Work permit after BC PNP

[Gint]

Hi guys, another questions (surprise surprise)

I was nominated last year by BC PNP and went and got my closed work permit in November. At the time I had not fully submitted to CIC (I have done now), the border guard at Point Roberts told me that because of this, they would only issue my permit until the end of my nomination, which is March 9th. The guard also told me that if I didn't have my residency by then, that to go to CIC and they would "fix this up" for me.

Last week I contacted a lawyer about this, and her response was this:

Sigh. The officer in Point Roberts was SO wrong and this is happening more and more. You have two options. You can go back to the border and try to get the officer’s error fixed (don’t go to Point Roberts!!), or you can apply for a BOWP online now that you have a PR application in process. If you go back to the border, take the attached document with you. Read it. You’ll see where they went wrong as it’s highlighted in yellow. Good luck!

Sincerely,

The document that she attached and had a highlighted part said this:

The duration of the work permit should be equivalent to the duration of the offer of employment. Where the offer of employment is for a 'permanent duration', the work permit will be issued for a maximum of two years

So it would seem that the border guard made a mistake with this. I went to peace arch last night to try and fix this but the guard repeated what the other guard said about issuing the permits until the end of the sponsorship, not the duration of the contract. He said they could do nothing for me at the border and I would have to apply for a bridging visa and thus, be on implied status. I did the bridging visa application last year to get implied status while I waited for my nomination, so i am concerned that I might not be able to do this again.

Has anyone had this issue, and gotten the permit duration fixed? I was hoping to get this fixed in the off chance that there might be an issue with my application, and for whatever reason it got refused. Better safe than sorry.

Thanks

 

[r2r]

Hi Gint,

It is same with me, I was nominated last year by BC PNP and went to the Peace Arch Border with my immigration lawyer and they said they can only issue the work permit till PNP nomination certificate date, and my lawyer had very good arguments with them on this issue, but they said they can’t help, we have to re-apply once this work permit expires, and I have reapplied that last month. Nowadays work permit extension is taking more than three months.

Please update to this forum if your issue get fix…

Thank you in advance!

 

[mf4361]

Hi Gint,

It is same with me, I was nominated last year by BC PNP and went to the Peace Arch Border with my immigration lawyer and they said they can only issue the work permit till PNP nomination certificate date, and my lawyer had very good arguments with them on this issue, but they said they can’t help, we have to re-apply once this work permit expires, and I have reapplied that last month. Nowadays work permit extension is taking more than three months.

Please update to this forum if your issue get fix…

Thank you in advance!

If you have re-applied before the first one expires, you are on implied status so you are safe for now.

It's amazing how uneducated CBSA officers to work permits. I once had an officer asks me whether my work permit is an actual permit or just a proof of application to a work permit.

 

[Gint]

Thanks for the help guys.

It would appear to be the case that 6 months is now the norm, but the CIC site states differently. And thats 2 lawyers now that have pointed out the mistake.