Spousal Sponsorship - Principal applicant work permit / OHIP

[osgoz99]

Hi folks,

I have another set of questions and would appreciate greatly if you experts could clarify.

I am helping a family friend with a spousal sponsorship application. The husband is a CDN citizen who married a US citizen and they have been living in the US for last 5 years. They would like to move to Canada with their 2 children but are concerned about work prospects. From what I understand, the wife will only be able to get an open work permit after AIP (approval in principle) on an In-Canada application.

1) Any way she can work legally for those first 6 months/until AIP ?

2) What about OHIP?
She is expecting another child in the next 8 months and if she has no medical coverage here would return to the US to have the child there. I understand that she would not be allowed (or not advisable) to leave the country with In-class Application?

3) The children are technically already CDN citizens but have to apply to citizenship certificates. Can they get OHIP immediately? How long do Citizenship certificates take to process?

4) How does a Temporary Resident Permit work? Will it be better to apply Outland and then try to get a TRP? Will that speed up her chances of getting legal work/OHIP here?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[Alurra71]

Hi folks,

I have another set of questions and would appreciate greatly if you experts could clarify.

I am helping a family friend with a spousal sponsorship application. The husband is a CDN citizen who married a US citizen and they have been living in the US for last 5 years. They would like to move to Canada with their 2 children but are concerned about work prospects. From what I understand, the wife will only be able to get an open work permit after AIP (approval in principle) on an In-Canada application.

1) Any way she can work legally for those first 6 months/until AIP ?

2) What about OHIP?
She is expecting another child in the next 8 months and if she has no medical coverage here would return to the US to have the child there. I understand that she would not be allowed (or not advisable) to leave the country with In-class Application?

3) The children are technically already CDN citizens but have to apply to citizenship certificates. Can they get OHIP immediately? How long do Citizenship certificates take to process?

4) How does a Temporary Resident Permit work? Will it be better to apply Outland and then try to get a TRP? Will that speed up her chances of getting legal work/OHIP here?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

1. The only way would be to get a job offer with the employer doing an LMO. It is highly unlikely, but that would be the only way for her to legally work.

2. She will only qualify for OHIP once she is given AIP (Inland application) or once she lands (Outland application). Either way she will have to wait the additional 3 months waiting period.

3. The children will qualify for OHIP immediately, however they will also have to wait the 3 months waiting period.

4. I can't even figure out how they would qualify for a TRP so my answer on this is also going to be a no.

Sounds as if their best bet would be to first get those kids their Canadian certificates. Get their application together and then file it outland. Ottawa is moving at a pretty good pace and it would seem theirs should be pretty straight forward unless wife has some criminal history to contend with. By the time they get her PR status, she should have recently had the baby and they can all move together across the border and she will be eligible for work immediately upon arrival. In the mean time it sounds as though they both have jobs in the US so they might want to stay with it for now.

 

[scylla]

TRPs are for individuals who would otherwise be inadmissible to Canada due to a crime, etc. So I agree that your wife does not qualify for a TRP.

 

[screech339]

Hi folks,

I have another set of questions and would appreciate greatly if you experts could clarify.

I am helping a family friend with a spousal sponsorship application. The husband is a CDN citizen who married a US citizen and they have been living in the US for last 5 years. They would like to move to Canada with their 2 children but are concerned about work prospects. From what I understand, the wife will only be able to get an open work permit after AIP (approval in principle) on an In-Canada application.

1) Any way she can work legally for those first 6 months/until AIP ?

2) What about OHIP?
She is expecting another child in the next 8 months and if she has no medical coverage here would return to the US to have the child there. I understand that she would not be allowed (or not advisable) to leave the country with In-class Application?

3) The children are technically already CDN citizens but have to apply to citizenship certificates. Can they get OHIP immediately? How long do Citizenship certificates take to process?

4) How does a Temporary Resident Permit work? Will it be better to apply Outland and then try to get a TRP? Will that speed up her chances of getting legal work/OHIP here?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!

The problem is with the kids is that without their canadian citizenship certificates, they cannot apply for OHIP, SIN, Passport,any documents that Canadians have rights to get. Canada birth certificates or Canadian citizenship certificate are the only proof of Canadian they will accept.

 

[screech339]

There is another option. If your wife have a degree and or diploma listed under NAFTA, she can apply for a TN work visa (US called it TN visa). Not sure what the Canada side called it. I assume it's the same. She would only need a job offer without LMO needed.

 

[MapleLeafBride]

There is another option. If your wife have a degree and or diploma listed under NAFTA, she can apply for a TN work visa (US called it TN visa). Not sure what the Canada side called it. I assume it's the same. She would only need a job offer without LMO needed.

I am not sure if it's true, but I have heard that it can be difficult to gain entry with this option if you are married to a citizen of the country you are going to be working in. So even if you have a job offer, the border guards can turn you away because there's enough evidence to suggest you aren't coming temporarily, one of the requirements for a TN visa. Or have I been misinformed?

 

[screech339]

I am not sure if it's true, but I have heard that it can be difficult to gain entry with this option if you are married to a citizen of the country you are going to be working in. So even if you have a job offer, the border guards can turn you away because there's enough evidence to suggest you aren't coming temporarily, one of the requirements for a TN visa. Or have I been misinformed?

Yes I agree that one of the requirement is to be "temporary" working with the intent on moving back to US. However this may work if they applied outland since the applicant "have" to leave Canada and back to US to "land" in Canada. Inland I can see it being an issue.

 

[osgoz99]

1. The only way would be to get a job offer with the employer doing an LMO. It is highly unlikely, but that would be the only way for her to legally work.

2. She will only qualify for OHIP once she is given AIP (Inland application) or once she lands (Outland application). Either way she will have to wait the additional 3 months waiting period.

3. The children will qualify for OHIP immediately, however they will also have to wait the 3 months waiting period.

4. I can't even figure out how they would qualify for a TRP so my answer on this is also going to be a no.

Sounds as if their best bet would be to first get those kids their Canadian certificates. Get their application together and then file it outland. Ottawa is moving at a pretty good pace and it would seem theirs should be pretty straight forward unless wife has some criminal history to contend with. By the time they get her PR status, she should have recently had the baby and they can all move together across the border and she will be eligible for work immediately upon arrival. In the mean time it sounds as though they both have jobs in the US so they might want to stay with it for now.

Thanks for all of the timely and informative responses folks!

Just to clarify a couple of things...

1) Is the 3 month waiting period standard for anyone applying for OHIP?

2) Why is it unlikely that she will get an LMO? Would the best possible scenario not be for the wife to get a job offer here, get an LMO, and then move with the whole family to Canada and then make Outland application?
(I read a post about a guy who got an LMO And then made an outland application and everyone responded that he is a lucky duck since that's the best possible scenario, though I didn't fully understand why.)

3) Wow, I've never heard of this TN Visa. (Temporary National?) Are these easy to come by? or am I better off buying a 6/49 ticket? The wife is a speech language pathologist (Masters Degree) if that helps.

 

[screech339]

Thanks for all of the timely and informative responses folks!

Just to clarify a couple of things...

1) Is the 3 month waiting period standard for anyone applying for OHIP?

2) Why is it unlikely that she will get an LMO? Would the best possible scenario not be for the wife to get a job offer here, get an LMO, and then move with the whole family to Canada and then make Outland application?
(I read a post about a guy who got an LMO And then made an outland application and everyone responded that he is a lucky duck since that's the best possible scenario, though I didn't fully understand why.)

3) Wow, I've never heard of this TN Visa. (Temporary National?) Are these easy to come by? or am I better off buying a 6/49 ticket? The wife is a speech language pathologist (Masters Degree) if that helps.

1) applies to everyone, Canadians, prs, everyone.

2) It is unlikely to get LMO because it requires employer time and money to apply for LMO for you unless you find a employer willing to get a LMO for you and offer the job. Most don't want to deal with that.

3) TN visa is called special visa code for people with qualifications that can work between Canada/US temporary under North America free trade agreement. I worked in US under TN visa for 5 years before moving back. Americans can work in Canada temporary and vise versa.

 

[osgoz99]

1) applies to everyone, Canadians, prs, everyone.

2) It is unlikely to get LMO because it requires employer time and money to apply for LMO for you unless you find a employer willing to get a LMO for you and offer the job. Most don't want to deal with that.

3) TN visa is called special visa code for people with qualifications that can work between Canada/US temporary under North America free trade agreement. I worked in US under TN visa for 5 years before moving back. Americans can work in Canada temporary and vise versa.

With regard to the work permit/LMO, If a relative is willing to her hire her here in Canada, is it still hard to come by an LMO? Or is it basically standard issue once you have a legitimate job offer? She will be working as a speech language pathologist and not flipping burgers at the local burger joint.

I don't see Speech Language Pathologist on the list of professions covered under NAFTA. Does this mean the TN work visa is not even an option?

 

[screech339]

With regard to the work permit/LMO, If a relative is willing to her hire her here in Canada, is it still hard to come by an LMO? Or is it basically standard issue once you have a legitimate job offer? She will be working as a speech language pathologist and not flipping burgers at the local burger joint.

I don't see Speech Language Pathologist on the list of professions covered under NAFTA. Does this mean the TN work visa is not even an option?

If a relative wants to hire your wife, she will have to submit a LMO like every employer does. She will not have any special consideration because she is a relative. Government sees her relative as a potential employer like every employer. The relative will have to pay for the cost of doing the LMO. It is illegal to have your wife pay for it. That's her relative's responsibility.

If your wife's occupation is not listed as approved field of study under NAFTA, then she is out of luck.

 

[steerpike]

1) Any way she can work legally for those first 6 months/until AIP ?

Also, dont count on getting AIP in 6 months. We thought it would be no big deal for my wife to not work for 6 months until AIP too, (at the time we applied, the posted wait time was 6 months). Actually its been 14 months and still no word on AIP (although I think she may be close). So it's something they should keep in mind when applying that way.

 

[osgoz99]

Also, dont count on getting AIP in 6 months. We thought it would be no big deal for my wife to not work for 6 months until AIP too, (at the time we applied, the posted wait time was 6 months). Actually its been 14 months and still no word on AIP (although I think she may be close). So it's something they should keep in mind when applying that way.

Wowzas! 14 months??! That's outrageous!

I guess if Inland is 14+ months and TN work visa is no longer an option, then Outland is the most likely option then. I don't think the family member hiring her will mind to shell out the $275 for the LMO. They can always factor that in to her salary when giving a job offer.

P.S. - How do you guys select specific parts of an answer to reply to? When I hit quote, it replies to the entire response.

 

[scylla]

Just delete the parts of the reply you don't want displayed after you have hit reply.

The officially posted inland time is currently 11 months. So definitely factor that into the decision.

I don't think the $275 LMO fee is the real barrier. The real barrier is the paperwork and having your relative prove they really could not find a Canadian for the role. Before they can even submit the LMO for approval, they will have to advertise the job for at least one full month. This is to prove that no Canadian could be hired for the role. Only then can they submit the LMO (expect processing to take a couple of months). There is no guarantee the LMO will be approved even after all of that. If Human Resources Canada knows that they reasonably should have been able to find a Canadian for the role, the LMO will be refused.

 

[steerpike]

Before they can even submit the LMO for approval, they will have to advertise the job for at least one full month. This is to prove that no Canadian could be hired for the role. Only then can they submit the LMO (expect processing to take a couple of months). There is no guarantee the LMO will be approved even after all of that. If Human Resources Canada knows that they reasonably should have been able to find a Canadian for the role, the LMO will be refused.

This is how it is supposed to work. But i'm not sure how strict they really are. If the job is advertised with Jobbank for 2 weeks and no one suitable applies, that should be good enough.