A Canadian employer wants to hire you. You are a citizen of Australia, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, or another country that has signed the same trade agreement as Canada, and someone has told you that this might let you skip the LMIA. Or you already hold one of these work permits, the expiry date is getting close, and you are not sure what extending it involves.
Both situations turn on the same set of rules. Here is how work permits under the CPTPP operate, who they are for, and what to plan for when it is time to extend.
What the CPTPP is, and who it covers
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a trade agreement between Canada and Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and, most recently, the United Kingdom.
One chapter of the agreement deals with the temporary entry of business people. For citizens of member countries, it creates work permit categories that do not require a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). They fall under the International Mobility Program, which we explain in our post on LMIA-based vs. LMIA-exempt work permits.
The agreement covers four groups: business visitors, who do not need a work permit at all, investors, intra-company transferees, and professionals and technicians. This post is about the last group, because it is the one most people with a Canadian job offer will use.
Citizenship is where the analysis starts, but it does not finish there. Each country negotiated its own commitments with Canada, so what the CPTPP offers a citizen of one member country can be quite different from what it offers a citizen of another.
Professionals and technicians: the requirements
A CPTPP professional or technician work permit is tied to a specific employer. You need a job offer or contract arranged in advance with a Canadian employer, in an occupation that Canada has agreed to open to citizens of your country.
Professionals work in management and professional occupations, classified as TEER 0 or 1 in the National Occupational Classification. The general requirements are:
- a post-secondary degree of at least four years, in the field of the job or a closely related one
- at least two years of paid work experience in the same sector
- a wage in line with what similarly qualified people earn in that occupation and region
Technicians work in technical occupations and skilled trades, classified as TEER 2 or 3. They need a post-secondary or technical credential of at least two years, at least four years of paid work experience, and a wage that meets the same standard.
On wages, officers compare the offer against the prevailing wage for the occupation where the work will be done. Housing and travel allowances do not count toward it.
Two further points apply to everyone. If the occupation is regulated in the province where you will work, you need to show that you hold, or can obtain, the licence. And the category does not allow self-employment: you cannot use it to work for a Canadian business that you control.
Your country decides which occupations are open
This is the step people most often skip. The list of eligible occupations is set country by country:
- Australia, Chile, Japan, Mexico and Peru: most TEER 0 and 1 occupations qualify, with exclusions that include health, education, social services and cultural industries. Technicians qualify only in listed occupations, and the list differs for each country.
- Malaysia and the United Kingdom: only the professional occupations on a set list qualify, in fields such as engineering, information technology, finance and architecture. The instructions list no technician occupations for either country.
- Brunei: limited to specialized roles in the energy sector.
- New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam: the professionals and technicians category does not apply, although other CPTPP categories may.
Some countries also have their own rules on education. A three-year Australian bachelor’s degree, for example, is generally accepted in place of a four-year degree.
The employer’s part
LMIA-exempt does not mean the employer has nothing to do. Before you apply, the Canadian employer must submit the offer of employment through IRCC’s Employer Portal and pay an employer compliance fee. The portal produces an offer of employment number, and that number goes into your work permit application.
The employer is then held to what it put in the offer: the position, the duties, the wage and the working conditions. IRCC can inspect employers to confirm they are doing what they said they would.
Where you apply depends on your citizenship. Citizens of visa-exempt countries may apply at a port of entry. Citizens of countries that need a visa must apply before travelling, or from inside Canada if they are eligible to do so.
How long the permit lasts, and how to extend it
The first permit is issued for up to one year, or until your passport expires if that comes sooner. It can be extended, but an extension is not a formality. It is a new decision by an officer, and it has two parts:
- The employer goes first. A new offer of employment has to be submitted through the Employer Portal. The original offer cannot be reused.
- You apply online from inside Canada, with evidence that you and the job still meet the CPTPP requirements.
The officer will look at why the extension is needed, whether the original purpose of your stay has been met, and whether the role, wage and qualifications still fit the category. An extended contract or new offer, and a letter from the employer explaining the continuing need, are the core of the application. Officers are also directed to look for signs that a worker has drifted into self-employment since the first permit was issued.
Timing matters more than anything else here. If you apply before your current permit expires and remain in Canada, you can generally keep working under the same conditions while IRCC decides. We explain how that works in our post on implied status vs. maintained status. If the permit expires first, you must stop working, and the usual way back is an application for restoration of status.
Because the employer’s step has to happen before yours, start the conversation with your employer well ahead of the expiry date. An application made at the border or from outside Canada is treated as a new work permit application, not an extension, so travel plans in the final weeks deserve some thought too.
If the plan is to move to a different employer instead, the permit does not move with you. Our post on changing employers on a closed work permit covers what that involves.
Family members and permanent residence
For some member countries, the CPTPP also lets the worker’s spouse or common-law partner apply for an open work permit. This is the case where the principal worker is a citizen of Australia, Japan or Mexico, among others, but it does not extend to every member country. The spouse does not need to be a citizen of a CPTPP country, and the permit is issued for the same period as the worker’s. Other routes are covered in our post on spousal open work permits.
A CPTPP work permit is temporary and does not lead to permanent residence on its own. Skilled work experience gained in Canada can, however, count toward programs such as Express Entry, so it is worth planning for both from the start.
Where applications run into trouble
The requirements above translate into a short list of problems worth checking for before you apply:
- The occupation is not open to your country, or the duties in the offer do not match the occupation the employer selected.
- The education does not line up. The credential is shorter than required, or in a field unrelated to the job.
- The experience is not documented. Reference letters that confirm dates but say nothing about duties rarely carry the point.
- The wage is below the prevailing wage once allowances are taken out.
- The employer’s offer and the application disagree on the job title, wage or hours.
- The extension is left too late, often because nobody realized the employer had to act first.
Each of these is easier to deal with before the application is submitted than after a refusal.
How we can help
Kabir & Alam Lawyers advises workers and employers on CPTPP and other LMIA-exempt work permits, from confirming that the category fits to preparing the application or the extension. Read more on our Work Permits page, or book a consultation with us.
This post is general information about Canadian immigration law and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. Speak with a lawyer about your situation before making decisions.