Eligibility for Open Work Permits

Immigration minister Sean Fraser has announced new temporary measures to expand the eligibility for open work permits (OWP) in order to address labour shortages in Canada. Implemented in 3 phases, family members of workers coming to Canada will be eligible to apply for their own work permits. Time to look at these options in more detail!

Terminology

Foreign nationals, who are neither citizens nor permanent residents of Canada, require a valid work permit to legally work in Canada. There are generally two options to obtain a work permit:

  • the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), wherein the Canadian employer applies for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) in order to hire a foreign worker, and
  • the International Mobility Program (IMP), which covers various exemptions that let employers hire a foreign worker without an LMIA.
LMIA-based work permits and most LMIA-exempt work permits are employer specific. This means that the foreign national can only work for the employer named on their work permit. By contrast, an open work permit (OWP) allows a foreign national to legally work in Canada for any employer and in any job, making them the preferred choice. The options to apply for open work permits, however, are very limited. Two of these options are based on your spouse or common-law partner, and their status in Canada.

Spouses or common-law partners of international students or foreign skilled workers in Canada may be eligible to apply for the so-called Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP). No Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is required for this type of work permit application as no employer is named on the work permit. The LMIA exemption code is C41 for spouses of foreign skilled workers, and C42 for spouses of international students.

On the other hand, if your spouse or partner is a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident, they can sponsor you for permanent residence (PR). If you're already in Canada and applying for PR under Family Sponsorship, you may be able to apply for an Open Work Permit (OWP) on the basis of your permanent residence application. Previously, only inland applicants under spousal sponsorship are eligible for these open work permits, and the program has now been extended to those who have applied from outside of Canada (outland). The LMIA exemption code here is A70. Following a recent announcement, spouses, partners and dependants will also be able to apply an open work permit as soon as they submit a complete permanent residence application under the spouse or common-law partner in Canada class or other family class programs.

The difference between the two is the status of the spouse or common-law partner in Canada:

  • Foreign worker or student: SOWP
  • Canadian citizen or PR: OWP with PR application under spousal (family) sponsorship

Spousal Open Work Permit (SOWP)

As mentioned above, the SOWP applies to spouses or common-law partners of international students or foreign skilled workers. For the spouse or common-law partner to be eligible, international students must be in a post-graduation work permit-eligible program of study at a public post-secondary school, such as a college or university, or a collège d’enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEP) in Quebec. Foreign workers must be working in a skilled positions classified under Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category 0, 1, 2 or 3 of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system. The work permit must be valid for at least 6 (more) months at the time of applying for the SOWP. The Spousal Open Work Permit will be issued with the same expiry date as the spouse’s or common-law partner’s study or work permit.

Starting June 7th, open work permit holders whose current permit expires between August 1st and the end of 2023 can extend their permit for up to 18 months using a facilitated process. This will include spouses and dependants of most temporary workers, spouses of international students, as well as permanent resident applicants and their spouses/dependants waiting for their applications to be finalized.

What's new?

Since January 2023, IRCC expanded eligibility to work in Canada to spouses and dependent children for workers at all skill levels. Previously, the SOWP was limited strictly to spouses and common-law partners of skilled workers only. Working-age children were not able to apply, and spouses and common-law partners of semi-skilled or unskilled workers were also not eligible.
The temporary measure is limited to 2 years, and started on January 30, 2023. You may be eligible for an open work permit if you’re a

  • spouse, common-law partner or dependent child of a work permit holder who
  • their work permit is valid for at least 6 months after application submission
  • spouse, common-law partner or dependent child of an economic classes permanent resident applicant who holds a work permit
At this time, spouses and dependents of workers in a TEER 4 or 5 job under the low-wage stream of the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and the Agricultural Stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) are not eligible.

On the other hand, IRCC recently announced that spousal open work permits (SOWP) will only be available to spouses of international students in master's and doctoral programs, restricting eligibility for spouses of students in other study levels, including undergraduate and college programs. 

It is estimated that family members of more than 200,000 foreign workers, e.g. in health care, trades and hospitality, could begin working in Canada through this temporary measure. It emphasizes Canada's commitment to supporting the well-being of foreign workers and uniting their families, while addressing the labour shortages across all skill levels.

Looking to apply for an open work permit? Contact us to determine your eligibility!

Popular posts from this blog

What's a CLB?

Image
In most cases, applicants for permanent residence in Canada need to prove their language skills in English or French. To do so, they must take an approved language test. There are five language tests accepted for immigration to Canada; three for English and two for French: •   Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program ( CELPIP) •   International English Language Testing System ( IELTS) •   Pearson Test of English ( PTE)  •   Test de connaissance du français ( TCF) •   Test d’évaluation de français ( TEF) IRCC will use the test results as proof of an applicant's language skills. In order to be valid, test results must be less than two years old at the time of application for permanent residence. There are provisions if a candidate cannot complete one or more sections of the language test because of a disability. The Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) (or Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadien (NCLC) for French) was created to assess language skills of permanent residen
Read more

International Experience Canada (IEC)

Image
International Experience Canada (IEC) is a reciprocal program that gives youth the opportunity to travel and work in Canada for up to 3 years. Young adults aged 18 to 35 can participate in the program under the following categories: Working Holiday ( open work permit ) Young Professional (employer-specific "closed" work permit for jobs contributing to professional development) International co-op (employer-specific work permit for student internship terms) Who Can Apply Citizens of partner countries may be able to apply to one or more of these three categories. Citizens of other countries may still be able to apply to the IEC program through a Recognized Organization  (RO).  The number of participations and length of work permit depend on the applicant's country of citizenship. While some countries allow repeat participations in the same or a different category, others are limited to one participation. The length of work permit under the IEC program can vary from 6 mont
Read more

How Express Entry works

Image
The Express Entry online system is used to manage applications for Permanent Residence under three separate programs: Federal Skilled Worker Program Federal Skilled Trades Program Canadian Experience Class Each program has its own eligibility criteria. Candidates need to meet all requirements for at least one program to apply under Express Entry, and can't mix and match criteria from different programs. The following table shows the eligbility requirements for each of the three programs: Eligibility Criteria Canadian Experience Class Federal Skilled Worker Program Federal Skilled Trades Program Language skills English or French skills CLB 7 for TEER 0 or TEER 1 occupations CLB 5 for TEER 2 or TEER 3 occupations English or French skills CLB 7 English or French skills CLB 5 for speaking and listening CLB 4 for reading and writing Type/Level of work experience Canadian work experience in an occupation
Read more