Foreign nationals nominated by a province – Provincial agreements [R204(c) – T13] – Agreements and arrangements – International Mobility Program

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the department’s website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

Note: In these instructions “officer” refers to employees of both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Service Agency.

The instructions on this page should be reviewed in conjunction with

For more information on the permanent residence process for provincial nominees, see Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

In this situation, “province” legally refers to provinces and territories. Therefore, in these instructions, when “province” is used, it refers to both provinces and territories.

A person may be issued a work permit without requiring an LMIA, if they have a valid nomination from a province (other than Quebec) for permanent residence and a job offer from an employer based in that province. Work permit applications that include a valid nomination from a province or territory are processed under paragraph 204(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations using the administrative LMIA exemption code T13.

For Quebec cases, the legislative authority for the LMIA exemption is paragraph R205(a). For further information, see Quebec cases.

On this page

General eligibility

To be eligible for a work permit as a nominee, foreign nationals must

Important: Provincial nominees can apply for a work permit under the administrative code T13 [R204(c)] before submitting an application for permanent residence under the PNP unless the nomination is expired (prior to submission) or paused. Officers should check the client notes to verify the nomination has not been “paused” by the province of issuance (for example, a job offer has been withdrawn or the province is conducting an investigation).

Documentary evidence

The application for the work permit must include the following:

Note: “Urgently required” means there should be no unreasonable delay between approval and start of employment.

Applications that do not include the requested information will be refused since they do not meet the eligibility requirements under R204(c); they would require a LMIA. If an officer is not satisfied that the applicant is able to perform the work stated in the job offer, the officer is prohibited from issuing a work permit under R200(3)(a).

Expired nomination

If the nomination is expired, the foreign national must include a copy of the acknowledgement of receipt letter with their work permit application confirming that IRCC has received the PNP permanent residence application before the nomination expired.

Officers must verify that the PNP application is in the Global Case Management System (GCMS), or go through the Permanent Resident Digital Intake tool or the Centralized Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney if the permanent resident application is not in GCMS to ensure that the nomination has not been withdrawn by the province and that no adverse information is found regarding the file.

Questions regarding nominations should be referred to the CIO in Sydney.

Reminder: Officers should not request the nomination certificate from clients as provincial nominees are not issued a copy.

Work permit issuance in GCMS

Under the Application screen enter the following:

Field Selection or input
Case type 52– Employer-specific LMIA-exempt applications
  • The Case type field must indicate “52”.
    • No other case type will allow the correct linkage in GCMS. Entering a case type other than 52 will result in incorrect accounting for GCMS, requiring manual corrections to be made and making inspection activities more difficult.
Province of destination This should match the province of nomination.
City of destination Address of physical job location
  • If there is more than one location within the province, enter the main location in this field and the secondary location in Remarks.
Exemption code T13
  • This code will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
NOC National Occupational Classification code
  • The code will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
Intended occupation Job title
  • The job title will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
Employer Business operating name
  • The business operating name will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
Duration The duration must be the one specified in the offer, to a maximum of 3 years, or until passport expiry, whichever is earlier.
Conditions
(Mandatory)
  • Not authorized to work in any other location. (The location of the employer must indicate the province of nomination.)
  • Not authorized to work for any other employer.
  • Not authorized to work in any other occupation.

Work permit extension

Where the nomination letter issued by the province indicates that the employment is restricted to a specific employer, the nominee is not eligible to apply for a bridging open work permit. They are allowed to apply for another employer-specific work permit.

Same employer: Nominees applying to extend their work permit for the same employer do not require proof of nomination if they have submitted a permanent residence application prior to the expiry of their confirmation of nomination. They will require a new offer of employment. Officers should follow the same processing instructions as for the initial work permit.

New employer: Nominees applying under the administrative code T13 for a new employer require a new offer of employment and a new support letter from the province or territory of nomination. They do not need a new confirmation of nomination if they have submitted an application for permanent residence before their nomination expired. Officers should follow the same processing instructions as for the initial work permit.

No permanent residence application: Nominees whose confirmation of nomination has expired and who have not submitted an application for permanent residence require a new nomination certificate to extend their work permit.

Open work permit for spouses and common-law partners

The spouse or common-law partner of a principal foreign national who has been nominated by a province is eligible to apply for a LMIA-exempt open work permit under administrative code C41.

Note: Eligibility for a C41 open work permit does not extend to dependent children of the provincial nominee. They must apply for an employer-specific work permit, or an open work permit if eligible, independent of the principal applicant’s nomination.

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