Alison33

I have read CIC Site on Wp and it says that you can only get wp issused at POE if from US and a couple of other places (not UK). Anyone had experience of getting Wp at POE after leaving UK.

We applied via SW route and are just waiting for MR, 90 day letter rec'd 6th March and sent updated docs in May. We have job offer to hand but would have to look into LMO (the company may already have one as they regulary advertise on HRSDC site?).

If it is a possibility to get WP at POE what info do we need to hand. I take it this would totally bypass getting things assessed by CIC, London. I have two kids that would also require Study Permits can these be given at POE with WPs?

I emailed CIC a general enq. a couple of days ago and have not heard anything yet. The other thing that bothers me is that your supposed to convince the immigration officer that you intend to return to the UK at a later date? I wouldn't want to be telling porkies or do you mention the fact that your in process of getting PR.

Sorry lots of questions.

Tangram

I'm British and amongst other forum members, obtained WP at POE.

Alison33

Hi Paul

Can you fill me in a bit on what you had to do in order to do this. Did you have your SW application running in the background and if so did you explain this to the immigration officer issuing the WP. Do you have kids at school? It's all such a worry on top of trying to sell the house. I'm sure it will all come together eventually it's just getting there and sorting out any additional paperwork. Do you have any advise or suggestions for us? Should we just sit and wait for MR or should we go down the WP route at POE? Thanks.

Tangram

Yes SW PR app in the background.

No, no explaination, he didn't ask as far as I remember, or maybe he did - can't remember.

One 9 year old at school.

Can't make that decision for you as it's personal. I have been away from family for 5 months and wouldn't recommend it - but it has paid dividends. Depends on how much you want the job I guess.

R I C H

My wife and I moved to BC from the UK in Aug '05, purchased property/business (while here as tourists), then applied for WP (as self-employed individuals) which were issued at US/Canada border in Nov '05. We'd submitted applications for PR (skilled worker) in the UK earlier in the summer.

Alison33

Thanks Paul and RICH
I'll wait a bit longer then to ensure we get LMO and see what CIC come up with in the meantime. Have even been contemplating sending CIC a fax (although some have suggested that this may/can slow things down). At the end of the day, no matter how desperate an employer is we can't expect them to hold the position indefinately. We feel the need to push this as a lot of time, energy and money has been invested in OH securing the right post in the right location for us.

OH has just said that he has no intention of dragging his whole family to POE
on the assumption that he'll get WP (too risky). So I suppose that answers one question.

Paul, I hope that your reunited with your family soon - it must be real lonely stuck out there on your own.

gryphea

If you know an LMO would be forthcoming you could apply for WP to London Concurrently

burton bunch

Hi Alison

Phil (my hubby ) got WP at POE in February, slightly different to Tangram as we hadnt even got a PR application submitted to CHC. WP received no problems at all - I arrived 4 months later and applied for a spousal open work permit and had no problems just going to immigration and asking to get it.

GaynorX

Alison33

Weren't you scared ?

It now seems my OH isn't as brave as I thought he was. I think he worries too much. Our situation is slightly complicated in that we still have some time to sell our house (no views in last week) and that we have two school aged sons and we'll also be bringing our two hulking dogs with us. Would be so nice to tie up all loose ends before he may have to go over without us and I'm not sure he'd want to do this. I'm gonna try and relax for a few weeks and see what comes through the post. I have informed CIC of our new situation and hope that they take some notice and fastrack. I do hope fastracking is an option as it has been mentioned by some on here. I'm left wishing they'd stop dragging their feet!

I'm sure plenty of others have been in our situation. Experiences anyone?

ladymoose

Hi Alison

We came here on a WP but applied via London after the job offer had been received from Canada. London processed it and sent us letters which basically said that we had a valid job offer and that a POE permit should be issued. There was one for each of us - me, hubby and son (for visitors permit - he didn't need a study permit for primary school).

So although we turned up at POE without our permits - we had the letters from CIC uk basically approving us. So we went to immigration at the airport, gave them our letters and then received our permits - easy! POE peeps always have the option to send you back, but if you have your letters first I think this is highly unlikely unless you have some sort of negative immigration record.

Regarding your PR application. You don't have to lie - they probably won't ask about your intentions to stay anyway - but if they do you can tell them that you do have a PR application going through and that your hoping your WP will cover this period, however, if the PR hasn't been approved by the time your WP is over, you will go home and wait it out (which is exactly what you will have to do without an extension). In reality if the PR hasn't been approved and your hubby has done ok in his job, his boss will propably ask him to stay on anyway and you can apply for an extension to your permit - this isn't hard - we've done it 3 times!

Also, remember that if you have a job offer in hand (with LMO if necessary), you can supplement your PR application anyway with this info, and it should be fast tracked (as long as the employer is offering a permanent position). As long as you get an initial WP for at least a year (and I would suggest 18 months), you should be ok.

If you want more info - please PM me and I can explain more on some stuff if you're still a bit confused. I'm not an expert - we've just done all of these things ourselves so I can share our experience.

Alison33

Hi Ladymoose

What would I do without this place. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I feel so much better having heard some others views. Lets hope we have luck selling the house very soon. As with a lot of people in our position our money is all tied up in the house so the sooner it sells the better.

If I don't hear from CIC soon I may even take my first trip to London and visit them in person. This may trigger a big more of a reaction.

Thanks, if I need any help I'll certainly PM if you don't mind.

live to ski

Different route to you but we flew into Vancouver airport from the UK and were issued with our (BUNAC) WP there.

Member123

Alison...we are waiting on our LMO at the minute for Regina and intend to get our WP at POE. We wont have the letter from CHC or anything so are just hoping they issue them at POE. AS you can see from our timeline we have also applied for SW. WE may go down the Saskatchewan PNP route after six months to get our PR. We think this is the quickest route for us. Just hope OH is good enough at his job and they want to keep him.
We dont have any kids but will have our two dogs, sold our home give up our two jobs and if they turned us back I will have a nervous breakdown.
On another thread on BE on the subject others advised us not to mention we had already applied on SW route as you are supposed to be able to prove that you are leaving the country when your WP is up...so ladymoose's reply above has thrown another spanner in the works for us as whether to mention it or not.
Hopefully they wont mention it.

When do you hope to go..if it is before us please keep us updated if you applied for WP at POE and got in.

Alison33

We are waiting to sell the house and then who knows. We hope around November time but will keep you updated on things in process and what we decide to do.

Sent CIC a gen Enq on Monday and still not had a reply. Don't know whats going on as I half expected to get a reply by Wed (within 48 hrs it says).

Tangram

Don't hold your breath.