implied status question?

Hello and happy holidays! 

 

My wife and I are stumped and confused with a current issue we are facing, and we would greatly appreciate any hep you have to offer.

 

My Wife is Australian citizen, I am Canadian citizen.  We were married here in Canada.  She most recently arrived here in Canada on May 7^th 2012.  We understood that as a visitor, she can drive legally in Canada for 6 months with her Australian driver’s license.  Our question is this:  She applied for an extension on her visitor visa Oct. 6^th (which is a month before her original visitor visa expires) this was for another 6 month extension of her visitor visa.  She applied for this because just previous to that we sent in her application for permanent residency in Canada and also my sponsorship forms.  We knew my wife would have to apply for the visitor visa extension because we would be waiting for the results of her permanent resident visa application package for possibly up to 18 months.  One thing we are confused about is, can she still drive legally?  Is there a way to “renew” this 6 moths of legal driving?  Or can she not drive until she:

 

A: Leaves Canada to go to Australia and then come back again, or,

B: Until she receives her permanent residency visa where she can then apply for a Canadian Driver’s license. 

 

Another important thing to add is because the Canadian visa office usually takes around 90 days to complete the application for visitor extension visa, she is under what they call “implied status”  So we are not sure if this contributes to the issue in any way?

 

It just feels unfair to us that she could be waiting for up to 18 months for the permanent resident visa forms to be accepted before she can drive.  And where we are living right now it is very important that she can be able to drive as I work out of town often and the closest food store is 20 minutes away with no bus route.  We are in the province of British Columbia.   Thank you very much for your help.  WE really appreciate it!

 

Adam Dobres.

adobres: We understood that as a visitor, she can drive legally in Canada for 6 months with her Australian driver’s license. One thing we are confused about is, can she still drive legally? Is there a way to “renew” this 6 moths of legal driving?

While legal immigration status is a qualifying factor for obtaining a drivers license in most Provinces (probably all, I just do not know the particulars of all provinces), it otherwise is not related to who can legally drive.

So, no, just because someone has immigration status as a visitor for six months does not necessarily mean they can legally drive for six months. This also means that even if a person's immigration status is not legal, that does not mean they cannot legally drive either.

Reminder: the provinces regulate driving rules. Immigration is federal.

They are for most intent and purpose, separate.

Thus, the short answer:

A visitor (as in someone not in fact actually residing in the province) with a drivers' license from a jurisdiction that the province recognizes (probably includes Australian drivers' licenses) ordinarily can drive legally. Obtaining insurance coverage, however, could be a problem. (And that can affect whether it is legal to drive a particular vehicle, depending on the provincial laws governing mandatory insurance.)



Longer answer:

The provinces typically prescribe that to legally drive in the province, a person must obtain a provincial drivers license within a certain period of time of residing in the province. Sixty days is typical, perhaps some are thirty days. Six months would be unusual.

Again, that has to do with provincial laws regulating driving in the province.

Residence for these purposes is about being a resident in fact, not about immigration status.

A visitor by definition is not a resident. Driving privileges for visitors are typically based on the province's rules regarding recognition of the visitor's drivers license from their home jurisdiction. I do not know what any province's rules are for Australian drivers licenses. I expect that Australian drivers' licenses are recognized and thus allow the visitor with a valid Australian drivers' license to drive legally in the province.

At some point, factually, a "visitor" is not really a visitor but is actually living in the province. That is the point at which the requirements specifying how long a resident has to obtain a provincial drivers' license kicks in.

Again, that is not about immigration status so much as it is about where an individual is residing, where their residence is.

That said, as a practical matter, as long as an individual has visitor status (well, anything other than residential status), and is carrying a drivers license from a jurisdiction that the province recognizes (Australia probably included, though I do not know this for sure), there should not be a problem. It is not as if they are going to be charged with driving without a license. (Those living in a small town where law enforcement becomes aware that the individual is, for all intents and purposes, actually living there, might run into issues, but as a practical matter, there would ordinarily be plenty of warning before a citation is issued.)

But, again, insurance coverage can be an issue.