VisaWorkers changing jobs in Papua New Guinea should check whether they need a bridging permit
A current-rule guide to bridging permission while a new employer’s application remains undecided, with separate work and immigration requirements.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Check whether the pending case qualifies for bridging permission
This guide concerns a foreign worker already in Papua New Guinea whose new job or employer requires another work permit, while the present permit is approaching expiry. Section 23 of the Employment of Non-Citizens Act 2007 allows a bridging work permit where the current permit is valid but about to expire, the new occupation or employer differs, the other application remains undecided and the delay was not caused by the applicant. The decision is discretionary.
The worker and proposed employer should therefore identify the existing permit number, expiry date and new application’s status before arranging the transfer. A job offer alone is not the pending work-permit application described by the law. Where the current permission has already expired, do not assume that a bridging application can recreate the valid-permit condition retrospectively.
Prepare the information requested on Form 3
The official Form 3 is headed for completion by the new employer. It asks for employer identity and address, the employee’s names, birth date and gender, the existing work-permit number, its expiry date and the date the new application was lodged. It lists a copy of the existing work permit and evidence of payment of the non-refundable fee as attachments.
Both employer and employee sign the declaration, and the employer supplies the company stamp and designation. Check the new-application date against the actual filing record before signing. The form warns that granting bridging permission does not guarantee the new work permit. It also distinguishes renewal in the same position from this new-job application; the presence of a renewal note is not permission to use Form 3 for any unresolved application.
Separate the work decision from the immigration extension
The official general employment guide describes bridging permission as lasting sixty days. It says the worker may start with the new employer once that permission is granted, while the substantive new application remains undecided. That is a grant-based instruction: filing Form 3 is not described as enough to start the new job.
The guide also instructs the holder to take the bridging work permit to immigration for the necessary visa extension. Its discussion of automatic invalidity when employment terminates or the entry visa ceases to be valid makes timing material. Establish the transfer sequence before ending the existing employment, and obtain the immigration decision required for continued stay. The guide’s sixty-day period is not evidence that every pending application automatically extends an entry permit.
Confirm how the bridging case is submitted now
The Immigration and Citizenship Services Authority’s notice dated 19 November 2024 separates new general employment cases, sent through the Sponsor Portal, from specified other applications. It lists bridging and change-of-status work applications among those submitted at Client Services or by electronic lodgement to [email protected].
That dated notice is useful when an employer assumes every transaction uses the same portal. However, it does not establish that a particular channel remains operational for an individual case following subsequent system changes. Before submitting, ask ICSA to confirm the present bridging workflow and whether the new work application is correctly linked. Retain the application acknowledgement separately from the eventual grant and immigration extension.
Budget for the distinct charges and keep the receipt
The current ICSA FAQ lists PGK 250 for a bridging work permit and a further PGK 2,000 for an employer change or promotion through a bridging application while in Papua New Guinea. These are distinct published charges, not alternatives. The FAQ also lists USD 1,000 for the change-of-status category involving a completed employment contract and a new employer. Ask which immigration category actually applies before assuming that dollar charge belongs to every bridging case.
ICSA’s payment guidance says a payment is not the application itself. For help identifying the transaction, its published contact is +675 327 6100 or [email protected]. The reviewed material does not establish a guaranteed completion date for this bridging case. Arrange the filing and expiry review early enough to resolve a refusal or missing document before current permission ends.
