There are two kinds of work permit. An employer-specific permit ties you to one employer, job and location. An open permit lets you work for almost anyone. Which one you can get depends on your situation rather than your preference, and the difference matters enormously.
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These name your employer, your occupation and often your work location. You cannot start a different job on one. The employer must first either obtain a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment, or, where the position is LMIA-exempt, submit an offer of employment through the Employer Portal and pay the compliance fee.
The work sits on the employer's side before it reaches yours. Nothing you file matters until their step is finished, and an employer who has not completed it is the most common source of delay in these files.
Changing employers means a new work permit, applied for and generally issued before you start. There are faster routes in limited circumstances, but 'my new boss said I could start Monday' is not one of them.
Open permits are not granted on general grounds. You have to fall into a category. The common ones are the spouse or partner of an inland sponsored permanent residence applicant, post-graduation permits for eligible graduates, International Experience Canada participants, bridging permits for people awaiting a permanent residence decision, and permits for workers facing employer abuse.
The bridging open work permit is the one most people miss. If you have a permanent residence application at the right stage and a permit about to expire, it can keep you working while you wait — but only if you apply before the current permit expires.
Open does not mean unrestricted. Work in health care, childcare or agriculture requires an immigration medical exam, and regulated professions still require provincial licensing that no federal permit provides.
Apply to extend before your current permit expires. Do that and you have maintained status: you can generally keep working under the same conditions until the new application is decided. It is the single most valuable habit in Canadian immigration.
If the permit has already expired, you have a limited window — 90 days — to apply to restore your status, and you cannot work during it. Past that window, the realistic options usually involve leaving Canada.
Falling out of status has consequences well beyond the job. It complicates permanent residence applications, spousal sponsorships and future visas, and it is asked about for years afterwards.
Outside Canada is the default route, and for many nationalities the fastest. From inside Canada you can apply only if you qualify — for example, you already hold a valid study or work permit, or your spouse does.
Port of entry applications are open to a narrow group, mostly visa-exempt travellers whose employer has already completed their step. Arriving at the border hoping to talk your way into a permit is a good way to be refused entry and to create a record that follows you.
Biometrics are usually required, and a medical exam is required for some occupations and for applicants who have spent time in designated countries. Both take real time. Build them into the plan rather than discovering them at the end of it.
Not on an employer-specific permit. It names the employer, and working elsewhere is unauthorised. You need a new work permit, which normally means the new employer completing their LMIA or offer-of-employment step first. On an open permit you can change jobs freely, subject to licensing and medical exam rules.
File the extension now. Applying before the expiry date gives you maintained status, which generally lets you keep working on the same terms while the new application is processed. Applying one day after expiry means no maintained status and no work, and a restoration application instead.
An open permit for people whose permanent residence application has reached a qualifying stage and whose current work permit is running out. It keeps you employed while the PR decision is pending. It has to be applied for while your existing permit is still valid, which is where most people lose it.
For an employer-specific permit, yes, and the employer has obligations to complete before you file. Open permits do not require a job offer, but you must fall within a defined category. Being highly skilled or in demand is not itself a category, however unfair that feels.
Sometimes. Family members of certain foreign workers and students can obtain open work permits, but eligibility was narrowed in recent years and now turns on the principal applicant's occupation and program. We check it as part of your file rather than assuming it, because the rules changed more than once.
Open your file tonight — a licensed Ontario lawyer will confirm everything with you by tomorrow.