One question decides the cost, the time and who does the work
People arrive here asking which work permit they need. That is the second question. The first is whether the job requires a labour market impact assessment, because that fork decides how much this costs, how long it takes, and whether the burden falls on you or on your employer. Almost nothing else about the branch changes as much.
| The job needs an assessment | The job is exempt from one | |
|---|---|---|
| Who files | Your employer, to Employment and Social Development Canada. You are not a party to it | Your employer submits an offer of employment to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada through the Employer Portal, or in some categories does not have to |
| What it costs the employer | $1,000 for each position requested, with published exemptions for certain caregiver and on farm primary agriculture positions | An employer compliance fee of $230, with published exemptions. It is remitted and repaid if the permit is refused, or if the offer is withdrawn and a remission requested before the permit issues |
| What it costs you | Nothing towards the assessment. The published rule is that the fee cannot be paid by nor recovered from the worker | Nothing towards the compliance fee |
| Advertising first | Yes. At least 4 consecutive weeks in the high wage stream and 8 in the low wage stream, within the 3 months before applying | No |
| Elapsed time before you can even apply | Weeks of advertising, then a Service Canada decision. For assessments processed in July 2026 the average was 88 business days in the high wage stream and 73 in the low wage stream | As long as the employer takes to submit the offer |
| Can it be refused before it is read | Yes. Caps, the census metropolitan area unemployment measure and the Montréal and Laval measure all stop an application being processed at all | No equivalent measure |
| Where to read it | The labour market impact assessment | Work without an assessment |
The two columns end in the same place, being an employer specific work permit. They are simply very different journeys to it, and which one you are on is not something you choose.
The second fork, whether the permit names an employer
Once you know which road you are on, the next thing to establish is what the permit will actually bind you to. This is the fork that governs your life once you are here, and unlike the first one it is not a choice either.
- An employer specific permit names three things and holds you to all of them. The employer, the occupation and the location. The Regulations let an officer impose conditions on the type of work, the employer, the duration of work for any one employer, the location of the work and the times and periods of it. Working outside those is working without authorisation, not a technicality.
- An open permit names no employer, and is still not unrestricted. You cannot work for an employer on the non compliant list, nor for one who on a regular basis offers striptease, erotic dance or escort services, or erotic massages. Individual permits can also carry printed restrictions on the type of work or where you can work.
- You do not pick which one you get. The department puts it plainly, that each work permit type has different eligibility requirements and you cannot choose which type of work permit you need. Open permits exist only for defined situations, and most people applying from outside Canada cannot get one.
- Changing employer is a different exercise on each. On an open permit you change employers whenever you like while it is valid. On an employer specific permit you apply for a new permit, and you cannot start the new job until it is issued unless you have separately been authorised to work while the application is processed.
- Both are temporary, and both are the beginning of a different conversation. Nothing here converts into permanent residence. The experience it builds is what several permanent routes are made of, which is why the occupation code on your permit matters far more than it looks like it should.
The seven pages in this section
The labour market impact assessment
What it is, why your employer files it and not you, the wage threshold that splits high from low, the caps and the refusal to process measures, and the current processing position.
See how it works → Start here if it is notWork without an assessment
The categories where no assessment is needed at all, how the employer establishes the exemption, and the offer of employment that replaces it.
See requirements →Employer specific work permits
What the conditions actually bind, what happens if you work outside them, and the mechanism for changing employer without falling out of status.
See requirements → If you qualify for oneOpen work permits
Who can hold one, why open is not the same as unrestricted, and the employers that stay off limits either way.
See requirements →Intra company transfers
The route for a transfer from a related company abroad, and what has to be true of the relationship and the role.
See requirements → After you graduatePost graduation work permits
The open permit that follows a qualifying Canadian program, and the eligibility rules that decide whether the program leads anywhere.
See requirements → For a spouse or partnerSpousal open work permits
When the spouse or partner of a worker or a student can hold an open permit, which has narrowed considerably.
See requirements →Most people asking about a work permit are asking about staying
It is worth saying this at the top of the section rather than at the bottom of a page. A work permit is temporary and has an expiry date printed on it. If the real goal is to remain in Canada, then the permit is a means, and the decisions you make now about occupation, employer and location are the raw material for a permanent application later.
The occupation code on your permit is the thing people underestimate. Permanent routes are built on classified work experience. If the code is wrong, or the duties do not match the code, the problem does not surface until you are years into the job and applying for permanent residence with experience that will not count. That is a great deal easier to prevent than to argue about afterwards.
Skilled worker routes
The federal and provincial programs that turn work and skills into permanent residence, and which of them care about Canadian experience.
See requirements → Built on work hereThe Canadian Experience Class
The federal route made specifically out of skilled work experience gained in Canada, which is what a work permit is generating.
See requirements →The Atlantic Immigration Program
A route where a designated employer's job offer leads to permanent residence directly, with no labour market impact assessment in it.
See requirements → Care workCaregivers
Care work has its own rules on both sides, being the assessment and the permanent route, and they do not line up the way people expect.
See requirements →The same instruments, seen from the other side
Every page in this section has a counterpart written for the employer, because the two halves of this process are done by two different people and the obligations do not sit where clients assume. If you are the employer, or if you are a worker who wants to understand what your employer is actually required to do, that is where it is set out.
Employer services
Hiring from abroad, hiring someone already here, keeping someone whose permit is expiring, and what compliance actually involves.
See requirements → The part with teethEmployer compliance
Inspections, the non compliant list and administrative monetary penalties, which is also why your employer's history can decide your permit.
See requirements →