Canada Changes Criteria for Open Work Permits for Spouses of Foreign Workers and International Students

Effective January 21, 2025, only spouses of certain foreign workers and international students will be able to apply for an open work permit, reversing the previous policy permitting all spouses of work permit holders and students to obtain a spousal open work permit. The new eligibility criteria are as follows:

Spouses of Foreign Workers:

Work permits will be limited to spouses of foreign workers who are employed in:

• TEER 0 or 1 occupations, or

• select TEER 2 or 3 occupations in sectors with labour shortages or linked to government priorities. These include occupations in the natural and applied sciences, construction, health care, natural resources, education, sports, and military sectors. The full list can be found at the following link.

The foreign worker must have at least 16 months remaining on their work permit at the time their spouse applies for an open work permit. Dependent children of foreign workers are no longer eligible for a work permit.

Spouses of International Students:

Work permits will be limited to spouses of international students who are enrolled in:

• master’s programs that are 16 months or longer

• doctoral programs, or

• select professional and eligible programs including medicine (MD), law (LLB, JD, BCL), dentistry (DDS, DMD), optometry (OD), pharmacy (PharmD, BS, BSc, BPharm), veterinary medicine (DVM), nursing (BScN, BSN, BNSc, BN), education (BEd) and engineering (BEng, BE, BASc).

Impact on Foreign Workers

Spousal Open Work Permits that were approved under the previous regime that have not expired will remain valid. In situations where students may need more time to complete their program or where family members received a shorter work permit than the principal applicant, in-Canada family members (including spouses and dependent children) can apply to renew their work permit as long as

• they are applying under the same criteria as the current work permit, and

• the requested duration of the renewal matches that of the existing study or work permit of the principal applicant

Spouses of workers covered by free-trade agreements and those transitioning to permanent residence will not be impacted by these changes.

What this means for our clients

Highly skilled employees including those in managerial or professional roles will be able to continue to have their spouses work in Canada. Lower skilled employees, unless on the government’s target list, will continue to be able to have their spouses in Canada, but will be limited to a visitor record only. Spouses of international students may need to look to other work authorization pathways.