Canada eases access to work permits for provincial nominees

Provincial nominees and their spouses can qualify for work permits months sooner, under temporary operational measures put in place by Canada’s immigration department.

As of June 2026, eligible foreign nationals are better positioned to avoid losing authorization to work in Canada while their applications for permanent residence are being processed.

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The measures allow foreign nationals within Canada who have applied for permanent residence under the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) to qualify for work permits without the need to have received the acknowledgement of receipt (AOR) for their permanent residence application.

The following in-Canada work permit applications are affected:

In place of an AOR, applicants can submit a copy of the email confirming the submission of their PR application through the online portal, along with proof of fee payment.

Officers are also allowed to confirm eligibility by checking that IRCC systems show that an application for permanent residence (APR) has been received and remains pending.

The bulletin instructs officers to rely on system confirmation when it is available.

The above alternatives are only applicable for work permit applicants who have not received their AOR for their application for permanent residence. If an applicant has received an AOR, they must submit the AOR.

The temporary measures took effect on June 9, 2026, and are set to remain in effect until December 31, 2026.

IRCC published the operational bulletin on its website on June 9, 2026.

According to the operational bulletin, IRCC put the measures in place in response to extended timelines for R10 completeness checks, leading to lengthy wait times for AORs.

Of 141 provincial nominees who submitted their applications for permanent residence through the base PNP in late November 2024,* none reported receiving their AOR earlier than October of 2025, according to data posted by users of the CanadaVisa forum.

The extended wait times put many applicants at risk of losing authorization to work in Canada in the period between the submission of their PR application and the receipt of the AOR needed to apply for a work permit extension.

If a foreign national in Canada submits an application for a work permit prior to the expiry of their existing permit, they benefit from maintained status, which authorizes them to continue to work under the conditions of their expired permit while their new work permit application or application for extension is being processed, so long as they remain in Canada.

Work permit applications submitted from outside Canada are not exempted from the AOR requirement under this operational bulletin.

*For the period running Nov 22–Nov 30.