Staying in Canada until the IEC pools open again?

[Liselot157]

Hi,
I am currently in Canada on a Working holiday visa and would like to apply for a young professional visa. However the IEC pools have closed on September 30th and new visa's won't be given out until 2017 (from what I understand from their website). My WHV expires at the end of November I would like to stay and work until the pools open again. Someone recommended applying for an extension of my working holiday visa by post to get the implied status, but how will this effect my next IEC application?

 

[scylla]

IEC are a special class of work permit that doesn't benefit from implied status. So what your friend has suggested won't work. Any work after the expiry of your IEC will be classified as illegal work and may put your future plans for Canada in jeopardy. You need to stop working as soon as your IEC expires. You should apply to change your status to visitor before the IEC expires - this will allow you to remain in Canada after your IEC expires (although without working).

The only way you'd be able to continue working is if your employer obtained an approved LMIA and you obtained an approved closed work permit before the expiry of your IEC (based on the approved LMIA). Unfortunately that's very likely not possible given how soon your IEC is expiring. However if you want to give it a shot, your employer should start working on the LMIA asap - the first step will be to advertise the job for a month to prove no Canadian could be found for the role.