Bridging Open Work Permit Refusal

[anbu84]

Hi Guys,

I need some help or suggestion from all of you guys. The story is I had PGWP which expired on Sep 6, 2015. 5 days before my PGWP expired, I received AOR from my PR application so I quickly sent application for Bridging Open Work Permit to CIC On Sep 1, 2015. On Jan 4 2016, I received a letter from CIC about my Bridging Open Work Permit application and they told me that they refuse my application because my nomination letter indicate specific employer and/or specific NOC code. The problem is my PNP issued on Dec 2014 and only had NOC Code, however, there is no specific employer or employment restriction indicated on my nomination letter. According to Bridging Open Work Permit website, on "Determining if nomination has employment restrictions" section, it said that

"Provinces and territories may include an employer or the name of the occupation and the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code, and still indicate that there are no employment restrictions. In these cases, the applicants are eligible for an open work permit, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria"

. Morever,

"For previous versions of nomination letters (not template letters), if there is no specific indication on the letter that there are employment restrictions, the applicant is eligible for an open work permit, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria."

. So in conclusion, my nomination letter doesn't have anything that indicate I have employment restriction. And then during I applied for Bridging Open Work Permit, the requirement also didn't mention that your nomination letter must not have employment restriction. So what should I do?. Because they refuse my application so my Implied Status is revoked too and they gave me 90 days to restore my status. If possible, I don't want to pay another $300-400 to restore my status which there is no guarantee they will approve my application. Any suggestion for me? I really appreciate any help. Thank you

 

[dkr1989]

Hello there,
First of all I would like to know what is your status. I hope everything went well with you. I am wondering if you can reply to few of my doubts.
I am Open work permit holder which is due to expire in 4 months. I have Ontario Provincial Nomination and have applied for PNP based PR. I have Acknowledgement of Receipt. Having applied already you might be aware that when I check to apply for bridging work permit there are two options a) paper based b) online. Paper based check list asks for LMIA which I dont have and obviously if I had that I would have got my PR long back in express entry. Where as when I select appropriate options to check online eligibility it says I need "Letter of Support from Province or Territory". What I knew was that if my work permit is expiring in next 4 months, and I have applied for PR and have AOR I am eligible for bridging work permit. Can you please tell me what is right way to go based on your experience or should I contact an immigration lawyer?

 

[ImmiWorks]

Hello there,
First of all I would like to know what is your status. I hope everything went well with you. I am wondering if you can reply to few of my doubts.
I am Open work permit holder which is due to expire in 4 months. I have Ontario Provincial Nomination and have applied for PNP based PR. I have Acknowledgement of Receipt. Having applied already you might be aware that when I check to apply for bridging work permit there are two options a) paper based b) online. Paper based check list asks for LMIA which I dont have and obviously if I had that I would have got my PR long back in express entry. Where as when I select appropriate options to check online eligibility it says I need "Letter of Support from Province or Territory". What I knew was that if my work permit is expiring in next 4 months, and I have applied for PR and have AOR I am eligible for bridging work permit. Can you please tell me what is right way to go based on your experience or should I contact an immigration lawyer?

Hello,

I am trying to ensure that I understand your scenario correctly. The regular stages for a permanent residence application based on a provincial nomination are the following:

1 (a) You send an application to the province to nominate you for permanent residence. (You obtain an Acknowledgement of Receipt) [Provincial level]
1 (b) The province then makes a decision on your application to be nominated. (If positive the province will provide a provincial nomination and support letter) [Provincial level]
2 (a) Once the provincial nomination letter has been received, you are able to send your complete permanent residence application to the federal government (You obtain an Acknowledgement of Receipt) [Federal level] - this is equally the stage where you can apply for a bridging open work permit (BOWP) based on the provincial support letter
2 (b) Once the federal government has reviewed your application (including the review of criminal and medical checks), they make a final decision on your application. [Federal level]

Is your application currently under review at the federal level? Am I understanding your post correctly?

Please note: Foreign nationals in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) are eligible for a BOWP only if they have provided a copy of the nomination letter issued by the nominating province or territory along with their application and there is no indication that employment restrictions exist as conditions of the nomination.

Provinces and territories may include an employer or the name of the occupation and the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code, and still indicate that there are no employment restrictions. In these cases, the applicants are eligible for an open work permit, provided they meet the other eligibility criteria.

Let me know if the above helps, or PM me.

 

[dkr1989]

Thank you for your very prompt reply.
To clear the situation.
I have applied and received provincial nomination letter from Ontario province.
I have applied for PR at federal level and have received acknowledgement of receipt and waiting get a request for medical so final decision is not made yet.

Now based on all this I tried to apply online. This resulted into a questionnaire. After providing appropriate answer MyCIC generated a check list.

Apart from normal documents it ask for these two documents which I am not sure about.

1) Letter of Support from Province or Territory (pressing on ? tells "Letter from the nominating province or territory that supports the issuance of the work permit.")
2) Proof that you Meet the Requirements of the Job Being Offered: (pressing on ? tells "If your intended occupation in Canada is regulated, provide evidence that the responsible provincial, territorial or professional body has granted you the required licence or certification.")

Now these two are required documents and for application to be submitted I need to have them even if my occupation is not regulated (right now i dont even know if software engineer is regulated or not) I have no idea how to get these documents and why are these required. If you have any idea about these documents please let me know.

Thanks a lot for your help so far!

 

[ImmiWorks]

You will want to provide a copy of the nomination letter issued by the nominating province to support your request.

The NOC Code 2173 Software engineers and designers specifies the following:

• Licensing by a provincial or territorial association of professional engineers is required to approve engineering drawings and reports and to practice as a Professional Engineer (P.Eng.).
• Engineers are eligible for registration following graduation from an accredited educational program, three or four years of supervised work experience in engineering, and passing a professional practice examination.
  

So you will want to add a letter of explanation, i.e. specifics on either how you are working towards your P.Eng. and/or why your current position does not require you to already have your P.Eng.

Hope this helps.

 

[dkr1989]

Thanks for replying again so quickly.

Here is the check list:
1) Letter of Support from Province or Territory (required)
2) Passport (required)
3) Proof that you Meet the Requirements of the Job Being Offered (required)
4) Provincial Nominee Program Certificate (PNC) (required)
5) Employer Questionnaire and Declaration (required)
6) Offer of Employment (required)
7) Digital photo (required)

I assumed that nomination letter is 4th document i.e. PNC. Should I submit nomination letter for both 1st and 4th documents?

 

[ImmiWorks]

I'm admittedly less familiar with nominations from the OINP. Usually you should receive two documents. So I'm wondering whether it was not properly sent. If you/your company only received one document from the OINP, I would have them/you follow up with the OINP office directly:

Phone: 416-327-0374 or toll-free at 1-866-214-6820 (within North America only)
Email: ontarionominee@ontario.ca

I'm unsure how much time you have left. Online processing is currently estimated at around 27 days. Nor how long your PR application has been in processing so far. A couple of strategies come to mind.

 

[dkr1989]

I dont know if it counts as two documents but here is what I received.
Confirmation of Nomination (This is on a official paper of Ontario) and
A a sort of letter addressed to me informing me about positive decision, and that I am eligible to apply to CIC for PR etc. This letter has a section on second page which seems to be of interest here. It follows as:

Temporary Work Permits
Masters and PhD graduates nominated under the Masters of PhD streams may be eligible to apply for a temporary work permit or an extension of an existing work permit while their permanent residence application is being processed. A provincial nomination does not guarantee approval of a temporary work permit application or extension. Information on how to apply for a work permit with CIC is available at the following link: <a-link-to-how-to-apply-for-a-work-permit>.

These are two things I received. I dont know if this second sort of letter document is what you are talking about.

As far as time is concerned my work permit expires on 30th Oct 2016 and I applied for PR on 27th Oct 2015 and received my AOR on 3rd Feb 2016. I am still waiting for Medical Request.

 

[ImmiWorks]

From the excerpt I take it that you may be applying under the Masters graduate stream, is this correct?

Please see the OINP site for this update:
ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNPNOMINEES.html

"As of June 20, 2015:
Due to Federal level changes to the issuance of temporary work permits, as of June 20th, 2015, OINP no longer has the authority to issue support letters for open work permits. This only applies to nominees in streams under the Human Capital Category and includes all streams that do not require a job offer."

 

[dkr1989]

Yes you got it right that my current work permit is under Masters graduate stream. I dont know if that means I am applying under same stream for extension.

Thanks for providing link to the latest rules wrt BOWP. However, this further complicates the situation for me rather then solving it. It say I dont even need a job offer letter where as check list clearly ask for one. On the page you mentioned they provide link to CIC webpage regarding Bridging Open Work Permit eligibility requirements. This page says

To be eligible for a BOWP, foreign nationals must

• be currently in Canada;
• have valid status on a work permit that is due to expire within the next four months;
• be the principal applicant on an APR under the FSWC, the CEC, the FSTC, the PNC (see note below), or one of the two caregiver classes;
• have completed one of the following APR stages:
  • their electronic application for permanent residence (e‑APR) submitted under Express Entry has passed the R10 completeness check; or
  • they have received a positive eligibility assessment on their paper APR submitted by mail under one of the economic classes above;
• have applied for an open work permit;
• have paid the work permit processing fee and the open work permit holder fee; and
• have provided, as applicable, evidence (e.g., nomination certificate) that their provincial nomination is unrestricted.

I clearly meet all of these condition except I have not applied it yet because online application is asking me something different than what this page is stating and haven't paid the fee which I will pay once I figure out what is going on.

 

[dkr1989]

Is there any contact information you can share where I can talk to some officer about the question I had to answer to generate this check list?
In particular I am looking to know about
Question: Which situation best describes your work situation?
Possible options were:
I'm working under an international trade agreement.
I'm eligible for work permit through an active pilot project
I'm provincial nominee certificate holder
..... them some totally not related options
None of the above
I said: I'm a provincial nominee certificate holder. This was the closest. I want to know if that is what I should say and if so why it is asking for documents that I should not need.

 

[ImmiWorks]

Is there any contact information you can share where I can talk to some officer about the question I had to answer to generate this check list?
In particular I am looking to know about
Question: Which situation best describes your work situation?
Possible options were:
I'm working under an international trade agreement.
I'm eligible for work permit through an active pilot project
I'm provincial nominee certificate holder
..... them some totally not related options
None of the above
I said: I'm a provincial nominee certificate holder. This was the closest. I want to know if that is what I should say and if so why it is asking for documents that I should not need.

From the information that you have provided so far, you are asking for a Bridging Open Work Permit based on the fact that you are a provincial nominee certificate holder and are currently waiting for your PR application to be processed at the federal level and are therefore asking for them to bridge the gap between your current work permit and the final decision on your PR application.

 

[dkr1989]

Yes you have understood my situation correctly. I seeking exactly what you said. Based on that you are saying that the choice of "I'm provincial nominee certificate holder" as an answer is correct?

 

[ImmiWorks]

Yes you have understood my situation correctly. I seeking exactly what you said. Based on that you are saying that the choice of "I'm provincial nominee certificate holder" as an answer is correct?

Yes, you would want to let them know that you are provincial nominee certificate holder.

 

[goodboy97]

Can anyone tell me how to get this "Letter of Support from Province or Territory" in Quebec?