Bridging Visa Introduced For Temporary Residents Applying for Permanent Residence in Canada

In an effort to reduce regulatory barriers for foreign workers in Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on Thursday introduced a bridging open work permit for those applying for permanent residence under economic class immigration streams (Jarek Tuszynski)

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) on Thursday introduced the ‘Bridging Open Work Permit’ for temporary residents who are working in Canada and are awaiting a final decision on their application for permanent residence through an economic class immigration program.

The new work permit will save foreign workers from having to discontinue their work in Canada and leave the country while they wait for permanent residence.

A similar bridging open work permit already exists for temporary foreign workers with pending applications in the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) and spousal or common-law immigration streams.

Temporary residents with pending applications under the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Canadian Experience Class (CEC), a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) or the Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) will be eligible for the bridging visa.

CIC has made several changes in recent months to make it easier for foreign nationals in Canada on temporary work or study assignments to transition to permanent residence.

4 comments

  • Respected Sir/Madam!
    I’m Mr.Balaram from West Bengal, India. 36 years old man. I really need a job in Canada. My expected job is hotel cook/kitchen helper staff. I also like any labor type job. I know English basically, writing and speaking. My educational qualification is high school level. So please give me chance for this. Thanks!

  • respected sir/madam
    actually i want to acess the pr points on basis of fsw for pr in canada . i have scored 7 band in speaking, 7 in listening, 6.5 both in reading and writing. please asses my score for these as soon as possible and mail me on this email id. thanks…………..

  • Bridging Open Work Permit – is being handled by CIC-Vegreville Office in remote city in Alberta. There have been numerous complains of inconsistent decisions on BOWP. It seems that officers are not exactly aware of the 4 criterias listed in Operational Bulletin 485.

    Most importantly, officers have repeatedly given visas to applicants who WP was expired at the time of BOWP application. My request was rejected and when i further tried to ask – they simply give a straight face answer – that you don’t fulfill the criteria. While, its them who are still approving applications where the valid WP criteria is not being fulfilled.

    There is absolutely no way to challenge Vegreville office. Minister Kenny’s email id – does not entertain any email pertaining to refusal, which is understandable. But there has to be an office which would re-consider the refusals. The visa officers are humans and they make mistakes every day. Not just mistakes, we are aware of the bribery scandal in CIC.

    But the way CIC destroys lives of potential immigrants, its pathetic. Vegreville office and its Director is directly responsible for all the refusals and I will make sure to publish his name and full details on the net. He must be accountable to all the applicants. Minister Kenny needs to make sure that every single application that is denied has been verified by a supervisor. Inconsistent decisions should be brought down to 0. I will not stop writing against Vegreville office untill they start to publicize the quality of their staff. Right now, they are local farmers, some times high school grads. You can simply go on Linked In and see the caliber of Vegreville office staff.

  • Hi I am currently on BOWP. which is expiring in 1 month. My application for PR is still under process. I applied under CEC. Now I contacted CIC and they told me that I can extend my work permit for another year.

    My question:

    Can I apply for my spouse’s work permit on the basis of my work permit? NOTE: Her name is also included in the PR application. So I heard that we can not apply for any kind of visa for her until her application is under process

    Please Let me know,

    Thanks,

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