ARCHIVED – Operational Bulletin 406 - April 19, 2012

Ontario Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) – Open work permits for Master’s or PhD graduates/nominees

This Operational Bulletin has expired.

Summary

Effective as of the date of this publication, Opportunities Ontario: Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) will use its R204(c) authority under the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement and its Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Annex to facilitate the issuance of open work permits (WPs) for Master’s and PhD graduates who have been nominated by the Province and are awaiting finalization of an application for Permanent Residence (PR).

Issue

The purpose of this Operational Bulletin (OB) is to inform officers of Opportunities Ontario: PNP use of its authority under the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement and its TFW Annex to facilitate the issuance of open WPs for Master’s and PhD graduates who have been nominated by the Province under the International Student Category of the Ontario PNP.

Background

The Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement states:

Ontario’s PNP would like to provide assistance to certain graduates who require a means of maintaining or establishing status in Canada while they transition to PR in Ontario. An open WP issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would provide a bridge from student to worker for those nominees whose temporary authorization to remain in Canada following graduation would expire between the province’s nomination and the anticipated finalization of the student’s PR application. In certain cases, Ontario nominees will have already lost status or left Canada; an open WP would allow those nominees to return to Ontario and to obtain employment which would assist their successful establishment as PRs.

The Foreign Worker Manual (FW 1) will be updated with information regarding this Ontario PNP initiative.

Eligible Participants

Applicants must meet the following criteria to be eligible for an open WP under this initiative:

• Must be a foreign national who is a Master’s or PhD graduate and nominee in Ontario under the Pilot Master’s Graduate Stream or the PhD Graduate Stream of the International Student Category;
• Must either currently reside in Ontario or intend to reside in Ontario for the duration of the WP;
• Must currently hold valid status as a Temporary Resident (TR), or be eligible to apply for restoration of TR status, if in Canada;
  • Note: R199 prescribes that only certain foreign nationals may apply for a WP at an inland office of CIC.
• Must apply for their open WP at a visa office overseas or at a Port of Entry (POE) (if eligible), if they have already departed Canada or if they are not described in R199;
• Must have received a letter of support issued by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration. (See Appendix A for a sample of this letter.)

Open Work Permit Issuance

• Applications can be submitted to the Case Processing Centre in Vegreville, Alberta (CPC-V) by mail (if applicant is currently in Canada and eligible to apply inland); at a visa office overseas; or directly at a POE (if exempt from the requirement to obtain a temporary resident visa).
• The letter of support issued by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration and a copy of the applicant’s Opportunities Ontario Letter of Nomination must be included with the application.
• The Labour Market Opinion exemption code is T13 in conjunction with R204(c) of the IRPR. (A reminder to officers that exemption code T10 is no longer in use.)
• The work permit should specify that it is only valid for work in the Province of Ontario.
• REMARKS should include the text “TFW-PNP / R204(c)”.
• The duration of these open WPs is eighteen (18) months, or until the expiry date of the applicant’s travel document, whichever is shorter.

The usual work permit fee of $155.00 is applicable.

Appendix A – Sample letter

See Appendix A (PDF, 558 KB) (PDF, 87.23KB) for a sample of the following letter.