Thats exactly what my university lawyer said is in the case of OWP. if you get normal work permit with LMO and job offer, you do not need to to have extensive savings since you are guaranteed to be earning once you get here. But if you are coming on Open Work Permit, its not guaranteed that you will get job as soon as you land here so they want you to have some kind of money in your account showing you will have money to live until you have a job. She recommended to show one year's worth money in account as ofcourse in one year you will find some kind of job.fkl said:
Spouse Open Work permit
- Thread starter ashub
- Start date
Agreed. For a normal study permit + SOWP where study permit has no funding, you would need enough money to survive a year. However, if that money comes from the spouse's funding i.e. he / she is paid enough in scholarship that is sufficient for two people for a year, i think that is good to go.pari_p said:
Still it might be better to at least have some basic amount 5k CAD in the applicant's account to be safe.
Yes, but here's the thing. The spouse getting an OWP is not the principal applicant; he/she is a dependent. He/she can't get to Canada on OWP on his own. The only way for him to arrive in this way is if his spouse (worker, student) has enough money to support him. He is getting an OWP but he's a dependent and his spouse has to prove the money. His own money is just a plus, but his spouse's money is mandatory.pari_p said:
In the case of international students who wish to bring dependents, the student has to have enough money to support a dependent: 10,000 per year for themselves and 4,000 for the first dependent. For students with funding, such as PhD students, this money can come from funding (because funding is basically like a salary - only lower, eh). What happens if a spouse can't get a job? Nothing - because the student will support them. That is the whole idea - they are a dependent and the principal visa holder should support them. OWP is just a permission for the spouse to work and earn more money. Canada is nice enough to allow spouses of international students to work. Not all countries allow this. I believe USA doesn't allow it (if the student is on the F1 visa. Not completely sure of their rules, though).
So all in all, the student is the principal visa holder and he or she has to demonstrate there's enough money to support their dependents. Dependents don't have to work even if they have an OWP.
Haha.. US doesn't even allow spouse of a H1B visa holder to work, although it is currently under debate and might change in future.milimili said:
I do suspect that funding being enough to support spouse might be some thing over looked. So mention this explicitly in application with proof and CIC's quoted estimates, plus the extra funds available.
Well, see, this is why applying together is a better idea, but I hope it's still possible to get an OWP for spouse even if you didn't apply together.fkl said:
My question is: am I allowed to save some money and give it to him, would that be ok/acceptable?
Sure, Applying together is a better idea for a variety of reasons - including the fact that mostly either entire file is approved or rejected altogether. Plus the actual person needed / offered study in Canada might base his decision upon that (e.g. i won't have considered coming here for a second, if any of my family members was denied).milimili said:
Principal applicant is the person needed for some reason in Canada. Others are liabilities.
Regarding your question, sure by all means, you can give him money. In fact if you show your income as source of money, i feel it might serve as one evidence of relationship.
Other than that, you could add any thing to support relationship. For instance this is required for people who are in common law (not married but have been living together for at least 1-2 years). They submit documents like bank statements of each showing the same address, phone bills, car lease in joint name or still other things showing common address. Because you cannot be common law if you haven't lived together for (1 or 2) years i think. This is not needed for a married couple, but one or two evidence of this sort would strengthen the case. Say showing you have lived together before your move to Canada. You might as well submit pictures. But those are usually more relevant when the principal applicant went to home country for a short time, got married and came back. Then they have to show the marriage was genuine and hence use pictures, wedding cards, honey moon tickets etc. For a person in your position, you might not even have those (i don't). But still some pictures could help.
Personally, i don't like sending pictures - and avoid that if possible. But that's me.
The lawyer said it would be ideal to show them even when I have scholarship amounting to >$32,000/year.fkl said:
So if you have that money (whether its in your joint account or your/your spouse's parents are providing it), show it. If you don't than I guess you gotta be explicitly say it in your invitation letter.....I did both...show money+get letter from chair about the funding situation+mark the incoming pay in the bank statements you submit+include it in invitation letter.
Well, I certainly won't have the additional amount of money. I think it's mean of them to ask for it. If they wanted a guarantee for a dependent to be 30,000, they should have specified that and not 14,000. And if they ask for 14,000, then these 14,000 should count. And PhD funding should count because it's money guaranteed by a Canadian institution. I mean, it's not much money but at least it's guaranteed for 4 years. With an job offer, the company often can't guarantee that they'll give you job and money for 4 years, and an University does just that.pari_p said:
Sorry, I'm not angry with you. I'm just disappointed. I sure can't collect 14,000. I can save 5,000, maybe. I don't understand how they won't take my funding into account if he can't apply without me having enough funds in the first place.
Well, getting my PhD is important to me, and he's studying at the moment so he couldn't accompany me. It seemed like the most logical idea to apply individually and then once I get established a little and he graduates, he can join me. We didn't want to risk to reject me because my husband is a student so how come he's asking to go to Canada? Or something. Also, to be honest, we had no idea that we can both apply together and then have him join me in a year. We assumed it meant we had to apply at different times.fkl said:
As for pictures, I don't mind sending pictures, unless there's some sort of a security risk. But hey, they are receiving all of my personal information anyway. They might as well see what our apartment looks like and what our wedding was like if they are interested in that. Obviously, proof of the same address, but that goes anyway because it will be stated on his application. We didn't go to a honeymoon so I don't have tickets or anything, but I don't think that would be relevant in our case.
Thats just what I was told. I showed around $6000 in my account as well but my husband showed the rest. I would also assume they count my funding as money I earn since I pay the same taxes as anyone else who is earning $20,000/year does but they have heard they don't really count Graduate Assistant-ship whether its teaching or research assistant-ship as work (one of the main reason PR files were rejected last year). Oh well, I went on the safer side and did what the university lawyer said as I did not want to take chance again.milimili said:
Showing more money is sure a good thing. I'm just trying to figure out what to do, because I'm sure we won't be able to collect that much money anyway.pari_p said:
Wait, what do you mean assistantship don't count as work? In the PhD wave scheme? How come? Isn't that supposed to be the work experience required (the trouble is to get the required 12 months worth of work, only part time).
Again, based upon what i know, i seriously think either the officer just forgot to see the total funding amount being sufficient for two people OR they needed more proof of source.pari_p said:
The PR thing you are talking about is completely different. It is CEC program (unless i am missing something) which requires at least 1 year of full time job experience in Canada of NOC 0, A or B job as eligibility criteria for the program. This does not include part time work at university being RA / TA etc. Probably even if university position is full time, because it is a mix of research and part time and harder to see as an isolated full time job, it is not accepted in CEC. Still that is just specific requirement of a particular PR program. You are still paying taxes so you earn all rights of a tax payer in Canada and are eligible for any thing comparable.
It is very risky if you just relay on the Graduate Research Assistantship (Teaching assistantship doesn`t count as normally there are no TA positions over the summer..so not counted as continuous work). I have been rejected in Canadian Experience Class (I already have 2 degrees from Canada) and I know a lot of people rejected in PhD stream if you just use GRA. As it isn`t really separate from what you do for your research (which is in turn part of your PhD thesis). Though your pay stub says you get money from TA+RA, its just university`s way of adding money to TA to give you consistent income through out the year. If you have previous work experience in one of the NOC 0, A or B class you should be able to use that experience for PhD stream, know a lot of people for whom it has worked.milimili said:
Not sure which school you are going to but this is the definition of GRA for my school (and includes how the funding works) and shows the difference between all kinds of assistantship a graduate student has: http://grad.uwo.ca/faculty_staff/financial_support/compensation.html
I am pretty sure if you submit with 5-6k in your spouse account with proof of your relationship and funding and explicitly write the detail of available funding, you should be able to receive it easily. Being there a few months and adding a letter of support from your university should establish you as a genuine student / researcher with continued prospects of funding. Then there is no excuse for refusal - not at least on any of the grounds you are currently concerned about.milimili said:
I understand your situation of not applying together. Though i would just add that if it was approved he could join whenever he likes - more than six months before expiry. Only thing would be that if he underwent medicals for SOWP, those are valid for one year only and you have to go through them again if you go more than a year latter.
Regarding proof of relationship, honey moon pictures or tickets aren't really necessary since they might not be as relevant for you being married for 8 years. Probably a few from wedding would be important specially if they have dates embossed. And of course, not wanting to share pictures was an individual opinion - no security risk. So it is perfectly safe to submit those. Add a couple from your wedding, some things from more recent times (last 1-2 years before leaving for study) and that should be good enough.
Very true - fully agreed +1. Don't count upon TA/RA ship being fully used towards one year experience claim for CEC eligibility. It is not as bad though. You could still get a PGWP afterwards based upon education i believe and work for a year in NOC 0, A or B job and then get CEC, which is not the only program for PR.pari_p said: