Can My Spouse Work While the Sponsorship Is in Process?

A spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner who lives in Canada and is being sponsored for permanent residence. You must be in a genuine relationship with your sponsor, included in a permanent residence application that has an acknowledgement of receipt, and living in Canada with your sponsor. The AOR is the letter the sponsor receives; its application number starts with F. IRCC says the AOR means an officer has confirmed the package is complete.

An accompanying dependent child can also apply, if the parent meets those conditions and the child lives with the parent and the sponsor. Provincial minimum-age rules for work still apply to the child.

To apply you must have valid temporary resident status. That means a valid visitor record, work permit or study permit, a temporary resident permit, maintained status from an application filed before expiry, or a restoration application you are eligible for. How restoration works is the same 90-day rule for visitors and workers.

Out of status and under the spousal public policy? You wait for the approval in principle letter, then apply on paper with a letter explaining why you cannot apply online and a copy of the approval in principle.

Anyone whose permanent residence application has been refused, withdrawn or returned. Anyone planning to apply for the work permit at a port of entry. And, for people out of status, anyone trying to use a different public policy or pilot to get the open work permit.

There is one narrow route. If your work permit, study permit or status will expire in 2 weeks or less, you can apply without the AOR. The permanent residence application must be as a spouse or partner, in the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada class or the family class. In place of it you upload a copy of your current permit or visitor record and proof the PR application was submitted, such as IRCC's confirmation email.

Apply online in the IRCC secure account and answer the questions to get a personal checklist. In the intended work section, select Open Work Permit, enter SCLPC FC OWP as the job title and SCLPC FC applicant in Canada public policy as the duties. If a paid representative is filing through the representative portal, they answer yes to the question about applying under an active public policy.

Upload the AOR under client information, plus proof of your own status and your children's. Under the family information form IMM 5707, add the form itself, your marriage certificate or the common-law declaration IMM 5409, and your children's birth certificates showing both parents.

IRCC says you can extend the permit for 2 more years under the same policy if you have the AOR and the permanent residence application is still undecided.

The date your current status ends against the likely AOR date, because the gap between them is where couples get into trouble. Processing times for sponsorship show why the AOR can take weeks. If the timing is tight, the 2-week route above or a visitor record extension may be the bridge. Our spousal open work permit service covers both.