You have submitted your permanent residence application. The receipt is in your inbox, the waiting has begun, and a different worry starts to surface.
What happens to my work permit while I wait?
Applying for permanent residence does not, on its own, give you permission to keep working in Canada. Your work permit runs on its own clock, and that clock does not pause because IRCC is looking at your PR file. What you can apply for next depends on which pathway you used, what your current permit says, and how far along your PR application is.
Here is how the main options actually work.
The bridging open work permit
A bridging open work permit, usually shortened to BOWP, lets certain permanent residence applicants keep working while IRCC processes the PR application. It is issued for 24 months.
The appeal is obvious. It is an open work permit, so you are generally not tied to a single employer. If your job ends, or you find something better, you are not starting the immigration process again from the beginning.
Not every applicant qualifies. A BOWP is available to people applying under the Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades programs, certain provincial nominees, the Agri-Food Pilot, Quebec skilled worker and investor classes, and the caregiver pathways.
You also need to hold status in one of three ways when you apply:
- You hold a valid work permit and valid temporary resident status
- You have maintained status, because you applied to renew your work permit before it expired
- You are eligible to restore your status, which has a hard ninety day window
One point worth correcting, because we hear it often: there is no rule requiring your permit to be within a certain number of months of expiry. What matters is the stage your PR application has reached, not how close your permit is to running out.
A travel warning that catches people out
You must be in Canada with valid temporary resident status when IRCC decides your BOWP. If your work permit expires while you are outside the country, or you leave after it has expired, you lose your status and the application can be refused.
We have seen people lose a strong case to a family visit booked at the wrong moment. If you have a BOWP pending and travel planned, get advice before you fly.
Provincial nominees: the rule is not what most people think
There is a widely repeated claim that Express Entry linked nominees get a BOWP and everyone else gets an employer-specific permit. That is not the rule, and believing it can cost you a better option.
The actual test is whether your nomination carries employment restrictions.
- If your nomination letter states that your employment is unrestricted, you may qualify for a BOWP, whether or not your provincial nomination runs through Express Entry
- If your nomination is employer-restricted, a BOWP is not available, and the route is an employer-specific work permit
A useful detail: a province can name your employer or your occupation and its NOC code on the nomination letter and still record that there are no employment restrictions. Naming an employer does not automatically make a nomination restricted. The letter has a specific field for it, and that field is what an officer reads.
Two further things that matter in practice. A provincial nominee BOWP restricts you to working in the nominating province, so it is open as to employer but not as to location. And the timing differs: an Express Entry linked application can proceed once it passes the completeness check, while a non Express Entry application is held until it receives a positive first stage eligibility assessment. That wait can be long, and it surprises people who expected the same speed as their Express Entry colleagues.
RCIP: an employer-specific permit, and no BOWP
If you applied through the Rural Community Immigration Pilot, you may be able to get an employer-specific work permit valid for up to two years while your PR application is processed.
To qualify you need an eligible job offer from your designated employer, a recommendation from the participating community, and to be otherwise eligible for a work permit. Your PR application must also have passed its completeness check.
This permit is tied to the employer named in your PR application. Leaving that job does not simply mean finding another one. It puts the PR application itself at risk, because the job offer is the foundation the application rests on.
An important point that is easy to miss: RCIP applicants are not eligible for a bridging open work permit. Because the permit is bound to the employer and offer in your PR application, the BOWP route is closed. If the permit runs out before your PR decision arrives, the answer is an extension of the same employer-specific permit, not a switch to an open one.
We work this pilot from inside the community. Our Sault Ste. Marie RCIP guide covers the priority sectors, the intake position and the designated employer question in detail.
FCIP: the same structure
The Francophone Community Immigration Pilot works the same way. Eligible applicants may receive an employer-specific work permit for up to two years, tied to the employer who made the offer, and FCIP applicants are likewise outside the BOWP rules.
Other pathways, briefly
If you came through a different route, the answer changes again:
- Atlantic Immigration Program: a two year employer-specific permit
- Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot: a one year permit, not two. The RNIP and the RCIP are different programmes and the durations differ
- Start-up Visa: a two year open work permit
- Spousal sponsorship from inside Canada: its own open work permit route
Open against employer-specific, side by side
| Bridging open work permit | RCIP, FCIP and restricted PNP | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Open | Employer-specific |
| Employer | Generally not tied to one | Tied to the qualifying employer |
| Length | 24 months | Up to 24 months |
| Changing jobs | Usually possible | Needs a new permit, and may put the PR application at risk |
| Location | Restricted to the nominating province for PNP applicants | Restricted to the employer and, for the pilots, the community |
What about your family?
This gets forgotten until it becomes urgent. If you hold an RCIP or FCIP work permit, your spouse or common-law partner may be eligible for an open work permit of up to two years, though it will restrict them to working in the same community as you. Dependent children may also qualify for an open work permit.
If you hold a BOWP, your spouse or partner and dependent children may qualify for an open work permit of their own. Note that spouses and dependants cannot apply for a BOWP themselves. Their permit comes through a separate route.
The part that actually decides the outcome
Do not wait until your permit is weeks from expiry to work this out.
Almost every difficult case we see has the same shape. Someone assumed they qualified for an open permit, found out late that their nomination was restricted, and by then had lost the runway to file properly. Or they left the employer their PR application depended on, not realising the two were connected.
The variables that decide your options are:
- Which PR pathway you applied under
- Whether your nomination carries employment restrictions
- What stage your PR application has reached
- Whether you currently hold status, maintained status, or need restoration
- What your existing permit actually says on its face
Those five answers point to one route, and it is rarely the one people guess.
Where to go next
If you are still working out the PR side, our work permits and permanent residence and citizenship pages set out the wider picture. If you studied here, the post-graduation work permit page has a free checker. If you are weighing pathways, the CRS calculator gives you a starting number.
And if you want someone to look at your actual documents rather than a general article, that is what we are here for. We plan for the waiting period, not just the application.
Ask us about your situation. We reply within one business day.
Ubuntu Worldwide Immigration Consulting Inc.
Mary Unogwu Ogenyi-Igoche, RCIC-IRB R731653
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
705-255-6279 or 437-972-5954
info@ubuntuwic.ca
Book a consultation
This article is general information, current as at 11 September 2026. It is not advice about your case. Immigration eligibility depends on your individual circumstances and the rules in force on the day you apply. Rules for these programmes changed in February and May 2026 and can change again. Speak to a licensed representative before you act.
