PNP Work Permits Made Easier: IRCC’s June 2026 Operational Bulletin Explained (BOWP vs T13)

By Dimple Verma, RCIC-IRB R708308 · VG Immigration Services

Published June 17, 2026 · Brampton, Ontario

PNP Work Permits Made Easier: What IRCC’s June 2026 Operational Bulletin Actually Changes

On June 9, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) quietly published a temporary operational bulletin that solves one of the most frustrating problems in the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP): thousands of nominees were running out of work authorization while waiting many months just to receive an Acknowledgement of Receipt (AOR) for their permanent residence application. Until this bulletin, no AOR meant no bridging open work permit, no T13 extension, and no spousal open work permit. That gap is now closed — temporarily — until December 31, 2026.

This briefing explains exactly what changed, what an AOR is, what a BOWP is, what a T13 work permit is, how the two differ, and — most importantly — who this policy actually helps. If you are a provincial nominee in Canada whose work permit is about to expire, this update may be the difference between continuing to work legally and losing your job.

Key Highlights at a Glance

• Temporary measures effective June 9, 2026 – December 31, 2026.
• Applies to in-Canada PNP bridging open work permits (BOWPs), T13 employer-specific work permits where the nomination has expired, and spousal open work permits for spouses of PNP applicants.
• You no longer need to wait for an AOR letter to apply for these work permits.
• You can submit the IRCC portal email confirming PR application submission, plus proof of fee payment.
• Officers may also verify eligibility by checking IRCC systems directly.
• Applies only to applications submitted from inside Canada.
• Once you receive your AOR, you must submit it with future work permit applications.

What the June 9, 2026 Operational Bulletin Actually Changes

Before this bulletin, the PNP bridging open work permit, the T13 work permit (when nomination had expired), and spousal open work permits attached to a PNP PR application all required the same single document: the Acknowledgement of Receipt letter. IRCC sends this letter only after completing the R10 completeness check on a PR application — a procedural step that historically took weeks but, since late 2024, has stretched to ten or eleven months for base PNP applicants.

The result was a cruel timing trap. Applicants would submit a complete PR application before their work permit expired, file a BOWP request immediately, and then sit in maintained status for months — with employers, banks, and landlords increasingly nervous — waiting for an AOR that should have arrived in weeks. Some lost jobs. Some had to drop out of the PR process entirely.

“IRCC put the measures in place in response to extended timelines for R10 completeness checks, leading to lengthy wait times for AORs.” — IRCC operational bulletin, June 9, 2026

Under the new bulletin, an officer assessing an in-Canada BOWP, T13 (with expired nomination), or spousal OWP application no longer requires the AOR letter. Instead, the officer may accept:

• A copy of the email confirming submission of the PR application through the online portal, plus proof of fee payment; or
• Direct confirmation in IRCC systems that an Application for Permanent Residence (APR) has been received and remains pending.

The bulletin specifically instructs officers to rely on system confirmation when it is available — meaning the burden of proof shifts away from the applicant. If the application is in GCMS and pending, that is enough.

What Is an ‘Acknowledgement of Receipt’ Letter?

An AOR is the formal IRCC letter confirming that a permanent residence application has passed the R10 completeness check under section 10 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. The R10 check verifies that the application contains every mandatory form, fee, and document — it is not a decision on the merits, just a confirmation that the file is technically complete.

AORs matter because they create a defensible paper trail: every downstream IRCC step — bridging permits, medical exam requests, biometrics instructions, ITAs in some programs — historically referenced the AOR as the trigger. For base PNP applicants in 2025–2026, that trigger sometimes took close to a year to arrive.

What Is a BOWP (Bridging Open Work Permit)?

A Bridging Open Work Permit is an employer-unrestricted open work permit, issued for up to 24 months initially (or until passport expiry, whichever is shorter), allowing certain permanent residence applicants so they can continue working in Canada while IRCC processes their PR file. It is open, meaning the holder can work for almost any employer, in almost any occupation, anywhere outside Quebec. It exists because IRCC PR processing routinely outlasts a person’s current work permit.

Who Can Apply for a BOWP — Express Entry PNP

To be eligible for a BOWP under the Express Entry PNP stream, an applicant must:

• Live in Canada (and intend to live outside Quebec) at the time of the BOWP application;
• Hold valid temporary resident status and a valid work permit, or hold an expired work permit but have maintained status and the authority to work without a work permit, or be eligible to restore status and get a work permit;
• Hold valid temporary resident status;
• Be the principal applicant on the permanent residence application;
• Have no employment restrictions attached to the provincial nomination;
• Have submitted a complete PR application and passed the completeness check; and
• Hold an Acknowledgement of Receipt letter (until December 31, 2026, the email confirmation + fee proof or IRCC system confirmation is accepted instead).

Who Can Apply for a BOWP — Base PNP (Not Through Express Entry)

Base PNP applicants have nearly the same requirements, with one important difference. They must:

• Live in Canada (and intend to live outside Quebec) at the time of the BOWP application;
• Hold valid temporary resident status and a valid work permit, or have maintained status as a worker, or be eligible for restoration;
• Hold valid temporary resident status;
• Be the principal applicant on the PR application;
• Have no employment restrictions attached to the provincial nomination;
• Have submitted a complete PR application and passed the eligibility assessment (a step beyond the basic completeness check); and
• Hold an AOR letter (again, until December 31, 2026, the new alternative documents are accepted).

“This letter doesn’t mean your BOWP application is being processed. We won’t start processing your BOWP until we review your permanent residence application and confirm that you meet the basic eligibility requirements for PR under the PNP.” — IRCC, on the AOR letter for base PNP BOWPs

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What Is a T13 Work Permit?

A T13 work permit is a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)-exempt work permit issued under the legal authority of paragraph 204(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. The ‘T13’ is the administrative LMIA exemption code IRCC officers use when a foreign national has a valid provincial nomination (outside Quebec) and a job offer from an employer in that nominating province. T13 is closed — tied to one specific employer in one province. It is the opposite, structurally, of the open BOWP.

Who Qualifies for a T13

To be eligible for a T13 work permit, a foreign national must:

• Have a valid nomination from a province (other than Quebec) for permanent residence, or be able to demonstrate proof that they applied for PR prior to the nomination’s expiration;
• Have an LMIA-exempt offer of employment from an employer based in the nominating province, submitted through the IRCC Employer Portal under the employer compliance regime;
• Have a provincial support letter indicating an urgent requirement for the foreign national to begin the job prior to permanent residence.

Important: a T13 will not be issued where the nomination has expired before the PR application was submitted, or where the nomination has been paused — for example, because the job offer was rescinded or because the province is conducting an investigation.

Required Documents for a T13

• A copy of the confirmation of nomination letter from the provincial government — not a nomination certificate. IRCC explicitly tells its officers not to request nomination certificates, noting that “provincial nominees are not issued a copy.”
• An LMIA-exempt offer of employment submitted via the Employer Portal, with the $230 employer compliance fee paid. The details in the offer letter must align with the provincial support letter.
• A statement from the province confirming the job offer is genuine and economically beneficial, the employment is full-time and permanent (not part-time or seasonal), the wages and conditions would attract and retain Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and the nominee is urgently required — with no unreasonable delay between work permit approval and the actual start of work.
• If the nomination has expired but the PR application was filed in time, a copy of the AOR letter (or, under the June 2026 bulletin, the portal submission email + fee proof, or IRCC system confirmation).

Provincial Support Letter — The Make-or-Break Document

The support letter from the nominating province is the centre of a T13 application. Without it, T13 is not available. Provinces issue these letters either as part of the nomination package or on request after nomination, and the rules vary widely:

Province	Notable Rule
Alberta	Charges a $150 fee for post-nomination support letter requests.
Prince Edward Island	Does not charge a fee for a support letter.
New Brunswick	Issues a support letter where the existing work permit expires within 120 days.
British Columbia	Issues a support letter where the existing work permit expires within 180 days.
All provinces	A support letter generally remains valid for up to six months.

Possessing a support letter does not guarantee IRCC approval — the officer still independently assesses the file under section 200 of the IRPR. But without one, there is no T13.

T13 vs BOWP: Side-by-Side

The two permits solve overlapping problems but operate on entirely different legal rails. The table below highlights the most important practical differences.

Feature	T13 Work Permit	BOWP (Bridging Open WP)
Legal authority	IRPR s. 204(c) — federal-provincial agreement LMIA exemption	IRPR s. 205(a) public policy — bridging measure for PR applicants
Open or closed	Closed — tied to one employer in the nominating province	Open — almost any employer outside Quebec
Nomination required	Yes — valid or expired-but-PR-filed-in-time	Yes — valid nomination with no employment restrictions
PR application required	No — T13 is usable before PR submission with a valid nomination	Yes — complete PR application that has passed the completeness/eligibility check
Provincial support letter	Mandatory	Not required
Job offer in nominating province	Mandatory	Not required
Employer compliance fee	$230 paid by employer	Not applicable
Applicant work permit fee	$155	$155 + $100 open work permit holder fee
Typical duration	Up to 2 years, aligned to job offer and passport	Up to 24 months (2 years) initial, 12-month extensions thereafter
When most useful	Pre-PR or where nomination has expired but PR was filed in time, employer is urgent	After PR submission, when the applicant wants flexibility to change employers

In other words: T13 is the right tool when there is a specific employer in the nominating province who needs the nominee to start work urgently. BOWP is the right tool when the nominee has filed PR, wants flexibility, and is willing to be in maintained status for a longer wait. Both now benefit from the June 2026 bulletin’s alternative-document rule — the AOR is no longer a hard prerequisite.

Spousal Open Work Permits — The Quiet Win

The third category covered by the June 2026 bulletin is the spousal open work permit. Spouses and common-law partners of PNP applicants who are themselves in Canada can apply for an open work permit (often under administrative code C41 if the principal is working in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3, or under the BOWP-spouse stream if the principal is in BOWP). Until June 9, 2026, these spousal OWP applications also required the principal applicant’s AOR. Many couples lost a household income stream during the AOR wait.

Under the new bulletin, spousal OWPs filed in Canada can also be supported by the principal’s portal submission email and fee proof, or by IRCC’s own system confirmation. The bulletin language is symmetric: “eligible spousal open work permits, for spouses of PNP applicants” benefit from the same alternative-evidence rule.

Who This Policy Actually Helps

The bulletin reaches a specific population. To benefit, all of these must be true:

• You are physically in Canada when you apply for the work permit — the bulletin expressly does not extend to overseas applications.
• You hold a valid provincial nomination (or your nomination expired but you filed PR before it did).
• You have already submitted your PR application through the online portal — not just an Express Entry profile, and not a draft.
• You have not yet received your AOR letter. Once you receive the AOR, you must include it.
• You are applying for a BOWP, a T13 (with expired nomination but timely PR submission), or a spousal OWP on a PNP file.

The clearest beneficiaries are base PNP applicants in trade, healthcare, and tech occupations whose work permits expire in the next six months, plus their spouses. Express Entry PNP applicants generally received AORs faster, but they too are covered. Quebec Selected Workers are excluded — this policy is a federal-PNP measure.

Practical Timing: When to File

If your current work permit expires in the next four to six months and you have submitted your PR application, the right move is generally to file your BOWP or T13 right now — before your existing work permit lapses. Why? Because maintained status only applies to applicants who file a new in-Canada permit application before their existing permit expires. Maintained status lets you keep working under the conditions of the expired permit while the new application is processed. Without it, you must stop working the day your permit ends.

Filing immediately also locks in your eligibility under the bulletin, which sunsets on December 31, 2026. Applications received by IRCC by that date are processed under the new rules; later applications go back to the old AOR-required regime.

Where This Fits in the Broader Work Permit Landscape

T13 sits alongside the other LMIA-exempt categories under the International Mobility Program. Earlier this month we published deep-dive briefs on two related codes that nominees and their families often consider in parallel:

• C31 LMIA-Exempt Research Work Permit 2026 — for postdoctoral and research-stream applicants at recognized institutions.
• C22 Academic Exchange Work Permit 2026 — for visiting professors, guest lecturers, and K-12 exchange teachers under reciprocal agreements.
• PGWP Extension Due to Passport Expiry — the paper-only rule IRCC rarely highlights.

How VG Immigration Can Help

Dimple Verma, RCIC-IRB R708308 and the VG Immigration team have built a same-week workflow specifically for the June 2026 bulletin. We will:

• Audit your current work permit expiry, nomination validity, and PR submission timeline against the bulletin.
• Decide whether BOWP, T13, or both is the right filing for your file (sometimes T13 is filed first and BOWP is filed once eligibility is confirmed).
• Prepare the alternative-document evidence package — portal submission email, fee proof, and a covering letter referencing the June 9, 2026 operational bulletin.
• For T13 files, coordinate with your employer on the Employer Portal offer and the $230 compliance fee, and with the nominating province on the support letter if you do not yet have one.
• Prepare matching spousal OWP applications so the household income stream is preserved.

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VG Immigration Services Inc. · Brampton, Ontario · Authorized to provide Canadian immigration advice and representation under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants — Dimple Verma, RCIC-IRB R708308. This article is general information about Canadian immigration policy, not legal advice for any specific file. For advice on your individual circumstances, schedule a consultation. Information current as of June 17, 2026 — the IRCC operational bulletin discussed sunsets on December 31, 2026.