A bridging open work permit (BOWP) allows Canadian work permit holders to continue to work in Canada after they apply for their Canadian Permanent Residency (PR).
You may apply for a BOWP if your work permit for Canada is about to expire and you have already applied for your Canadian permanent residency. A BOWP serves as a bridge between an expiring-current work permit and a PR application. It allows workers to continue to work in Canada while waiting for their Canadian PR approval.
Who qualifies for BOWP
To qualify for BOWP, the initial Canadian PR application must be under one of the several classes. Included in these classes are:
- The Canadian Experience Class (CEC)
- Federal Skilled Trades Program or the Federal Skilled Worker Program
- Provincial Nominee Program
- Agri-Food Pilot Program
- Caring for Children’s Stream
- Caring for People with Disabilities Stream
What are the requirements in applying for BOWP?
To qualify for a BOWP, your current work permit must not be more than four months away from its expiry date. For instance, if your Canada work permit is five months away from expiring, you would not be eligible. You must wait until you are at most four months away from the end date. The expiry date is a critical requirement for the BOWP application.
Another requirement for BOWP is that the PR application must be at a certain stage in the process. This means that the immigration authorities must have confirmed that the application has gotten to a certain stage of processing. For the electronic application, it should have gotten to the R10 assessment stage.
A paper-based application is eligible for BOWP if it is past the confirmation stage. This is the point at which the immigration authorities confirm your PR application is being processed.
Let Us Help
We are happy to help you get figure out the BOWP process. Let us know if need our help and we’ll be happy to provide guidance.
