Hi there. i have a question. Im in a common law relationship with a canadian for more than 2 years, i send my application for permanente resident family class (common-law) in october, but it takes almost 2 years to get the process all done. And i would like to start work right now. Right now i have a student permit and i would like to apply for a OPEN work permit. I have already sent an open work permit application with my permanet visa application and the guy from the goverment told me that that was ok, but as i told you i dont want to wait 2 years to start working and i also dont want to have to get a job offer first because most employers want people to start working right away (they dont want to wait the 2 months for the work permit) so i want to apply for a open work permit. Do you think i can apply for this kind of permit? And i do have all the proving documents of my common law relation ship. And i do know that some common law spouses can get a open work permit if their common law partner have a work pemit in a special job area, would that apply for a canadian common law partner too???? Please help me. I hope you understood me, i dont know if i did a lot of sense....
thank you very much for your time!!!!

Patricia

Foreign students with a valid study permit are allowed to work on campus, and in some cases off-campus as well. Permission to do so does not require a job offer in advance. The information that you have provided does not suggest that you are otherwise eligible for an open work permit prior to approval-in-principle of your permanent resident application.