How to get a Canadian work permit
Do you want to work in Canada without spending a year chasing an employer through a labour market impact assessment? Most people never need to.
In 2024, 80% of work permits were issued under the International Mobility Program, which is LMIA-exempt, and only 20% under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. That is the opposite of how most guides describe the process.
Here’s how the two routes differ, which one you can realistically use, and what changed in 2025 and 2026.
Do you need a job offer to work in Canada?
For most work permits, yes. Canada’s default is an employer-specific work permit, which names your employer as a legal condition of the permit. Working for anyone else, even briefly and even in the same kind of role, counts as working without authorization.
One thing has definitely changed. A job offer used to be worth up to 200 CRS points toward permanent residency. Since March 25, 2025, it is worth zero. A job offer still gets you the work permit, and it still matters for some provincial nominee streams. It no longer buys you points.
That distinction matters because of what people were paying. If someone offers to sell you an LMIA-backed job offer to raise your immigration score, the thing they’re selling stopped working in March 2025.
LMIA versus LMIA-exempt, side by side
An LMIA is a document your employer gets from Employment and Social Development Canada showing that hiring you won’t displace a Canadian worker. If your job needs one, your employer applies first and you apply afterward. If your job is exempt, that whole step disappears.
| Temporary Foreign Worker Program | International Mobility Program | |
|---|---|---|
| LMIA needed? | Yes | No |
| Share of permits issued in 2024 | 20% | 80% |
| Who applies first | Your employer, for the LMIA | You, directly |
| Includes | High-wage and low-wage streams, Global Talent Stream, agricultural streams | Post-graduation work permits, spousal permits, intra-company transfers, international agreements, youth mobility |
| Direction of travel | Being cut. Target of about 60,000 arrivals, down 27% | Being grown. Target of 170,000, up 32% |
Read the last row again, because it should shape your strategy. Canada is deliberately shrinking the LMIA-based route and growing the exempt one. Building a plan around an LMIA in 2026 means competing for a shrinking pool.
Which work permit routes are open to you?
The realistic routes depend on where you are now, not just on your skills. Below is an honest read of which doors are actually open, including the ones that are not.
- Post-graduation work permit. The most reliable route into Canadian work experience, but you have to study there first. It now requires a language test and, for non-degree programs, an eligible field of study.
- Employer-specific permit with an LMIA. Open to anyone with a genuine offer, but the employer carries the cost and the paperwork, and the low-wage version has been heavily restricted. If your plan was UK care work instead, that route closed to overseas applicants in July 2025.
- Global Talent Stream, for highly skilled roles like engineers, analysts, and programmers. It still needs an LMIA, but qualifies for two-week processing under the Global Skills Strategy.
- Intra-company transfer, if you already work for a company with a Canadian office. LMIA-exempt and widely underused.
- International Experience Canada is not open to everyone. Your country needs a youth mobility agreement with Canada, and only about 35 countries and territories have one. Check the official country list before building any plan around it.
If you’re weighing study against work as your entry point, the study route is usually the more available one, and it feeds directly into the Canadian Experience Class. Our guide to the Canadian student visa process covers what that costs now.
Has the low-wage work permit route got harder?
Substantially. This is the area where 2023-era advice does the most damage. Canada tightened the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program from September 2024 and has kept tightening it.
- The share of low-wage foreign workers an employer may hire was cut from 20% to 10% of a workplace.
- Maximum employment duration was cut from two years to one.
- Low-wage applications are refused outright in metropolitan areas where unemployment is at or above 6%. The list of affected areas is published and updated.
- LMIA validity went back to six months in May 2024, down from twelve.
- From April 2026 the advertising period for low-wage roles doubled to eight weeks, and youth-targeted recruitment became mandatory. Eligible rural employers were allowed up to 15%.
- In July 2026 the wage thresholds separating high-wage from low-wage rose, which pulled some jobs that were high-wage into the restricted stream.
The practical effect is that low-wage LMIA volumes have fallen sharply. If your plan depends on an employer sponsoring you into a low-wage role in a big city, check whether that city is on the refusal-to-process list first.
Can you bring your family on a work permit?
Less easily than in 2023, and this changed in a way that catches people out. Since January 21, 2025, an open work permit for your spouse is limited to workers in management or professional occupations. That means TEER 0 or TEER 1 roles, or sectors tied to government priorities.
Two further conditions apply. You must have at least 16 months left on your own work permit when your spouse applies. And dependent children are no longer eligible for an open work permit at all.
In January 2023 Canada did the opposite, extending open work permits to spouses and dependent children of workers at every skill level. If you read that somewhere, it was true once. It isn’t now. Permits already granted under the old rules stay valid until they expire.
The real cost, including what your employer pays
The work permit fee is $155 per person and biometrics are $85, so $240 for a single applicant. An open work permit carries an extra $100 holder fee. None of these have changed since 2023.
| Fee | Amount (CAD) |
|---|---|
| Work permit, per person | $155 |
| Open work permit holder fee | $100 |
| Biometrics, one person | $85 |
| Biometrics, family of two or more | $170 |
Be careful here. An employer may not legally recover the LMIA fee from you. If a recruiter asks you to pay it, that is a signal to walk away.
Does a work permit lead to permanent residency?
It can, and Canadian work experience is now the most valuable thing you can hold. Most 2026 Express Entry invitations went to the Canadian Experience Class, which requires skilled work experience gained in Canada.
Canada is also accelerating up to 33,000 workers already in the country into permanent residence across 2026 and 2027, aimed at people who have spent at least two years in smaller communities. The route out of a work permit is real. It just runs through time in Canada rather than through a job offer on paper. Our guide to permanent residency in Canada covers the scores being invited.
Frequently asked questions
These are the questions workers ask most often about Canadian work permits, including the one about CRS points that changed in 2025.
Do I need a job offer for a Canadian work permit?
For most permits yes, because Canada’s default is an employer-specific permit naming your employer. Some LMIA-exempt categories, including post-graduation and spousal permits, don’t require one.
Does a job offer still give me CRS points?
No. Arranged employment has been worth zero CRS points since March 25, 2025. It used to be worth 50 points, or 200 for senior management. It can still form part of your eligibility for certain programs.
Can I change employers on a Canadian work permit?
Not on an employer-specific permit without applying for a new one. The employer’s name is a legal condition of the permit. The pandemic-era policy that let workers start a new job while an application was pending is no longer available.
How much does a Canadian work permit cost?
$155 for the permit and $85 for biometrics, so $240 for one person. An open work permit adds a $100 holder fee. Your employer pays the LMIA fee and may not pass it to you.
Can my spouse work if I have a Canadian work permit?
Only if you work in a TEER 0 or TEER 1 management or professional occupation, or a priority sector, and you have at least 16 months left on your permit. Dependent children are not eligible.
Can I apply for International Experience Canada?
Only if your country of citizenship has a youth mobility agreement with Canada. About 35 countries and territories do. Check the official country list rather than assuming.
Is it easier to come to Canada to study or to work?
For most applicants from Africa, studying is the more available route, and it leads to a post-graduation work permit and then to the Canadian Experience Class. It’s also more expensive up front, since you must show $22,895 in living funds plus tuition.
Before you commit to a route, price both. The student visa process and the regions where hiring is strongest are the two inputs that decide which is realistic for you.
Start by working out whether the job you want is LMIA-exempt. That single answer determines who applies, how long it takes, and whether you need an employer at all.
