My OWP expires next week, and I applied 7 weeks ago. I got the WP-EXT the next day, which is good but it’s useless if you want to change employers… so basically it solves nothing.
I think it's primarily meant to be written proof of maintained status (formerly known as implied status) so you can do things like renew provincial healthcare and so on.
That said I've heard of folks with understanding employers who were willing to take the risk to hire someone with a WP-EXT and an expired SIN. And according to
https://ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=1181&top=15 you can raise a webform to ask for additional written proof while the application remains under processing (I suppose in case the original WP-EXT expires? do WP-EXT letters expire?)
I saw the posts above in this sub suggesting it takes roughly 8 weeks to process but couldn't find anything sooner. I don't know when the processing time became 227 days but it's absolutely ridiculous. Two years ago my extension was approved in ONE week. Isn't it pretty straightforward to extend a work permit for a protected person? We are already suffering the excessive PR application times and have to renew this document God knows how many times.
Unfortunately, I have an idea on both points. From
https://thewalrus.ca/canada-held-th...ional-students-then-slammed-it-in-their-face/
> While the government succeeded in discouraging international students from coming to Canada, it didn’t seem to think about the international students already here. Due to the policy changes and the ineligibility for PGWPs, between 70,000 and 130,000 migrant students would lose their status in two years following the policy change. Some of these students, quickly and predictably, adopted a Plan B to stay in Canada. Nearly 13,000 international students applied for asylum in Canada by
September 2024, an increase of about 1,600 from the year before.
> Even if these claims eventually fail, the students–cum–asylum seekers will earn another three years in Canada as their applications are considered—the same length as a PGWP, as it turns out. During this time, they’re eligible for health care, reduced tuition, and
work permits. At the very least, they can spend a few years paying back some of their recruitment and tuition debt. I don’t condone fraudulent asylum applications
Emphasis mine. So in short, it's not just PR, there's an actual and real backlog for protected person open work permits too.
Edit: Maybe try raising a webform to ask for written proof that you can work for the remaining time (the 227 days in the future from when you applied) unless a decision is made first. That might be enough for an understanding employer to agree to hire you during the interm.