u/AbilityPersonal8619

Hey everyone,

I’m in a bit of a stressful situation with IRCC and could really use some insight from anyone who has navigated the Hong Kong Pathway or restoration of status.

The Situation:

• My common-law partner is the lead applicant for PR under the HK Pathway.
• In January, she added me to her application via webform as a newly eligible family member. We provided tons of proof and got the generic "documents received" reply.
• I then applied for an Open Work Permit under the policy for family members of stream applicants.
• The Problem: My OWP was just rejected. The reason stated was that I "was not added to the PR application" and therefore wasn't eligible.
• Current Status: My PGWP has since expired, so I am now out of status.

It seems like the work permit officer didn't see the webform update from the PR side. I’m now within my 90-day window to apply for restoration, but I'm torn on the best path forward.

My Questions:

1. Reconsideration: Can I ask for a reconsideration since the "missing" documents were actually submitted months ago? Has anyone had luck with this while being out of status?
2. Restoration + New OWP: Should I just file for a full restoration of status along with a new OWP application? I’d include the January webform receipts and a letter of explanation basically saying "the info is there, please look again."
3. Visitor Record: Or is it safer to just apply for restoration as a visitor to stay legal, and wait until the PR is further along before trying for the work permit again?

Has anyone dealt with this kind of "departmental lag" between a webform and an OWP application? Any advice on how to make the restoration application successful?

Thanks in advance!