Lost job but single permit visa still valid after several months

Hi I was in your position twice! Got a single permit after search year and then got laid off after two years. I didn’t receive anything from the government. What I didn’t know at that time is that immigration cannot know anything about your job status unless your employer explicitly sends them an email saying they’ve laid you off. So in my case the first time I got laid off my employer didn’t say anything to the immigration until a year after. I spent a whole year worrying, not travelling outside the country etc. my lawyer even scared me saying I had only 90 days. So anyways from my experience you can try to find a job, you can also apply for unemployment benefits if you pay taxes and try to get another single permit. I’d ask your employer to give you some grace period to try to find a job and not terminate your work permit. It costs them nothing.

in my case I was eligible to apply for permanent residency when I got laid off so I asked my employer to help me with the paper work during my notice period. So I’d say if you can apply for the L card or have worked enough to get unlimited work permit try that option first before changing to student card.

I hope this helps! Don’t be worried it’ll all work out

@Akshaya Ayp

Hi. Please how many years were you on study permit?

Then how long did you work on search year permit before switching to Single Permit

Then you said single permit for 2 years before being laid off.

What year did you apply for the L card? was it recently or this happened many years ago.

When you applied for L card did they not request proof of economic participation like work payslip?

Please, your response will help me assess practical eligiblity for L card through this route. Thanks

@Akshaya Ayp

Hi Akshaya,

Thank you for such a nice reply, your message gives me a bit of comfort, but indeed I am very worried about this "grey" situation.

I am really interested in your case, but It seems is not so clear what happened after you got laid of the first time. Did you:

1. Study
2. search year
3. worked 2 years and got laid off
4. searched job for 1 year in this grey zone and you got a new after around a year?
5. you got a new single permit from which you got laid off after some time and applied for permanent residence during 90 day period.

Is this correct? Then it seems that you were indeed over the 5 years and was perhaps easier to get the L card. I wonder if there were no problems with the grey year in which you did not pay taxes or had no income, I assume.

I think I indeed should do my best to keep trying to get another single permit, to be able to apply for permanent residency afterwards.

I would appreciate a lot if you could please answer my question on how were your steps. For me, this has left me with around 11 months to still wait until I can apply for permanent residency. 

In my opinion, the 90 day rule is unrealistic, because finding jobs is not the same as 10 years ago, It takes way too long. Every selection process takes at least 1.5 to 2 months for clossing the application time, getting a first answer, then interviews, and finally waiting for decition.

Thank you again for your cheering up message. I will keep trying indeed.

@teddy19

Your employer forgot to cancel your single permit. If they did, you would have had the 3 months grace period. Just change to another status if you can. Because one day they might wake up and realize they forgot to cancel and do cancel it then…so better switch anyway