Work permit inside Canada: who can still apply from visitor status

Who can apply for a work permit inside Canada

Section 199 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations lists who may apply for a work permit after entering Canada. It never included ordinary visitors; the 2020 public policy was a temporary exception sitting on top of it, and when the policy lapsed the regulation was all that was left. The list, in practice:

What changed, and when

None of this changed the underlying programmes. An LMIA work permit is still available to a visitor whose employer holds a positive labour market impact assessment from ESDC, and an LMIA-exempt work permit under an international agreement or a Canadian-interest exemption is still available to those who qualify. What changed is where the application is filed, not whether the person is employable.

The two routes that still deliver a work permit inside Canada

Spousal open work permit

If your partner holds an eligible work permit or study permit, or is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident sponsoring you while you live together in Canada, you can apply for a spousal open work permit from inside Canada as a visitor. The worker-spouse route was narrowed in 2024 and 2025 to partners of workers in TEER 0 and TEER 1 occupations and selected TEER 2 and 3 occupations, and to partners of students in graduate and certain professional programs, so check the current occupation list before you file. The sponsorship route is unchanged and works in either stream: file the inland spousal sponsorship and the open permit together (or apply once an outland sponsorship has its acknowledgement of receipt), and once the permit is issued you can work for any employer while the sponsorship, currently about 26 months, is processed.

Bridging open work permit

A bridging open work permit is only for people with an acknowledged permanent residence application in an eligible line who hold a valid work permit, are on maintained status, or are eligible to restore their status with authorization to work. A visitor qualifies for a bridging open work permit only in that last situation, for example a former worker still inside the restoration window, so take advice rather than assuming. Both of these are forms of open work permit, which is why they are worth chasing: they are not tied to one employer and they do not need an LMIA.

What a visitor with a job offer should do instead

1. 01

   Confirm the employer's mechanism

   A positive LMIA from ESDC, or an LMIA exemption with an offer of employment number from IRCC's Employer Portal and the $230 employer compliance fee paid. Without one of these there is no work permit to apply for, inside Canada or anywhere else.

2. 02

   Check whether you can apply at a port of entry

   Visa-exempt nationals in most categories can apply when they arrive in Canada. Leaving and re-entering from the US or Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to get the permit (flagpoling) is closed to all but a few exempt groups. If you need a temporary resident visa, the application is made online from abroad on IMM 1295.

3. 03

   Keep your visitor status valid

   If your authorised stay is running out while you arrange this, apply for a visitor record before the date on your stamp or document. It keeps you legal in Canada; it does not let you work.

4. 04

   Apply from outside Canada, or re-enter with the approval

   Applications from abroad are processed on the timelines published for your country and category. A port-of-entry application is decided on the spot by a CBSA officer with the documents in hand.

5. 05

   Do not start work

   Not for a trial shift, not for cash, not for a relative. Unauthorised work is disclosed on every future form and can end a permanent residence application years later.

Flagpoling: the current official position

Flagpoling is when someone who already holds temporary resident status in Canada leaves, visits the United States or Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, and re-enters to access immigration services at the port of entry. The Canada Border Services Agency announced that work and study permits would no longer be provided to flagpolers at a port of entry, effective December 23, 2024 at 11:59 pm ET, and that people who try will be told to submit their application to IRCC unless they meet limited exemptions (CBSA news release, December 23, 2024, canada.ca, read 13 October 2026).

IRCC's port-of-entry page, read the same day, says you cannot apply at a port of entry if you leave Canada and re-enter from the U.S. or Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon to access immigration services, unless you are:

• a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States;
• a professional or technician under a free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico, Chile, Panama, Peru, Colombia or the Republic of Korea;
• the spouse or common-law partner of a professional or technician under the free trade agreement with Panama, Colombia or the Republic of Korea; or
• an international truck driver who held a work permit, had to leave Canada for the job, and kept maintained status by applying to renew before leaving.

The CBSA release also listed people with a pre-existing CBSA appointment for permit processing. Separately, IRCC says some applications cannot be made at a port of entry at all: post-graduation work permits, Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program permits, International Experience Canada permits for applicants who are not US citizens or permanent residents, and anyone who needs a visitor visa. Everyone else in Canada applies online with IRCC. If you are already here on a visitor record, that means one of the inland categories above, or an application from outside Canada.

Forms, fees and processing times

The inland application is IMM 5710, the application to change conditions, extend a stay or remain in Canada as a worker, filed online through an IRCC secure account. From outside Canada the form is IMM 1295. The fees are the same either way: $155 for the work permit processing fee, a further $100 open work permit holder fee if the permit is open rather than employer-specific, and $85 per person for biometrics, capped at $170 per family, unless yours are already on file from the last 10 years.

Status while you wait

A visitor who applies from abroad waits on IRCC's processing time for their country and category, with no right to work in Canada meanwhile. A visitor who applies for a work permit inside Canada in one of the permitted categories holds maintained status as a visitor until the decision, again without the right to work, because maintained status carries forward the conditions of the status you already held and visitors cannot work. The exception is a former worker who applied to extend before expiry, who keeps working on the old conditions. If your plan involves being in Canada for months while a permit is processed, a visitor record is the document that makes that legal; IRCC published 357 days for it on 14 October 2026, but applying before your status expires is what protects you, not how fast it comes back.

The same logic applies to study. A visitor generally cannot obtain a study permit from inside Canada either, outside the same narrow list of exceptions, and since 2024 most applications also need a provincial attestation letter. If your household is weighing work and study together, sequence the two applications deliberately rather than filing both and hoping one lands.

Compliance note. Wild Mountain Immigration is a licensed RCIC practice (CICC R706497). The rules on obtaining a work permit inside Canada changed materially in 2024 and may change again, so confirm the current position on canada.ca before acting, or ask us to check it against your own category. Nothing on this page guarantees a permit.