Our client is a football coach. In Canada, Sports coaching is a qualified profession. Our client has a personal studio and cooperates with a local Chinese company to train Chinese children to play football. Our team worked towards determining if our client can successfully become a Self-Employed Football Coach in Canada.

The client had studied coaching courses in Europe and had a coaching certificate recognized by UEFA and the FA. But sport training is a professional field. Our team at Polaris Strategy cooperated with football clubs and schools in Ontario to showcase the job opportunities of local free football coaches, proving that our client can build his own business in Canada.

Application process:

1. October 30, 2017: Submitted a complete set of application to the immigration office.
2. February 7, 2018: Received the Federal File Number issued by the Immigration Service.

3. October 7, 2018: Received the notice of supplementary materials issued by the Immigration Bureau.

4. January 17, 2019: Received interview notice.

5. April 7, 2019: Received the notice of medical examination.

6. July 5, 2019: Obtained the Canadian Permanent Resident Visa.

Our client had been admitted to Canada as a visitor but granted only a short length of stay here. To make the most of the trip, and particularly with the disruption to international travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic the client needed to extend their stay in Canada.

The application for a visitor record was submitted before the first period of stay had expired; the application was submitted in March of this year. Delay was encountered during the processing of the application, mostly because of the pandemic.

As part of the processing of the application the client was originally required to provide biometrics. Normally this is not a challenge for an applicant located in Canada, because biometrics can be given at Service Canada locations. In the current period of uncertainty we first had to secure an extension of the time to provide biometrics from IRCC, and then later, when all biometric collection facilities had ceased to operate due to COVID-19 we simply had to wait.

It is important to realize that because we made the application in a correct and timely fashion at the outset, none of these delays caused any prejudice for the client. Because their application was submitted while their visitor status was still valid the client benefited from implied status. Implied status means that the client was considered to keep their valid visitor status while the application is being processed and decided. The application took much longer than normal because of COVID-19, but the because of implied status the client had valid status in Canada throughout the entire time.

In mid-July IRCC recognized that it was unable to process many applications, because it was waiting for biometric information that applicants were unable to provide, since all the biometric collection facilities were closed due to COVID-19. IRCC decided to institute an exception to the biometric requirement for temporary residence applications to allow processing to move forward. The client benefitted from this decision and IRCC finished processing the application.

Because of the delay in processing, and the rule regarding implied status a visitor who originally entered the country in early February, and was given only a one-month duration of stay at that time, has made one application for a visitor record, and is now authorized to remain in Canada until mid-November. Needless to say, this was a very positive outcome for the client.