If you’re a permanent residence applicant waiting on a decision from IRCC, one question comes up again and again: can you keep working in Canada while your PR application is being processed? The honest answer is “it depends” — and the details matter, because working without authorization can jeopardize the very application you’re trying to protect.
Here’s what actually determines whether you can work legally while your permanent residence application is in process.
Having a pending PR application doesn’t give you work authorization on its own
This is the point people most often get wrong. Submitting a permanent residence application — whether through Express Entry, a Provincial Nominee Program, or a sponsored family class — does not, by itself, give you the right to work in Canada. Your work authorization still comes from whatever temporary status you currently hold: a valid work permit, a visitor record, or implied/maintained status while a renewal is pending. If you don’t already have one of those, a pending PR application alone won’t let you start working.
Where people run into trouble is assuming that because their PR file is “in process,” their work situation is automatically fine. It isn’t automatic — it depends on what temporary document you’re relying on and whether it’s still valid.
If you’re already on a valid work permit, keep working under its conditions
If you’re in Canada on a valid work permit while your PR application is pending, you generally continue working exactly as that permit allows — same employer, same occupation, same restrictions, until it expires. The PR application running in parallel doesn’t change those conditions. What it can change is what happens when that permit is close to expiring.
The Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP) is the main bridge for Express Entry and PNP applicants
For applicants in certain economic programs, IRCC offers a Bridging Open Work Permit specifically to keep people working legally while their PR application is finalized. To be eligible, you generally need to:
Be inside Canada and hold a valid work permit (or be eligible to restore your status); be the principal applicant under an eligible program — Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Trades, a Provincial Nominee Program, the Agri-Food Pilot, or Quebec Skilled Worker Class; and have already received an Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR) confirming IRCC accepted your complete PR application.
A few details trip people up. Simply having an Express Entry profile isn’t enough — you need an invitation to apply, a submitted application, and an AOR before you’re eligible to apply for a BOWP. If your provincial nomination is employer-restricted, you may need a Bridging Closed Work Permit tied to that specific employer instead of the open version. And spousal and other family-class sponsorship applicants aren’t covered by the BOWP framework at all — if that’s your situation, your work authorization depends on your existing permit, visitor status, or a separate work permit application, not a bridging permit.
Timing is everything — apply roughly four months before your current permit expires
IRCC generally recommends applying for your bridging work permit when you have about four months or less remaining on your current permit — not earlier, and not after it has already expired. Apply too early and you may not yet have your AOR; wait too long and you risk a gap in authorization.
If you apply before your current permit expires, you typically move into maintained status (sometimes called implied status) while IRCC processes the bridging application. Maintained status lets you stay in Canada legally and keep working under your previous permit’s conditions, but it isn’t the same as holding a valid permit. You generally can’t change employers beyond what your prior permit allowed, and leaving Canada while on maintained status is risky — re-entry isn’t guaranteed. If your permit lapses before you apply for a bridge, you fall out of status and need to apply to restore it, which is a more complicated position to be in.
What this means practically
If you’re in an eligible economic program and your work permit is approaching expiry, don’t wait for your PR decision to arrive before addressing your work authorization — apply for the bridging permit around the four-month mark. If you’re a sponsored family-class applicant, your work situation is governed by whatever temporary status you hold, not by the sponsorship application itself, so plan your work permit or status renewal independently. And if you’re unsure which category you fall into, or whether your current document covers you through to a PR decision, that’s worth confirming before your status runs out rather than after.
Every case turns on the specific program, the applicant’s current status, and timing — there’s no universal answer that applies to everyone waiting on a PR decision. If you want help mapping out your specific situation, our work permit services page has more detail on the options available.
Next steps
If you’re waiting on a PR decision and aren’t sure whether your current work authorization will carry you through, it’s worth getting a clear read on your options before your status runs out.
