- Mar 19, 2014
- 14
- 124
- Category........
- Visa Office......
- Mississauga
- Job Offer........
- Pre-Assessed..
- App. Filed.......
- 11-09-2015
- AOR Received.
- 12-12-2015
- Med's Request
- 16-05-2016
- Med's Done....
- upfront, then again on 25-05-2016
- Interview........
- waived
- LANDED..........
- 30-06-2016 - Calgary
The Situation so far:
We've been married since July 1, 2014. My husband arrived to Canada from a visa-exempt country (Austria) as a visitor on May 13, 2015. He was granted the full 180 days of visitor status upon entry (Until Nov 9, 2015).
We sent our inland PR app and work permit together to Mississauga on Sept 11, 2015. This should have granted my husband with implied status while we waited for a decision on the work permit, because it was sent while my husband was still in status.
On Dec 12, 2015, we got confirmation that our application had begun processing and received our UCI and application number.
On Jan 13, 2016 the work permit portion of our application was returned to us and marked as "incomplete" with a letter that said we were missing IMM5710, and that the package needed to be resubmitted with IMM5710 for processing.
Turns out, we sent the wrong work permit application (we sent IMM1285 instead of IMM5710) to Mississauga with our PR app. IMM1285 is intended for applicants from outside Canada, so it did not grant my husband with implied status. As a result, his visitor status expired without our knowledge before we knew that an error was made. He has been out of status since Nov 9, but we did not know this until Jan 13. All along, we believed he was covered under implied status because we sent the work permit app along with our inland PR application. Unfortunately, the SCLPC OWP pilot program that we applied for with our original package requires that you hold valid status in Canada to be eligible the open work permit, which was the case for my husband when we sent our package originally.
We called CIC several times and couldn't get a straight answer about what our next steps should be or where the package needs to be addressed to. It appears as though we need to restore his status as a visitor (IMM5708), and resubmit his open work permit application with valid status (IMM5710) for consideration under the pilot program.
What we did:
We decided to complete IMM5708, requesting a restoration of his visitor status, and IMM5710, requesting a change in status from a visitor to an open work permit under the pilot project for SCLPC applicants. We sent both completed applications together with a letter of explanation, our UCI and application number for permanent residence, and copies of all correspondence we've had with CIC about this issue so far. We included 3 copies of the cover letter and explanation in case the two applications get separated - one for inside the restoration of status envelope, one for inside the work permit envelope, and one outside of the inner envelopes.
We addressed it to Unit 777 in Vegreville, which is where all SCLPC applicant open work permits are processed. In the letter of explanation we wrote that we hoped they would be able to first process the restoration of status, then process the work permit application with his restored status and explained the situation thoroughly. We're really hoping the officer there will be able to process both at once to ensure the smallest wait time possible, since we have already waited 4 months so far.
Concerns and Questions:
Now that the package is in the mail (and will arrive in Vegreville on Wednesday), we're concerned that it's not going to be opened before my husband's 90 day grace period is up (On Feb 7). It took them 3 months in Mississauga to open our original package, after all. As long as the request for restoration of status is received by CIC before the 90 days is up, it is still valid, right? Or does it need to be approved before the 90 days are up?
Another concern now that we've sent it is that we may have sent it to the wrong unit at CPC Vegreville. We were told that unit 777 handles all open work permit applications for SCLPC (dealing specifically with work permits for people who have already applied from within Canada for permanent residency) so we sent both together to them, but are now wondering if we should have sent the whole package to the unit that handles restoration of status instead? Will that make a difference in our processing time? Does it matter which unit you address the package to, if both are meant for Vegreville anyway?
Basically, I'm really hoping someone here will be able to ease my mind that yes, we sent the correct forms, and they will be processed in the order they need to be for things to work properly? Is there anything you can see that I have missed?
We've been married since July 1, 2014. My husband arrived to Canada from a visa-exempt country (Austria) as a visitor on May 13, 2015. He was granted the full 180 days of visitor status upon entry (Until Nov 9, 2015).
We sent our inland PR app and work permit together to Mississauga on Sept 11, 2015. This should have granted my husband with implied status while we waited for a decision on the work permit, because it was sent while my husband was still in status.
On Dec 12, 2015, we got confirmation that our application had begun processing and received our UCI and application number.
On Jan 13, 2016 the work permit portion of our application was returned to us and marked as "incomplete" with a letter that said we were missing IMM5710, and that the package needed to be resubmitted with IMM5710 for processing.
Turns out, we sent the wrong work permit application (we sent IMM1285 instead of IMM5710) to Mississauga with our PR app. IMM1285 is intended for applicants from outside Canada, so it did not grant my husband with implied status. As a result, his visitor status expired without our knowledge before we knew that an error was made. He has been out of status since Nov 9, but we did not know this until Jan 13. All along, we believed he was covered under implied status because we sent the work permit app along with our inland PR application. Unfortunately, the SCLPC OWP pilot program that we applied for with our original package requires that you hold valid status in Canada to be eligible the open work permit, which was the case for my husband when we sent our package originally.
We called CIC several times and couldn't get a straight answer about what our next steps should be or where the package needs to be addressed to. It appears as though we need to restore his status as a visitor (IMM5708), and resubmit his open work permit application with valid status (IMM5710) for consideration under the pilot program.
What we did:
We decided to complete IMM5708, requesting a restoration of his visitor status, and IMM5710, requesting a change in status from a visitor to an open work permit under the pilot project for SCLPC applicants. We sent both completed applications together with a letter of explanation, our UCI and application number for permanent residence, and copies of all correspondence we've had with CIC about this issue so far. We included 3 copies of the cover letter and explanation in case the two applications get separated - one for inside the restoration of status envelope, one for inside the work permit envelope, and one outside of the inner envelopes.
We addressed it to Unit 777 in Vegreville, which is where all SCLPC applicant open work permits are processed. In the letter of explanation we wrote that we hoped they would be able to first process the restoration of status, then process the work permit application with his restored status and explained the situation thoroughly. We're really hoping the officer there will be able to process both at once to ensure the smallest wait time possible, since we have already waited 4 months so far.
Concerns and Questions:
Now that the package is in the mail (and will arrive in Vegreville on Wednesday), we're concerned that it's not going to be opened before my husband's 90 day grace period is up (On Feb 7). It took them 3 months in Mississauga to open our original package, after all. As long as the request for restoration of status is received by CIC before the 90 days is up, it is still valid, right? Or does it need to be approved before the 90 days are up?
Another concern now that we've sent it is that we may have sent it to the wrong unit at CPC Vegreville. We were told that unit 777 handles all open work permit applications for SCLPC (dealing specifically with work permits for people who have already applied from within Canada for permanent residency) so we sent both together to them, but are now wondering if we should have sent the whole package to the unit that handles restoration of status instead? Will that make a difference in our processing time? Does it matter which unit you address the package to, if both are meant for Vegreville anyway?
Basically, I'm really hoping someone here will be able to ease my mind that yes, we sent the correct forms, and they will be processed in the order they need to be for things to work properly? Is there anything you can see that I have missed?
