10/17/2014
Topic:
Employment Insurance and Common Law Application
jess_dawn06
|
My boyfriend has been living and working in Canada legally for 5+ years and his application for permanent residency is in progress, but a few months ago his immigration lawyer missed a deadline and therefore his work permit expired and he had to stop working. We have been living together for 4+ years and I am a Canadian citizen so the lawyer advised us to apply for common law status, at which point he will be granted an open work permit until his permanent residency comes. That application is in progress as well.
We asked both the immigration lawyer and Service Canada if he is eligible to apply for Employment Insurance, but neither can give us a straight answer. Service Canada said to definitely try, but my question is, will applying for EI have any negative affect on either the common law application or the permanent residency? He has been given a window of 4-10 months during which he will not be able to work, so the EI would help in the meantime, but not if it may impact anything else!
Thanks in advance,
Jess |