Open Work Permits for Inland Sponsorship applicants are extended for 1 year!

The Government of Canada continues to put an emphasis on family reunification as a priority for Canadian Immigration.

Immigration Canada recognizes that families need to live and work together in order for them to integrate successfully into Canada.

For these reasons, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has announced today, December 15th, 2017, that the Open-work permit pilot program for inland sponsorships will be extended for another year.

This means that if you are submitting a sponsorship application from within Canada, you may apply to receive an open work permit while you are waiting for the results of your sponsorship application.

In order to be eligible for the open work permit pilot, you must:

1. Be a spouse or common-law partner living in Canada.

2. You must have a valid temporary resident status (visitor, student or worker). This means that if you are under implied status, your application for the work permit pilot may not be eligible.

3. You must be living at the same address as your sponsor

The current average application processing time to receive an open work permit for a sponsored spouse/common-law partner is 4 months. However, this application time may differ for each application.