Waiting for PR: Provincial Nominees and Express Entry Candidates Work Permit Options

Have you been nominated by a province for permanent residence in Canada? Or gotten an invitation to apply on Express Entry? Here we discuss eligibility for a work permit extension under those circumstances. Most people have heard of a bridging open work permit but there is a lot of confusion at which point one becomes eligible to apply for this work permit and also what your options may be if you are not eligible at the moment but need to get a work permit extension regardless.

Provincial Nominees

If you received a nomination certificate from a province after having applied for provincial nomination, you must wait to get a file number after having submitted your federal application for permanent residence prior to applying for a bridging open work permit. In other words, getting a nomination certificate does not mean that you are automatically eligible for an open work permit.

In provinces which impose employment restrictions on provincial nominees until they receive permanent residence, a bridging open work permit is not available and the candidate will be refused. Check the "restrictions on Employment" section of your "Confirmation of Nomination" for this particular information.

Where an open work permit is not an option, there is an LMIA-exempt closed, employer specific work permit under the International mobility program whereby the employer would submit an offer of employment via the employer portal and pay a $230 employer compliance fee. The worker would then include the offer of employment number along with their application for a work permit which could be approved for the same length of time as indicated on the job offer. No LMIA would be necessary in this case and the work permit could be issued for 2 years. A file number from the federal PR application is not required in order to meet the eligibility for this particular program.

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