a temporary resident is extended by law until a
decision is made [R183(5)]. Such a person is considered to have implied status as a temporary
resident during that period.

If a temporary resident applies for renewal of their work or study permit and their permit expires
before a decision is made, R186(u) and R189 (the right to continue working or studying under the
same conditions pending a determination of their application for renewal) apply only as long as
the person remains in Canada.

 

[carsa]

Thanks for the update, let's see how it goes...