Open Work Permits in Canada: Who Actually Qualifies in 2026
An open work permit lets you work for almost any employer in Canada. It is also the area of Canadian immigration that changed most sharply in 2025 — and a great deal of the advice still circulating online describes rules that no longer exist.
What an open work permit is
An open work permit (OWP) is not tied to a single employer. You can change jobs, change employers and move between provinces without applying for a new permit. There is no job offer requirement, no Labour Market Impact Assessment and no employer-specific conditions.
Two limits still apply. You cannot work for an employer on the ineligible employers list, and you cannot work for an employer offering striptease, erotic dance, escort or erotic massage services. Some open permits are also occupation-restricted — commonly requiring a medical exam before you can work in health care, childcare, or agriculture with close contact with people.
An open work permit is a permission to work. It is not status in itself, and it does not lead automatically to permanent residence.
The big change: spousal open work permits
These rules changed on 21 January 2025
Before that date, most spouses of skilled workers and of full-time students could obtain an open work permit. That is no longer true.
If you are reading guidance that says “spouses of foreign workers and international students may qualify” without further qualification, it predates this change.
If your spouse or partner is a worker
You may be eligible for an open work permit if the principal worker is employed in:
- An occupation in NOC TEER 0 (management) or TEER 1 (occupations usually requiring a university degree); or
- A select TEER 2 or TEER 3 occupation in a sector facing labour shortages or linked to government priorities.
The TEER 2 and 3 occupations that qualify sit in these groups:
| Sector | NOC groups |
| Natural and applied sciences | 22xxx |
| Health care | 32xxx and 33xxx |
| Trades, transport and equipment operators, including construction | 72xxx and 73xxx |
| Natural resources and agriculture | 82xxx and 83xxx |
| Education, law and social, community and government services; sports; and military occupations | Select occupations — check the current IRCC list |
Occupations that were previously eligible and are no longer eligible include business, finance and administration (12xxx and 13xxx), sales and service (62xxx and 63xxx), and manufacturing and utilities (92xxx and 93xxx).
There is a second requirement that catches a great many families:
The 16-month rule
The principal worker must have at least 16 months remaining on their work permit at the time the spouse submits their application.
A spouse applying against a work permit with 14 months left will be refused on that ground alone, even where the occupation qualifies. If the principal worker is about to renew, the order and the timing of the two applications matter.
If your spouse or partner is a student
You may be eligible if the student is enrolled full-time in:
- A master’s program of 16 months or longer;
- A doctoral program; or
- A select professional or other eligible program — for example certain degrees in law, medicine, dentistry, nursing, education, engineering and pharmacy.
Spouses of students in most bachelor’s programs, college diplomas and shorter master’s programs are no longer eligible.
Dependent children
Dependent children of foreign workers are no longer eligible for family open work permits. This changed on 21 January 2025 and is a genuine loss for families who planned around it. Children may still be eligible for study permits, and in some cases for work authorization in their own right.
Two important exceptions
- Free trade agreement spouses. Spouses qualifying under trade agreement provisions — CETA, CPTPP, Korea, Colombia, UK and others — were not subject to these restrictions. For a family where the principal worker is in a TEER 2 or 3 role, this can be decisive.
- Permanent residence applicants. Spouses transitioning to permanent residence were not affected by the January 2025 changes.
Open work permits issued before 21 January 2025 remain valid until they expire. Renewals from within Canada are possible where the same criteria are met and the duration is aligned with the principal applicant’s permit.
The Post-Graduation Work Permit
The PGWP is the most widely issued open work permit in Canada, and it has its own set of rules that changed on 1 November 2024.
Field of study
For students whose study permit application was submitted on or after 1 November 2024, a field of study requirement applies to graduates of college, polytechnic and other non-university programs, and to university graduates of programs other than bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. The program must be linked to an occupation on the list of long-term shortage fields.
Bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree graduates are exempt from the field of study requirement, as are flight school graduates.
Language
| Graduate of | Minimum language level (all four abilities) |
| A university bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree program | CLB / NCLC 7 |
| Any other university program | CLB / NCLC 7 |
| A college, polytechnic or other non-university program | CLB / NCLC 5 |
| A flight school program | No language requirement |
Results must be from a designated testing organization and must be valid when you apply.
Program and permit length
The program must have been at least 8 months long (or 900 hours for certain Quebec programs), and you must generally have studied full-time in each academic session, with part-time study permitted only in your final session. PGWP length is tied to program length, up to a maximum of three years. Graduates of accelerated programs may receive a permit valid for the full standard length of the program.
The Bridging Open Work Permit
A BOWP (exemption code A75) lets someone who has applied for permanent residence keep working while the application is processed, rather than losing their job because an employer-specific permit expired.
The core requirements:
- You must be physically in Canada when you apply
- You must hold valid status, be on maintained status having applied to extend before your permit expired, or be eligible to apply for restoration of status
- You must be the principal applicant on the permanent residence application
- Your permanent residence application must have reached the required stage — either passing the completeness check or receiving a positive eligibility assessment, depending on the class you applied under
Applying too early — before the permanent residence application has reached the qualifying stage — is the most common reason BOWP applications are refused. So is letting status lapse past the 90-day restoration window.
International Experience Canada — read this carefully
Only one of the three IEC categories gives an open work permit
Working Holiday — an open work permit. You can work for almost any employer, change jobs, and travel.
Young Professionals — an employer-specific work permit. You need a job offer that contributes to your professional development, in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3.
International Co-op (Internship) — an employer-specific work permit. You need a registered internship or work placement that is part of your studies.
Plenty of published guidance treats IEC as a single open work permit program. It is not, and arriving under Young Professionals expecting to change employers freely is an unpleasant discovery.
Eligibility depends on your country of citizenship having a youth mobility arrangement with Canada, on your age (generally 18 to 30 or 35, depending on the country), and on the participation limits in that arrangement. Some countries allow only one participation, ever.
Other open work permits
- Vulnerable workers (A72) — for workers in Canada on an employer-specific permit who are experiencing abuse, or at risk of it. These are processed on a priority basis and exist precisely so that nobody has to stay in a dangerous job to keep their status.
- Spouse or common-law partner in Canada class (A70) — once the permanent residence application has passed the first-stage assessment. Protected persons and certain humanitarian and compassionate applicants also fall here.
- Refugee claimants (S61) and certain people under an unenforceable removal order (S62).
- Family members of economic permanent residence applicants (C49).
- Temporary resident permit holders (H82) where the permit is valid for at least six months.
- Atlantic Immigration Program and rural pilot related permits, including permits for accompanying spouses.
Applying: three practical points
- Flagpoling no longer works. Since 24 December 2024, you generally cannot leave Canada and re-enter at a land port of entry to be issued a work permit. A narrow set of exemptions remains, including some trade agreement categories. Apply online and wait for the decision.
- Biometrics. Most applicants must provide fingerprints and a photograph. Biometrics are generally valid for ten years.
- Fees. An open work permit attracts the work permit processing fee plus the open work permit holder fee. Current amounts are on the IRCC fee page — we have deliberately not printed figures here, because they change.
Why applications get refused
- The eligibility criterion was simply not met — most often the principal worker’s occupation or the 16-month rule
- Weak relationship evidence in spousal applications. A marriage certificate on its own is thin. Joint finances, shared address, communication history and photographs over time carry far more weight
- Status problems — applying after status lapsed, or misunderstanding maintained status
- Inconsistencies between forms and supporting documents
- Timing — applying before the permanent residence application reached the stage a BOWP requires
Where people go wrong
The honest summary of this area in 2026: the open work permit is still one of the best things in Canadian immigration, and it is no longer something you can assume you qualify for. Three patterns account for most of the disappointment I see.
- Families who moved to Canada on the basis of pre-2025 advice and discovered after arrival that the accompanying spouse could not work.
- Principal workers who renewed their own permit without considering that the remaining validity determines whether their spouse can apply at all.
- Graduates who chose a program without checking the field of study list and found out at graduation that no PGWP was available.
All three are timing problems, and all three are cheap to avoid and impossible to fix afterwards. If any part of your plan depends on a spouse working, check it before you commit — not after the study permit is approved and the flights are booked.
Work with ImmIgence
ImmIgence Immigration Consulting is a licensed Ontario practice serving individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, and startups across Canada, and their candidates wherever they are based. If you would like an honest assessment of your options — including when the answer is that a different pathway suits you better — get in touch.
Troy Pariag, RCIC‑IRB · Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, Reg. No. R1037109 · imm‑igence.com · troy.pariag@imm‑igence.com
Sources
- Changes to open work permits for family members of temporary residents — IRCC: canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/notices/changes-open-work-permits-family-members-temporary-residents.html
- Post-Graduation Work Permit: who can apply — IRCC: canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/work/after-graduation/eligibility.html
- International Experience Canada: eligibility — IRCC: canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/work-canada/iec/eligibility.html
- Bridging open work permits — IRCC program delivery instructions, canada.ca
- Ending flagpoling for work and study permits at the border — CBSA: canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/news/2024/12/ending-flagpoling-for-work-and-study-permits-at-the-border.html
- International Mobility Program: LMIA exemption codes — IRCC, canada.ca
- Fee list — IRCC, canada.ca
Important note
This article is general information about Canadian immigration law and policy. It is not legal advice and does not create a consultant–client relationship. It reflects the rules in effect on the date shown above; Canadian immigration rules change frequently, sometimes with little notice. Always confirm current requirements on canada.ca or speak with a licensed representative before acting.
