Canada Eases Work Permit Access For Provincial Nominees

Canada has introduced temporary measures to help provincial nominees and their spouses apply for work permits sooner while they wait for permanent residence decisions.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, known as IRCC, issued the operational bulletin on June 9, 2026. The measures are now in effect and are scheduled to remain in place until Dec. 31, 2026.

The change affects foreign nationals in Canada who have applied for permanent residence through the Provincial Nominee Program, or PNP. Under the new instructions, some applicants no longer need to wait for an acknowledgement of receipt, commonly called an AOR, before applying for certain work permits.

Who Can Benefit

The measure applies to PNP bridging open work permits, some employer-specific PNP work permits where the nomination has expired, and eligible spousal open work permits for spouses of PNP applicants.

Instead of an AOR, applicants who have not yet received one can submit a copy of the email confirming that they submitted their permanent residence application through the online portal. They must also include proof that they paid the required fees.

IRCC officers may also confirm eligibility by checking department systems. If those systems show that an application for permanent residence has been received and is still pending, officers are instructed to rely on that confirmation when it is available.

The new option only applies to applicants who have not received an AOR. Anyone who has already received an AOR must still submit it with their work permit application.

Why IRCC Made The Change

IRCC said the measures respond to longer processing times for R10 completeness checks. These checks are used to confirm whether a permanent residence application is complete before IRCC issues an AOR.

The delay has created problems for many provincial nominees. Some applicants have faced long waits between submitting their permanent residence application and receiving the AOR needed for a work permit extension.

According to user-posted data from the CanadaVisa forum, none of 141 provincial nominees who submitted base PNP permanent residence applications in late November 2024 reported receiving an AOR before October 2025. The data reflects forum reports, not official IRCC figures, but it points to the kind of delay applicants have been facing.

Maintained Status Still Matters

These delays can put workers at risk of losing authorization to work in Canada. However, applicants who submit a new work permit application before their current permit expires may benefit from maintained status.

Maintained status allows a person to keep working under the same conditions as their expired permit while IRCC processes the new application or extension. To keep this status, the applicant must remain in Canada.

The temporary measures do not apply to work permit applications submitted from outside Canada. Applicants applying from abroad still need to meet the AOR requirement under the bulletin.

For many provincial nominees, the change may help close a difficult gap in the immigration process. It gives eligible applicants another way to show their permanent residence file is in progress and may help them avoid interruptions in their ability to work.