wonder wrote:I just returned from the NIA in my city and here is how the whole thing is playing out.
At first, my new school did not want to submit and incomplete application for my work permit (re: waiting for tax documents from my old school), so that is why they did not submit my application. They could have done it, but for some reason they said they had tried it before and it created too many problems later on.
However, the other posters in this thread were correct in saying that I have to be out of the country on the day my ARC expires, not a day later or even a minute later. Then you have to pay for an overstay fine and I would still have to leave the country anyway. Still, I refused to surrender to the fate of leaving the country. Good thing too. This is what happened:
The officers who work for the NIA processing ARC and extensions went out of their way to help me find a solution. They also could not figure out why my new school would not simply send and incomplete work permit application because schools do it all the time and the NIA has no problem with that. You just need most of the pertinent documents and then obtain a receipt from the post office once the application is mailed.
Afterward, you take the post office receipt to the NIA, along with signed contracts and a few other things and voila, you get your extension.
So as I said, my new school was not buying into sending an incomplete app, even after the officers at the NIA had encouraged them to do so, thereby letting me stay in the country while my work permit app is processed.
Frustrating? Yeah.
So I remembered my old school saying that they would help if things didn't work out for me at new school. Sure enough, I called them and they too talked to the officers at the NIA and now, they are saying my old school can extend my ARC that day simply by signing a new contract and providing my current emploment certificate. Bingo. (I am still technically working for my old school until tomorrow when my ARC expires).
But, the officers at the NIA said let me call your new school one more time to see if I can get them to submit your app. Finally, my new school agreed to do it. It almost sounded like the NIA was playing one school against the other to see who would step up first. We all knew a solution was at hand, the only thing we didn't know was who was going to step up for me.
So now, if you are confused, the upshot is this: my new school has agreed to send an incomplete work permit app to the Labour Office and that will get me a postage receipt which in turn gets me 30-day extension on my ARC.
Whew!....done.
Dude......
An excellent and very detailed explanation. Thanks for sharing your information with the community. I do have one concern, however. Do you think that your new school is truly looking out for your best interests here? I mean, it looks like they could've given a toss if you either had to do a visa run at your own expense or had overstayed your current ARC which would have cost you even more in time and money. 
Not a good, warm fuzzy feeling from your next slave master. I would be extremely cautious regarding all issues while you are employed with them. Especially any type of funny business regarding reporting your correct income or underreporting your income (cheating taxes), deductions for health insurance, labor insurance, and tax deductions. I'm seeing red flags all over the place. You've now got 30 additional days for your new school to get off their ass and complete your work-permit application. Stay on top of them and don't let them procrastinate in completing the process. The NIA won't give you another 30 day extension on top of this current extension due to laziness on the part of your employer. I hope things work out for you.Last thing. Take care of yourself because it's painfully obvious that your employer isn't going to do it for you! Best of luck.
