UKkatewantstostay

Any one else have the feeling their head is going to explode?

I'm desperate for information and hoping their is some kind souls on line that would take few minutes to ease my panicked little heart.

My Common Law Spouse and I have been in BC for nearly 2 years, we arrived October 1st 2010 on a temporary work permit. We applied for another TWP in 2011 year and after being accepted for a 2nd year our work permits now expire Sept 25th 2012.

I have 2 part time jobs and do not work enough hours or earn enough money for either of my employers to be eligible for a LMO. So i can not apply to extend my work permit. I do wish to stay in Canada while we try and extend my Common Law Spouses WP though.

Can i just leave the country and come straight back in to renew my normal 6 month visitor status?

I know the UK is Temporary Resident Visa exempt, so can i stay 90 days after my WP expires as a visitor?

My Common law spouses employer is willing to do anything to keep him working in Canada, so is it best to get them to immediately start the LMO application and we start the application to stay in Canada as a worker? Or is it best for his employers to Apply to the BC PNP (British columbia provincial nominee program) and forget the LMO.

We only have a month till we have to stop working, but i read that if the Albert office receives his application to change conditions or stay working before he expires he can keep working? Is that correct?

I feel so lost. I paid $250 to speak to an immigration Lawyer for 30 mins and i feel no better off. He advised me to enroll as a full time student but i dont understand how i could get the study permit in time for September. Plus the cost of studying would probably be out of my reach.
My Common law spouses full time job is property flood and fire restoration. He got the job due to certificates in plumbing, plastering and joinery. He has been working with that company for 1yr and 9 months and they do not want to lose him.

Also if i start the online application for staying in canada as a worker how do they receive passport photos and things like that?

What happens when the LMO office receives your application do they send you anything that you should wait for to include in your application to the CIC?

Do the CIC just wait for your LMO or BC PNP results? Can you apply for both incase one gets rejected? I feel helpless.

Has anyone out there been in a similar situation and made it to permanent residency?

I don't know what to do Thanks for reading x

BTJ

In order to stay legal you should both apply for change of status/extension of status as visitors before your WHPs run out. You won't be able to continue working once the WHPs expire, but you can stay in Canada until a decision is made on the extension.

Your partner seems to have the best bet for getting a work permit, so get him and his employer to apply for both an LMO & BC PNP (if you've got $550 spare that is) and hopefully one will work out. There is almost no chance of either of these being approved by next month though, more like 3-4 months.

If either the province wants to nominate him or the LMO is approved then you & he can immediately pop to the border and return with a work permit in hand. You *might* get a work permit too - if he gets an approved LMO then you'll only get a work permit if his job falls under NOC levels 0, A or B; if he gets the work permit based on being nominated by the province then it doesn't matter and you definitely will get a work permit too.

Once you've obtained either a provincial nomination or an LMO-based work permit then comes the easy, but long and expensive part: applying for PR! But at the moment that isn't the focus - so work on getting an LMO or provincial nomination and saving enough to survive not working for 3-4 months whilst having enough to fly back to the UK if it doesn't work out.

N.B. The LMO does have some advertising requirements that will have to be met before the LMO application can be made.

UKkatewantstostay

Thank you so much for replying, i really appreciate it. So just to clarify if i send an work permit extension off to the CIC before his work permit expires, he will still have to stop working on Sept 25th and wait 2-3 months? We have 4 weeks to get things in the post and i keep reading things about implied status?

Former Lancastrian

Your job is extended or changes
If your job is extended or changes, you must apply to extend or change the conditions of your existing work permit before it expires.
The package includes the application guide and all the forms you need to fill out. Download and print the application package.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/ex...tay.asp#change

Current Policy

TFWs who have applied to extend a WP with the same employer have implied status from the date the application is received at CPC-V and can continue to work at their existing place of employment as long as they remain in Canada.

TFWs who have applied for a WP with a new employer, however, are not able to work for the new employer until they receive their work permit.

BTJ

The WHP cannot be extended and so does not allowed implied status for working, only for visitor status. Regardless in order to file a work permit extension you have to have either provincial nomination or an LMO in the application.

JonboyE

Are you in Canada on temporary work permits or on working holiday visas? I believe it works this way ...

If a TWP your OH can apply for an extension to CIC Vegreville, but the application must be received by them before his current visa expires. Without an LMO it will be refused but he can stay in Canada and work until it is refused.

If you are here on the second year of a working holiday visa this cannot be extended. You both must stop working when the visa expires. You can apply to CIC Vegreville to stay as a visitor and, as long as this is received by CIC Vegreville before your current visas expire, you can stay in Canada as a visitor until you get a reply.

As BTJ says above, your OH needs an LMO or PNP nomination to continue working.

wonderwoman1st

And be careful you don't work after the work permit expires, Canada does and will deport you if you break the rules, which would jeopardise any chance of permanent residency in the future. Just a point, as I know someone that risked this and did break the rules a little but end of the day I thought he was very silly for taking that risk, and he had his wife and baby to think of too.

BTJ

Also if you end up having to leave Canada it is not the end of the world. Have a look at the new rules for the Canadian Experience Class from January 2013: http://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2012/2.../reg2-eng.html

Your spouse may well qualify under the new rules and you might be able to come back to Canada as PRs in 2014ish.