If your current visa is about to expire but your permanent residency (or green card) application is still sitting with the immigration authority, you need something to legally cover the gap. People search for this as an “interim visa,” a “bridging visa,” or “interim status” — but there’s no single document by that name that works the same way everywhere. Every major destination solves this problem differently, and using the wrong country’s rules for your situation can cost you your legal status. Here’s how the four countries applicants ask about most actually handle it.
There’s no one “interim visa” — it’s a per-country mechanism
Three things vary by country, and all three matter:
- Whether the bridge is automatic or something you must actively apply for.
- Whether it lets you keep working (and under what conditions).
- Whether it lets you travel internationally and still return.
Get any of these wrong — assuming automatic coverage when you needed to apply, or traveling on a status that doesn’t permit re-entry — and you can lose lawful status entirely, which is far worse than a processing delay.
Canada: the Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP)
Canada’s mechanism is the most work-focused of the four. If you’re the principal applicant on a federal permanent residence application (Express Entry, most Provincial Nominee Program streams, and several other programs) and your existing work permit is expiring before IRCC finishes processing, you can apply for a Bridging Open Work Permit. It’s an open permit — no job offer or LMIA required — but it is not automatic: you must apply for it yourself, and only after your PR application has passed IRCC’s completeness check. We cover the eligibility rules, the CAD $255 combined fee, and the exact application sequence in our Bridging Open Work Permit guide.
Australia: Bridging Visas A, B, and C
Australia’s system is the most automatic of the four, but the type you get depends entirely on your status the moment you lodge your substantive visa application:
- Bridging Visa A (BVA) is granted automatically when you lodge a valid substantive visa application while you still hold a valid visa. It generally carries the same work rights as the visa it bridges, but it does not allow travel — leaving Australia on a BVA ends it, and you must wait offshore for a decision.
- Bridging Visa B (BVB) is for applicants who specifically need to travel while waiting; it must be requested separately with a reason, and it’s the only one of the three that permits leaving and re-entering Australia.
- Bridging Visa C (BVC) applies if your previous visa had already expired before you lodged your new application — meaning you were briefly unlawful. It generally carries no work rights unless you separately apply for a condition change on financial-hardship grounds, and like the BVA, it does not permit travel.
The practical trap: applicants assume any bridging visa lets them work and travel like their old one did. It doesn’t — check which letter you actually hold before making plans. (Source: Australian Department of Home Affairs, bridging visa subclass pages.)
United States: EAD and Advance Parole during I-485 processing
The US doesn’t issue a separate “bridging visa” at all. If you have a pending Form I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status), your interim coverage comes from two optional, separately filed documents, usually submitted together with the I-485:
- Form I-765 for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD) — lets you work legally while the green card application is pending.
- Form I-131 for Advance Parole — lets you travel internationally and re-enter without abandoning your pending application (leaving without it can be treated as abandonment).
Neither is automatic and neither is optional if you actually need to work or travel — you have to file for them, and USCIS processing times for the EAD/AP combo card run separately from the I-485 itself, so timing the filing matters. (Source: USCIS, Form I-485 guidance.)
United Kingdom: Section 3C leave
The UK’s version is the most automatic and the narrowest. If you already hold valid leave, submit a valid, in-time application to extend or switch it, and your current leave expires before a decision is made, your existing conditions continue automatically under Section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 — no separate application, no new document. But it comes with two hard limits: whatever work restrictions applied to your original visa continue unchanged (3C leave doesn’t upgrade your work rights), and leaving the Common Travel Area while on 3C leave ends it automatically — there’s no equivalent of Australia’s BVB that lets you travel and keep the bridge intact. (Source: UK Home Office, “Leave extended by section 3C (and 3D)” guidance.)
The pattern across all four
Whatever the mechanism is called, the same three questions decide what you can actually do:
| Country | Mechanism | Automatic? | Work rights | Travel allowed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | Bridging Open Work Permit | No — must apply | Yes, open | Only under existing permit’s terms |
| Australia | Bridging Visa A/B/C | BVA/BVC: yes; BVB: no | Depends on letter | Only BVB |
| United States | EAD + Advance Parole | No — must file both | Yes, via EAD | Only with Advance Parole |
| United Kingdom | Section 3C leave | Yes, if conditions met | Same as original visa | No |
FAQ
Is there a country that automatically lets me work and travel while my residency application is pending? Not among these four. The closest is Australia’s Bridging Visa B, but even that must be requested and justified — it isn’t automatic like the BVA.
What happens if I travel when my interim status doesn’t allow it? In the US, leaving without Advance Parole while your I-485 is pending can be treated as abandoning the application. In Australia, leaving on a BVA or BVC generally ends that bridging visa. In the UK, leaving the Common Travel Area ends Section 3C leave automatically. Assume “no travel” unless your specific document explicitly permits it.
Does an interim/bridging status count toward permanent residence itself? No — in every system above, it’s a status that lets you remain (and sometimes work) while a decision is pending. None of them grant residency on their own; they only prevent a gap in lawful status while you wait for the actual outcome.
My current visa already expired — can I still get bridging status? Sometimes, but the terms are usually worse. Australia’s BVC exists specifically for this case (no work rights by default). In the UK, Section 3C leave requires an in-time application — once your leave has already lapsed, 3C protection generally isn’t available and you may need to apply for leave outside the immigration rules instead. Confirm your specific situation with the relevant authority or a licensed adviser before assuming any bridge applies.
This is general information, not legal advice — bridging and interim-status rules change and often depend on the specific program you applied under, so confirm current requirements on the relevant government site (IRCC, Home Affairs, USCIS, or the UK Home Office) before making travel or work plans. If you’re navigating a residency application and want to know exactly which interim rules apply to your case, join the VisaMet waitlist — our AI eligibility check maps your full pathway, gaps included.
Sources: IRCC — Bridging open work permit for permanent residence applicants, Australian Department of Home Affairs — Bridging visa A (subclass 010), USCIS — I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, UK Home Office — Leave extended by section 3C (and 3D).