Canada Offers Work Permits to Out-of-Status and At-Risk Manitoba Nominee Candidates

The federal government will provide work permits to up to 2,700 temporary foreign workers in Manitoba, including workers who have lost their status or who could otherwise be at risk of losing their authorization to work in Canada.

Under a temporary public policy called the “Manitoba Workforce Transition Bridge public policy” (MWTB), open work permits will be issued to provincial nominee candidates who hold provincial support letters.

The policy was published on the federal government website on August 5, 2026, and came into effect on July 6, 2026. It provides a pathway for qualifying foreign nationals who are being considered for provincial nomination for permanent residence through the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP).

Who Can Apply Under the MWTB?

To apply under the MWTB, a foreign national must provide a letter of employment from their current employer along with a support letter from Manitoba. The support letter must:

• Have been issued on or before December 31, 2025; and

• Confirm that the foreign national was screened by the province and placed in the MPNP’s Expression of Interest (EOI) pool on or before December 31, 2025.

The foreign national must also fall under one of the following three situations:

Situation 1 – Valid Work Permit

The foreign national currently holds a valid work permit.

Situation 2 – Expired Work Permit

The foreign national held a valid work permit on May 7, 2024, which has since expired.

Situation 3 – Maintained Status

The foreign national applied to renew a work permit on or before May 7, 2024, and has maintained status.

Applying for an Open Work Permit

A foreign national who meets the MWTB requirements can submit an application for an open work permit along with an application to extend their authorization to remain in Canada as a temporary resident.

Those who qualify under the expired work permit situation may also submit an application to restore their temporary resident status.

Applicants qualifying under the MWTB are exempt from the conditions normally required to apply for a work permit from within Canada, such as holding an existing work permit or study permit.

MWTB applicants may also receive work permits even when they would normally be ineligible because they have:

• Engaged in unauthorized work or study; or

• Violated conditions associated with a previous permit or work authorization.

They may also receive restoration of status even when they would normally be ineligible because they:

• Missed the usual 90-day period to apply; or

• Failed to comply with one or more mandatory conditions on their work authorization, including conditions that are not waived under a typical restoration of status application.

How Long Will the MWTB Remain in Effect?

The MWTB is scheduled to remain in force until December 31, 2027, after which it will expire.

As is generally the case with temporary public policies, the policy may be revoked at any time without prior notice.

The operation of the policy depends on a letter of intent signed by Manitoba and the federal government's immigration department, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

As of August 6, the federal government had also updated its webpage titled “Open work permit for prospective Provincial Nominee Program candidates with a support letter from Manitoba,” which provides high-level guidance for MWTB applicants.

Background of the Manitoba Workforce Transition Bridge Policy

The federal government's official publication of the MWTB on its temporary public policies webpage came nearly one month after two federal Winnipeg members of Parliament announced the scheme through their personal social media accounts.

The MWTB succeeds a provincial nominee work permit policy that was in effect from August to December 2024 and applied to Manitoba, Alberta, and Yukon. That policy expired without an announced renewal or replacement, although it may have been silently extended through the end of 2025.

The earlier policy, which is now archived, was introduced when many temporary foreign workers faced the possibility of losing their status while pursuing provincial immigration.

Following several years of large international student cohorts, provincial EOI pools experienced a supply-and-demand squeeze in 2024. Hundreds of thousands of post-graduation work permit (PGWP) holders were seeking to transition to permanent residence, while the federal government reduced PNP permanent residence admission targets by 50%.

Before the 2024 policy, Canada's immigration system did not have a specific mechanism to provide work authorization to foreign nationals at the candidate stage of pursuing permanent residence through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

In most situations, a candidate cannot simply apply for provincial nomination whenever they choose. They must first receive an invitation. Their pathway is generally to create a profile in the province's EOI pool and wait for selection.

Work Permit Challenges for Nominee Candidates

A nominee candidate has limited options if their work permit expires while they are being considered in a province's EOI pool.

This differs from candidates who have already submitted applications for provincial nomination or permanent residence. In many cases, those applicants can obtain work authorization through a work permit support letter or a bridging open work permit (BOWP), respectively.

In June 2026, the federal government introduced another measure to expand work authorization for provincial nominees who could otherwise be at risk of losing their status between submitting their permanent residence application and receiving an acknowledgement of receipt (AOR) confirming that the application is complete.

Before the June measure, an AOR was a strict requirement for applying for a BOWP. As a result, base PNP applicants could be left in limbo, with some unable to apply for work permit extensions while waiting more than 12 months for their AORs.

If a foreign national has been issued a support letter by Manitoba that has since expired and they need it to be re-issued, they can follow the instructions provided on the province’s website.