Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) updated the eligibility requirements to apply for an open work permit. This temporary measure will require applicants to have a letter of support from a province or territory. The said province or territory may only issue a support letter if the applicant qualifies for their provincial nominee program.
This temporary measure will continue till 31st December, 2024. In this measure, only a couple of provinces and one territory is participating. They are:
- Alberta
- Manitoba
- Yukon
The support letter will demonstrate that the employee is currently living in that province/territory and their EOI is submitted in their provincial nominee program.
New Open Work Permit Changes
Other than the new support letter rule, IRCC also brought along a few changes to the eligibility criteria of open work permits. These are discussed in detail below:
- The applicant may apply for an open work permit if they are in one of these situations:
- They already have a work permit
- Their work permit was valid on 7th May 2024
- Though their work permit has expired, they have applied to restore their status at the time of applying for an open work permit
- On 7th May, they were on maintained status and not received a negative result on work permit extension application
- The applicant
- was in Canada when they applied for an open work permit and received a decision (they were on a temporary resident status)
- was in Canada and will apply to restore their status when applying for open work permit
- Their employer issued them an employment letter
Who Cannot Apply?
Applicants who are already nominated by a province or territory will not be able to apply for an open work permit within this temporary measure. Moreover, this open work permit will allow an applicant to work in Canada for about 2 years.
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