I know there are a couple of posts about similar experiences, but I would like to share my own with the whole process in case this is useful for somebody else in the future.
Jul 28, 2022
My wife applied (online) for a spouse open work permit after I had my post-graduation work permit and a qualified job.
Sep 01, 2022
We moved to a different city, so we sent a web form with the new address.
Dec 14, 2022
She received confirmation from IRCC that her work permit was approved, but we noticed that the approval letter had the old address in it.
Dec 15, 2022
We went to a Canada Post office and paid for a mail forwarding service. They told us that the services take five days to begin, so we hoped that the work permit didn't arrive at the old address before that.
Jan 14, 2023
After a month, we never received the work permit, so we assumed that the work permit got lost. We sent (by mail) a request to get a copy of a lost work permit.
Jan 17, 2023
The documents arrived at the IRCC office in Ottawa.
Feb 16, 2023
The lost work permit document status was updated to "Your document is invalid" on the web application.
Feb 29, 2023
A new work permit was generated on the web application.
Mar 8, 2023
The new work permit arrived at our current address.
Highlights:
- The processing time to get a copy of a lost work permit was five weeks when we sent the application by mail.
- The documents we sent by mail were: a copy of her passport, a copy of her driver's license, a copy of the approval letter, a copy of the receipt of payment to get a copy of a lost work permit, and the filled form for this process.
- The website says you must certify the copies, which can take time and money. I read in several places that others didn't do it, and they didn't have any trouble. We didn't certify them.
- We spent about $45 for sending and returning envelopes + $30 for the copy of the lost work permit.
- We didn't get an email notification when her old work permit was updated as invalid. We found out by just logging into the system and noticing that there was an update. We did get an email when her new work permit was generated.
Jul 28, 2022
My wife applied (online) for a spouse open work permit after I had my post-graduation work permit and a qualified job.
Sep 01, 2022
We moved to a different city, so we sent a web form with the new address.
Dec 14, 2022
She received confirmation from IRCC that her work permit was approved, but we noticed that the approval letter had the old address in it.
Dec 15, 2022
We went to a Canada Post office and paid for a mail forwarding service. They told us that the services take five days to begin, so we hoped that the work permit didn't arrive at the old address before that.
Jan 14, 2023
After a month, we never received the work permit, so we assumed that the work permit got lost. We sent (by mail) a request to get a copy of a lost work permit.
Jan 17, 2023
The documents arrived at the IRCC office in Ottawa.
Feb 16, 2023
The lost work permit document status was updated to "Your document is invalid" on the web application.
Feb 29, 2023
A new work permit was generated on the web application.
Mar 8, 2023
The new work permit arrived at our current address.
Highlights:
- The processing time to get a copy of a lost work permit was five weeks when we sent the application by mail.
- The documents we sent by mail were: a copy of her passport, a copy of her driver's license, a copy of the approval letter, a copy of the receipt of payment to get a copy of a lost work permit, and the filled form for this process.
- The website says you must certify the copies, which can take time and money. I read in several places that others didn't do it, and they didn't have any trouble. We didn't certify them.
- We spent about $45 for sending and returning envelopes + $30 for the copy of the lost work permit.
- We didn't get an email notification when her old work permit was updated as invalid. We found out by just logging into the system and noticing that there was an update. We did get an email when her new work permit was generated.
