Work Permits in Canada

Every year over 90,000 foreign workers enter Canada working temporarily to help Canadian employers address skill shortages in Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) ensure that these workers will support economic growth in Canada and create more opportunities for all Canadian job seekers.

In almost all cases you must have a valid work permit to work in Canada.

These steps must be followed before you apply for a work permit:

1. An employer must first offer you a job.
2. HRDC must normally provide a labour market opinion or ‘confirmation’ of your job offer.
3. After HRDC confirms that a foreign national may fill the job, you apply to CIC for your work permit.

Who should apply under this category?

To qualify under this category you must be coming to Canada to work for your employer. Unless you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, in order to work in Canada you must hold a valid employment authorization (EA).

The Canadian government is committed to helping employers create job opportunities for Canadians. In addition to domestic efforts, this sometimes involves supporting the entry into Canada of foreign workers needed by employers to temporarily meet labour market shortages they are otherwise unable to fill. Working with our partners at Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is redesigning the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program to facilitate the entry of foreign workers who have obtained an offer of employment in Canada.

Except for specific situations (e.g. spouses of foreign students; refugee claimants awaiting determination of their claims), the foreign worker must have a job offer to temporarily work in Canada before he or she can apply for an employment authorization.

The EA approval process involves both consideration of the job offer and consideration of the applicant.

Getting a work permit is not easy however but it is possible and work permits are issued everyday. To qualify you must have a skill that the employer can not find among permanent residents or Canadian citizens. It is simple as that but the employer has to prove that he has searched for permanent residents or Canadian citizens to the do the job.

Who does not need work permit to work in Canada?

The following persons do not need a employment authorization to work in Canada.  However they may need a visitor visa to come to Canada.

• As a properly accredited diplomat, consular officer, representative or official
1. of a country, other than Canada,
2. of the United Nations or any of its agencies, or
3. of any intergovernmental organization in which Canada participates, or as a member of the suite of any such diplomat, consular officer, representative or official;
• As a member of the armed forces of a country that is a designated state for the purposes of the Visiting Forces Act, including a person who has been designated as a civilian component of that visiting force pursuant to paragraph 4(c) of that Act;
• As a clergyman, a member of a religious order or a lay person to assist a congregation or a group in the achievement of its spiritual goals where the duties to be performed by that person will consist mainly of preaching of doctrine, presiding at liturgical functions or spiritual counselling;
• As a performing artist, a member of a group of performing artists or a member of the staff of the performing artists or the group, where the artist or the group and the staff that accompanies the artist or the group, as the case may be, number not less than 15;
• As a member of the crew of a vehicle of foreign ownership or foreign registry engaged predominantly in the international transportation of goods or passengers;
1. as a civil aviation inspector of a recognized national aeronautical authority, conducting inspections of flight operation procedures or cabin safety of a commercial air carrier operating international flights;
• As an employee of a foreign news company for the purpose of reporting on Canadian events;
• As a representative of a business carrying on activities outside Canada or of a foreign government for the purpose of purchasing Canadian goods or services for that business or foreign government, including a person coming to or in Canada for the purpose of
1. inspecting, during or after manufacturing, the quality of the goods purchased, or
2. acquiring training or familiarization with the goods or services purchased,
where that representative will not be actively engaged in production of goods or services in Canada;
• As a representative of a business carrying on activities outside Canada or of a foreign government coming to or in Canada for a period of less than 90 days for the purpose of selling goods or services for that business or foreign government, where that representative will not be engaged in making sales to the general public;
• As a permanent employee of a corporation, union or other organization carrying on business or operating outside Canada who is coming to or in Canada for a period of less than 90 days for the purpose of consulting with other employees or members of that corporation, union or other organization, or inspecting a Canadian branch office or headquarters on behalf of that corporation, union or other organization;
• For the purpose of rendering emergency medical or other services for the preservation of life or property;
1. as an accredited representative or an adviser participating in an aviation accident or incident investigation conducted under the authority of the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board;
• As a member of a non-Canadian-based team to engage or assist in sport activities or events or as an individual participant to engage in sport activities or events other than as a referee, umpire or similar official;
• As a judge, referee or similar official in an international sporting event organized by an international amateur sporting association and hosted by a Canadian organization;
• As a judge at an animal show competition;
• As an external examiner of a degree-qualifying thesis or project;
• As a guest speaker for the sole purpose of making a speech or delivering a paper at a dinner, graduation, convention or similar function;
• As an expert witness for the sole purpose of testifying in proceedings before a regulatory board or tribunal or a court;
• As a permanently employed personal servant coming into or in Canada for a period of less than 90 days for the purpose of performing his regular duties with his employer during the latter's sojourn in Canada;
• As an officer of a foreign government sent by his government to take up duties with a federal or provincial agency pursuant to an exchange agreement with Canada;
• As a medical elective or clinical clerk at a Canadian medical teaching institution, where that person will merely be observing clinical or medical procedures;
• As a trainee with a Canadian parent or subsidiary corporation, where that trainee will not be actively engaged in the production of goods or services;
• As an executive of the organizing committee of a convention or meeting or as a member of the administrative support staff of such a committee who is permanently employed by the organization holding the convention or meeting;
• As a person who pursuant to paragraphs 1 to 3 under the heading "Canada" in Annex 1502.1 of the Agreement as defined in section 2 of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act is exempted from the requirement to obtain an employment authorization;
• As a person who, pursuant to paragraphs 1 to 5 under Annex 1603.A of the Agreement, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, is exempted from the requirement to obtain an employment authorization;
• As a person who holds a student authorization and who, during the period that the person is a full-time student at the local campus of a university or college, is employed on that campus; or
• As a person who, pursuant to paragraphs 1 to 5 of Annex K-03, Section 1 of the Agreement, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, is exempted from the requirement to obtain an employment authorization.