rkapoor123 said:
Thanks for your message.. One quick question.. When you applied for BOWP, did it have your current employers name on it? I know few of my friends who received closed wp even though they were eligibile for open work permit...
When you apply for a work permit as an approved PNP candidate who has a federal application in process, I have found that the officers are both confused and unsure about what to do. I don't know this from personal experience, but rather experience others have had at the border. An immigration consultant I'm friends with has provided me with people to ask experiences of, and I've heard everything in the book.
What is clear is that officers are confused both by the constant change in CIC policy set by those at the top combined with an unequal application of rules and law on their own behalf. Immigration officers at the border you deal with have a bit of power on their own accord and they often make decisions just on personal bias and preference.
In other words, its honestly a freak show when it comes to this. Every PNP applicant that is pre-approved with a PNP application in process at the federal level should receive open work permits that are worth several years. There's no need to put us through the hassle that people without pre-approval and PNP nominations go through as beginner applicants. When we arrive at the border we should be provided one quickly and without many questions once our federal application is reviewed and once the PNP nomination is recognized. It doesn't happen with most people, but it does with some the way it should be.
But this is something I doubt will ever change. You're talking about a department that hands out rule changes so frequently it takes a lawyer to understand - something no border immigration agent is - and the desire for border agents to do their own thing. Between the two, you'll never get consistency.