Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has been providing guidance to foreign nationals seeking work permit extensions through the case processing centre in Vegreville, Alberta while waiting for a labour market opinion or a certificat d'acceptation du Québec to be approved.
According to CIC, if a foreign national is ready to submit a work permit application to the case processing centre, but is waiting for a labour market opinion or a certificat d'acceptation, the application can still be submitted, but only within two weeks of the expiry date of his or her existing work permit. In addition, evidence that the labour market opinion or certificat d'acceptation request was made must be included with the application.
Applicants who are submitting work permit extensions to the case processing centre under the above circumstances must therefore do one of the following (as applicable):
- include a copy of the labour market opinion/certificat d'acceptation application sent to Human Resources and Skills Development Canada/Immigration Québec;
- include a copy of the receipt confirmation number, if the request was made online; or
- indicate the following in Section D of Form IMM 1249:
- the date on which the labour market opinion/certificat d'acceptation request was made;
- the office to which it was sent;
- the employer's name; and
- the confirmation number of the submission, if available.
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If the labour market opinion/certificat d'acceptation confirmation number is not available at the time of filing, applicants must contact CIC's call centre and provide this information within two months of receipt of the application at the case processing centre. Failure to do so may result in the case processing centre refusing the application.
CIC has also advised that applicants who are waiting for their certificat d'acceptation du Québec may not submit their extension applications online. Instead, paper applications must be submitted by post in such cases.
For further information on this topic please contact Henry J Chang at Blaney McMurtry LLP by telephone (+1 416 593 1221), fax (+1 416 593 5437) or email ([email protected]).