Changing class on an ongoing Permanent residency application

[Noemi76]

My husband and I got married in the States. He is Canadian, I was a Permanent resident in the US. We applied for a Canadian permanent residency from the States and since we were not in Canada, we applied under Family Class. We crossed the border to Canada, I have a visitor visa, I cannot work. I applied for an open work permit however I got rejected because the Permanent residency application is under Family Class and not SCLPC (Spouse and common law partner). My question is, is there a way to change the class of an existing on going Permanent residency application from Family to SCLPC? Without it, I cannot get a work permit. Naturally since I am here in Canada with my husband I just want to contribute and work while I wait for my application to be approved.

 

[monkeys89]

No, you've not been rejected for the OWP because of the Family Class or Spouse and Common Law Partner class, it's because only inland applications (ie, those filed from within Canada) are eligible for OWPs.

You cannot change class of applications mid-stream.

 

[scylla]

My husband and I got married in the States. He is Canadian, I was a Permanent resident in the US. We applied for a Canadian permanent residency from the States and since we were not in Canada, we applied under Family Class. We crossed the border to Canada, I have a visitor visa, I cannot work. I applied for an open work permit however I got rejected because the Permanent residency application is under Family Class and not SCLPC (Spouse and common law partner). My question is, is there a way to change the class of an existing on going Permanent residency application from Family to SCLPC? Without it, I cannot get a work permit. Naturally since I am here in Canada with my husband I just want to contribute and work while I wait for my application to be approved.

Agreed with the above reply. Both are spousal sponsorship streams - that's not why you were refused. Your open work permit was correctly refused since you applied outland. To switch to inland, you would have to withdraw your outland application and apply from scratch inland. Note that processing times would start from scratch when you submit the new application. It will take approximately four months to receive the open work permit from the time you apply inland (and include an OWP application with the package). No - not possible to change an outland application to inland. You have to withdraw and resubmit.