All about Immigration

 The blog post you've all been waiting for! This is going to be a big one, so buckle in. Also, apologies in advance for those who like reading with pictures, there won't be many pictures in today's post, so sorry!

To get started, I'll start with a timeline since I first moved to Canada, then I'll go into more detail.

August 2012-June 2016: Started Bachelor of Arts at Bishop's University in Lennoxville, QC: 4 year study permit

August 2016-May 2017: Started Bachelor of Education at Bishop's Universtity: 1 year study permit

May 2017-May 2020: Graduated from Bishop's in June 2017 and moved to Mistissini, QC in August 2017: 3 year Post Graduate Work Permit

May 2019: Application for Permanent Residence in Canada submitted

January 2020-January 2021: Post Graduate Work Permit was expiring soon, to get ahead of myself I applied for International Experience Canada: Working Holidays 1 year work permit.

January 2021-February 12th 2021: IEC Working Holidays expired, I applied for a new work permit which was refused on February 12th 2021.

February 12th 2021-present: I am currently out of status, meaning I no longer have the legal right to work in Canada. 

There are a few definitions I will go over before going into more detail, I will also link to the canada.ca website multiple times because that's the official government website and all of the information I refer to can be found in more detail there!

Study Permit: A visa that allows you to study at a designated learning institution, such as a college or university.

Work Permit: A visa that allows you to work in Canada, sometimes for a specific employer (closed work permit) and other times an open-ended permit with no specific employer (open work permit). 

In my case, both the PGWP (Post Graduate Work Permit) and the IEC Working Holidays Work Permit were open. This gave me the freedom to work wherever I wished and if I wanted to change jobs in the middle of my visa, I could. 

Post Graduate Work Permit: This specific work permit is for graduates from a recognized learning institution, the length of your PGWP depends on the length of your studies. The limit is 3 years, which I received because I studied for 5 years on a study permit. The important thing to note about the PGWP is that it is a one time only visa. You can only apply and be approved once. 

Permanent Residence: A status that is given to someone who is not a Citizen of Canada that grants the right to live and work without a time limit. PR (permanent residency) is complicated, has many steps and is different for each individual. There are many different programs and eligibilities and steps to take. I am not familiar with all the different options, only my personal situation. Since I am immigrating to Quebec, there is an extra step. In order to immigrate to Quebec, you must first obtain a CSQ (Certificat de sélection du Québec) see here for more details.

Parent Committee: A consulting entity made up of parents from the community that make decisions concerning teacher hiring, transferring, leaves etc. Their recommendations go to the Executive Committee.

Executive Committee: A deciding entity made up of many positions at the board level. Decisions are made concerning hiring, dismissal, budget, transfers and much more.

Leave of Absence: A leave without pay, permanent position maintained.

Valid Job Offer: A job offer completed through the Canadian Government website that is required for the majority of work permits.

Permanent Residency is a long process, one can apply from inside Canada (inland) or from outside Canada (outland). Like I mentioned before, I applied first for my CSQ, once I was accepted I submitted my PR as an inland application through the mail. Most applications for other visas are done online, but even today all PR applications go through snail mail. The CSQ took approximately 3 months to obtain. Once that was received, I immediately starting the PR process, it took me a few months to gather all of my documents and a few more to go to the post office to send the application. I finally sent the application in February 2019, the IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) acknowledged receipt of my application in May 2019. Since then, I have heard very little news. In January 2021 I was requested to complete a medical exam (more info to come), which I had already completed in August 2020 and submitted.

The Medical Exam is required for all Permanent Residence applications and many closed work permits, depending on the field of work. Since I will be working in childcare and primary education, the medical exam is required. More info here concerning medical exams.

My PR is not moving fast and I have no clue as to when it will be accepted. There is a progress bar of the time elapsed since they received my application on my IRCC profile, but the end date has changed multiple times in the last year or has disappeared completely! The short answer is I do not know when I will get my Permanent Residence.

Let's go back to a few months ago when my situation started to become more dire... I was on the IEC Working Holidays Work Permit, which is an open work permit meant for youth (18-35) to work abroad in various countries. Some countries accept applications good for 24 months, others like the US are only accepted for 12 months. 

Before the Working Holidays permit, I realized that my PR would not be accepted before the end of my Post Graduate Work Permit. I had to find a way to bridge the gap to stay in the country. I found a very specific work permit that applied to me specifically! It was a bridging work permit for CSQ holders awaiting Permanent Residence! The only thing I needed was called a Valid Job Offer. I reached out to HR and asked if this was possible, the job offer was a quick process to complete some documents on the IRCC website and would allow me to work for them for up to 2 more years. Unfortunately at that time the HR department told me this was not possible and they did not fill out immigration documents. I researched and researched and found that I was eligible for the IEC Working Holidays. I got that work permit and continued working. 

Due to Covid, the IEC programs were all put on hold, no applications were being processed or accepted as of March 2020. I waited, and hoped the programs would re-open in December as they typically would. I figured I would wait and something would work out. Of course, Covid got much worse, as the year wore on and was still bad in December 2020. The program announced it was still on hold. 

December 2020 is when I realized I was in a bad situation. My work permit was going to expire in 6 weeks and I had  no plan. I rushed to ask again if my employer would be willing to complete this paperwork with me, note that the work permit would guarantee that I work for them for the next 2 YEARS! This went through HR again through multiple entities and people  with no good news for me. They were still unwilling to complete this Valid Job Offer. I brainstormed some options and solutions, I was lucky enough to have been granted funding to hire an immigration lawyer so I did. The best advice the immigration lawyer was able to give me was to find a job that would complete the immigration documents with me. I decided instead of quitting my job, I would continue fighting. 

The next thing I did was request a Leave of Absence. This would allow me to stay in my apartment, keep my position, but simply be out of work until June 30th. In the meantime I would work on finding a solution. Unfortunately, both the Parent Committee and the Executive Committee denied my request for a Leave of Absence. This was extremely upsetting and frustrating for me, it was truly the beginning of the end. The reasoning behind the denial was because my special circumstance was not included in the Collective Agreement (our binding contract). They have the discretion to determine what is a "special leave". My situation was not deemed to be "special" enough. 

At this point I was starting to look for jobs elsewhere, all over Quebec and even in other provinces such as the Northwest Territories. It was going to be difficult to get hired before January 22nd and although there were a few hopeful options, nothing worked out that quickly. I continued to work with the immigration lawyer to determine what options I had that would let me stay in my community and in my job. The only option was to obtain that Valid Job Offer. In the end, I was offered a supporting letter, a letter of experience and letters of recommendation from my direct administrators. This was a huge step forward considering one year earlier and even one month earlier they were unwilling to supply anything. 

I went forward and applied for the Work Permit without the Valid Job Offer, hoping they would read all of the letters of support and my qualifications and maybe they would see how much of an asset and positive contributor I am to this community. Normally, the application would take up to 3 months to be processed, and in the meantime I would continue working. I continued working for 3 more weeks until February 12th. 

On February 12th, I received a letter from the IRCC refusing my work permit application because it was incomplete. It was missing the Valid Job Offer. I knew it was a long shot, but I took the chance and it did not work out. I was hoping it would take the full 3 months and I would continue working with my students and colleagues, but that did not happen. I am now no longer an employee and can no longer live in the subsidized apartment. I am extremely sad that my situation has come to this point.

Your probably asking yourself: What now?

Well, as of February 12th I am considered out of status. I do not have the right to work legally in Canada. The Government typically allows you to stay up to 90 days out of status before taking action. In situations now because of Covid, they have granted stay in the country until August 2021.

Not long after February 12th, I was offered a job in Fermont, QC with the Eastern Shores School Board teaching at their school. They are willing to complete immigration paperwork with me and I will be applying for my new work permit shortly. The timeline from there is a few weeks before I can work legally again, then I will move to my new community. I will continue waiting for my Permanent Residence, and once that is approved I will be free to live and work wherever I choose in Canada.

Feel free to reach out with questions, comments or anything else!

Thanks for listening,

~Vicki