A bridging open work permit, or BOWP, lets you keep working in Canada while Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the federal immigration department, decides your application for permanent residence (IRCC: bridging open work permit). It is for people already in Canada who applied through one of the programs IRCC lists, once that application reaches the stage IRCC asks for.

Who this is for

You work in Canada on a work permit. You have applied, or soon will, for permanent residence (PR), the status that lets you live, work or study anywhere in Canada (IRCC: understand permanent resident status), and the decision may come after your permit ends.

If you hold a post-graduation work permit (PGWP), the work permit some graduates of Canadian schools get after they finish, our guide to what to do when your PGWP is ending sets out the routes to PR in the order you would take them. This guide looks at the BOWP itself.

What does a BOWP let you do?

• Work for almost any employer. An open work permit lets you work for any employer in Canada, with a few exceptions IRCC lists (IRCC: glossary, open work permit), and it needs no job offer (IRCC: work in Canada temporarily).
• For a set period. As of October 2026, IRCC's instructions to its officers give a BOWP 24 months from the day it is issued (IRCC: officer instructions, bridging open work permits).
• In your province, if a province nominated you. For a provincial nominee, the same instructions limit where you may work to the province that nominated you.

Who can apply?

IRCC sets the conditions program by program. For Express Entry, the online system IRCC uses to manage applications from skilled workers under the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Federal Skilled Trades Program (IRCC: Express Entry), you must (IRCC: bridging open work permit):

• live in Canada when you apply for the BOWP, and plan to live outside Quebec;
• hold valid temporary resident status and a valid work permit, or have kept your status as a worker after your permit expired (maintained status), or still be able to restore your status and get a work permit;
• be the principal applicant, the main applicant when a family applies together (IRCC: glossary, principal applicant);
• have sent a complete permanent residence application that passed IRCC's completeness check;
• and have your acknowledgement of receipt letter, which IRCC sends to your account once it has your application.

IRCC warns that a profile waiting in the Express Entry pool is not an application. You apply only after IRCC invites you, so the profile alone does not lead to a BOWP.

Provincial Nominee Program

The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) lets provinces and territories nominate people for PR, each with its own requirements, either through Express Entry or outside it (IRCC: Provincial Nominee Program). Either way, the conditions above apply, plus these (IRCC: bridging open work permit):

• your nomination must come with no employment restrictions, such as tying you to one employer, and you include a copy of your nomination letter;
• you must be in Canada with valid temporary resident status when IRCC decides the BOWP, or it may be refused;
• outside Express Entry, the step that counts is IRCC's eligibility assessment rather than the completeness check: IRCC does not start on the BOWP until it has reviewed your PR application and confirmed you meet the program's basic requirements.

Quebec skilled workers

Quebec has its own agreement with the federal government and chooses its own skilled workers (IRCC: Quebec-selected skilled workers). If you applied for PR as a Quebec skilled worker, you must live in Canada and plan to live in Quebec, and hold a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ), the certificate Quebec gives the people it selects (Québec: Skilled Worker Selection Program). The CSQ must have been valid when you applied for PR. You must also be the principal applicant, have passed the completeness check and meet the same status conditions. You include your CSQ and the letter showing your PR application number, which begins with "E" (IRCC: bridging open work permit).

The other programs IRCC lists

The same page also lists:

• Quebec investors who live in Quebec and hold a valid CSQ, or held one when they applied for PR;
• the Agri-Food Pilot, which ended on 14 May 2025 (IRCC: Agri-Food Pilot), for principal applicants already approved in principle, meaning IRCC has confirmed by letter that they meet the PR requirements, with medical, security and background checks still to come (IRCC: glossary, approved in principle);
• the Home Child Care Provider and Home Support Worker pilots, open from 2019 to 2024, for applicants approved in principle who show 6 months of qualifying work. Applicants to the Home Care Worker Immigration pilots that opened in 2025 cannot get a BOWP;
• two older caregiver classes, for complete applications sent before they closed on 18 June 2019.

The Atlantic Immigration Program, a route to PR in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador (IRCC: Atlantic Immigration Program), is not on the list, so applying through it does not lead to this permit. If your partner is sponsoring you from inside Canada, that route has its own open work permit, covered in our spouse and partner sponsorship guide.

When can you apply?

The stage of your PR application decides it. IRCC's page sets no window before your current permit expires (IRCC: bridging open work permit). For Express Entry and the PNP, the stage is the acknowledgement letter; for Quebec skilled workers, the completeness check; for the pilots and caregiver classes, approval in principle.

Not there yet? Do not let your work permit expire while you wait for an Express Entry invitation. Extend it instead, which keeps your status while the extension is decided. For that extension, your employer may need to give you a new offer of employment or get a new Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) (same page). An LMIA is the check most employers need before they can hire a temporary foreign worker (IRCC: who needs an LMIA).

Travel. You can leave Canada while IRCC processes your BOWP, but if you leave after your work permit has expired, you cannot work until the new permit is approved (IRCC: bridging open work permit).

Where and how do you apply?

You apply from inside Canada. IRCC's instructions to its officers say a BOWP cannot be applied for at a port of entry, such as a border crossing or airport, or at a visa office abroad (IRCC: officer instructions, bridging open work permits). On IRCC's page, you (IRCC: bridging open work permit):

• follow the instructions for extending or changing the conditions of a work permit, which in most cases means applying online (IRCC: extend your work permit, how to apply);
• choose "Open work permit" as the type of permit;
• pay the work permit processing fee and the open work permit holder fee, whose current amounts are on IRCC's fee list;
• include the documents on your checklist, your acknowledgement letter and, for a provincial nomination, your nomination letter.

What a BOWP does not cover

• Your family. The BOWP is for the principal applicant only. Your spouse or partner may apply for their own open work permit as your family member: IRCC has a case for a worker whose permit was issued because they applied for PR through an economic program, and it asks that your permit be valid for at least 6 months after IRCC receives your partner's application (IRCC: open work permits for family members of foreign workers). Our guide to bringing your partner and children covers the rest.
• Permanent residence itself. A BOWP is a temporary permit, and holding one does not decide your PR application.

What our report checks

Our report checks the bridging open work permit's conditions it can see in your answers: living in Canada, planning to live outside Quebec unless Quebec has selected you, and holding a valid work permit. It does not ask whether you have already applied for PR, so it always shows that application and its acknowledgement letter as a step still ahead of you. It cannot see a provincial nomination's conditions either, so it reminds you to read them. Whether a permit is granted is for IRCC to decide.

Next step

Take the free questionnaire to see how the BOWP and the PR routes our report covers line up with your answers.