Maintained Status
(Formerly "IMPLIED STATUS")
(Formerly "IMPLIED STATUS")
Q124) What is MAINTAINED STATUS (formerly IMPLIED STATUS)?
Spousal Sponsorship PR Application or any other PR applications don't give 'MAINTAINED STATUS'. Just being "in the system" as a PR applicant does nothing for you in terms of giving you legal status in Canada.
If you submitted an application under the Spouse or Common-Law Partner in Canada (SCLPC) Class (aka INLAND) and you submitted an Open Work Permit (OWP) application along with the inland sponsorship/PR application, you'd have maintained status until a decision is made on your OWP application.
It's this OWP application that would give you maintained status, not the sponsorship/PR application.
If you submitted an application under the Family Class (FC) (aka OUTLAND; and yes, it is possible to submit an outland application while residing in Canada), then, by not being eligible to apply for that OWP Inland applicants are eligible to apply for, you'd have NO Maintained Status unless you apply to extend your status as a visitor to get Maintained Status on that visitor extension application because, again, the sponsorship/PR application in and on itself, doesn't give you maintained status.
Even if you submitted an INLAND application + the OWP application, you can (and, to be on the safe side, you should) still apply for an extension of your visitor status, just in case your PR and OWP applications get returned as incomplete (unprocessed), due to some mistake with the application (which is more common that you think);
If you don't extend you status and you decide to only rely on the maintained status from your OWP application, and the application does get returned, you'd be OUT OF STATUS at that point the moment the application gets returned. If that was to happen, you can still resubmit the INLAND sponsorship/PR application while being 'Out of Status' in Canada, thanks to a new Public Policy (only for inland applications: applications under 'SCLPC' class; the public policy DOEST NOT apply on 'FC' Class (Outland) applications, not even if the OUTLAND applicant is in Canada); but, without legal status, the OWP application would only be processed when the PR application reaches the AIP (Approval-In-Principle) stage, which is close to the end of the process). Not to mention dealing with a restoration of status application (which costs the double of an extension of your status as a visitor).
If you extend your status as a visitor and your PR + OWP gets returned, you'd still have maintained status from the visitor extension (instead of being out of status).