Spouses or common-law partners of study permit holders – [R205(c)(ii) – C42] – Canadian interest – International Mobility Program (IMP)

In these instructions, “officer” refers to employees of both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

The instructions on this page should be reviewed in conjunction with the following:

• Open work permit – General processing and issuance
• Conditions and validity period on work permits

This International Mobility Program (IMP) work permit category is intended for spouses and common-law partners who are not, themselves, already study permit holders actively engaged in full-time studies. The reason for allowing spouses to enter Canada and work is to increase the competitiveness of Canada’s academic institutions or economy.

The spouse must have sufficient funds to support themselves and any accompanying dependents separate from the funds used to support the principal foreign national’s study permit application.

In these instructions, “spouse” refers to either common-law partner or married spouse situations.

On this page

• Eligibility
• Documentary evidence
  • Applications received before March 19, 2024
  • Applications received between March 19, 2024 and April 29, 2024
  • Applications received on or after April 30, 2024
• Application assessment
  • Principal foreign nationals
  • Genuine relationship
  • Final decision
• Previous updates

Eligibility

To be considered a dependent spouse, the applicant for an open work permit must be in a genuine relationship with a principal foreign national in one of the situations listed below.

Applications were submitted before March 19, 2024

All applications received before March 19, 2024, shall be processed following established rules and procedures that were in place before that date.

For the applicant to be eligible under administrative code C42, the principal foreign national must meet all of the following requirements:

• hold a valid study permit or be provisionally approved for a study permit (if applying as a family group outside of Canada)
• be studying on a full-time basis or have proof of enrolment in full-time courses at a DLI
• be accepted by or enrolled in a post-graduation work permit-eligible study program and institution
• be physically residing or provide proof that they plan to physically reside in Canada while studying

Applicants (spouses and common-law partners) who are in Canada at the time of submission must

• have a valid temporary resident status or be eligible for restoration of status as a temporary resident
• be eligible to apply for a work permit from within Canada (section R199 or an active public policy)

Applications submitted between March 19, 2024 and April 29, 2024

For the applicant to be eligible under administrative code C42, the principal foreign national must meet all of the following requirements:

• hold a valid study permit or be provisionally approved for a study permit (if applying as a family group outside of Canada)
• be studying on a full-time basis or have proof of enrolment in full-time courses in a graduate program (master’s and doctorate) at a university or polytechnic institution, or a professional degree-granting program at a university (for example, medicine, dentistry, law)
• be physically residing in Canada while studying or provide proof that they plan to physically reside in Canada while studying

For the purposes of assessing eligibility, the following definitions apply:

Graduate programs are defined as programs leading to master’s and doctorate degrees granted by universities or polytechnic institutions.

Professional degree programs are those identified under the following:

• Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS, DMD)
• Bachelor of Law or Juris Doctor (LLB, JD, BCL)
• Doctor of Medicine (MD)
• Doctor of Optometry (OD)
• Pharmacy (PharmD, BS, BSc, BPharm)
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM)
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN, BSN, BNSc)
• Bachelor of Education (BEd)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng, BE, BASc)

Applicants who are in Canada at the time of submission must

• have valid temporary resident status or be eligible for restoration of status as a temporary resident
• be eligible to apply for a work permit from within Canada (section R199 or an active public policy)

Applications submitted on or after April 30, 2024

For the applicant to be eligible under administrative code C42, the principal foreign national must meet all of the following requirements:

• hold a valid study permit or be provisionally approved for a study permit (if applying as a family group outside of Canada)
• be physically residing in Canada while studying or provide proof that they plan to physically reside in Canada while studying
• be in one of these situations:
  • participating in one of the eligible pilot programs administered by a province or territory
    • Changes to the eligible pilot programs will only be reflected on that list, as it is more flexible to update.
  • studying on a full-time basis or have proof of enrolment in full-time courses in a graduate program (master’s and doctorate)
  • studying on a full-time basis or have proof of enrolment in full-time courses in a professional degree-granting program at a university (for example, medicine, dentistry, law)
  • submitted an application on or after August 26, 2024, and are participating in the FMCSP at one of the participating DLIs
    • Changes to the participating DLIs will only be reflected on that list, as it is more flexible to update.

For the purposes of assessing eligibility, the following definitions apply:

Graduate programs are defined as those leading to master’s and doctorate degrees.

Professional degree programs are those identified under the following:

• Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS, DMD)
• Bachelor of Law or Juris Doctor (LLB, JD, BCL)
• Doctor of Medicine (MD)
• Doctor of Optometry (OD)
• Pharmacy (PharmD, BS, BSc, BPharm)
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM)
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN, BSN)
• Bachelor of Nursing Science (BNSc)
• Bachelor of Nursing (BN)
• Bachelor of Education (BEd)
• Bachelor of Engineering (BEng, BE, BASc)

Applicants who are in Canada at the time of submission must

• have valid temporary resident status or be eligible for restoration of status as a temporary resident
• be eligible to apply for a work permit from within Canada (section R199 or an active public policy)

If the applicant is extending their open work permit on or after March 19, 2024

Applicants extending their open work permit are eligible for an open work permit under this stream. In such cases, the principal applicant must meet the requirements that were in place before March 19, 2024.

Documentary evidence

With the application for an open work permit, officers should be satisfied that they have the following documentary evidence to make an assessment.

All applications must have the following documentation:

• proof that the applicant is the genuine spouse of a valid study permit holder (for example, marriage certificate or Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union [IMM 5409]), or other proof of relationship
• proof that the principal foreign national is attending a DLI
• proof that other requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) are met (for example, sufficient funds to support themselves that are separate from those used for the principal foreign national)

Additional documentation is required as per the specific dates below.

Applications submitted before March 19, 2024

• proof that the principal foreign national is actively engaged in full-time studies in a post-graduation work permit–eligible study program and institution, such as
  • a Canadian public post-secondary institution, such as a
    • college
    • trade or technical school
    • university
    • CEGEP in Quebec
  • a private post-secondary institution in Quebec that operates under the same rules and regulations as a public post-secondary institution in Quebec
  • a private or public secondary or post-secondary institution in Quebec offering qualifying programs of 900 hours or longer leading to a diploma of vocational studies (DVS) or an attestation of vocational specialization (AVS)
  • a Canadian private institution authorized by provincial statute to confer degrees (for example, a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or doctorate), where the study permit holder is enrolled in such a program
    • The private institution remains eligible even if it is not authorized to confer degrees for all study programs on offer.

If the principal foreign national is enrolled in a private post-secondary program or at an institution other than those listed above, the spouse is not eligible for a spousal open work permit.

Applications submitted between March 19, 2024 and April 29, 2024

• for spouses of students who are in a graduate or professional degree-granting program of study, proof of the international student’s enrolment in a degree-granting program of study, such as one of the following:
  • an acceptance letter from a DLI
  • a proof of enrolment letter from a DLI
  • transcripts from current program

If the applicant is extending their C42 open work permit

Applicants applying for an extension in this work permit category must provide documentary evidence to support the extension following the requirements that were required for their initial application.

Applications submitted on or after April 30, 2024

• for spouses of students who are in a graduate or professional degree-granting program of study, proof of the international student’s enrolment in a degree-granting program of study, such as one of the following:
  • an acceptance letter from a DLI
  • a proof of enrolment letter from a DLI
  • transcripts from current program
• for spouses of students who are participating in one of the eligible pilot programs administered by a province or territory, proof of the international student’s enrolment in the program, such as a letter from the province or territory

If the applicant is extending their C42 open work permit

Applicants applying for an extension in this work permit category must provide documentary evidence to support the extension following the requirements for their initial application.

Applications for spouses of students participating in the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot (FMCSP) on or after August 26, 2024

• proof of the international student’s participation in the FMCSP, such as a letter of acceptance from the participating DLI

Application assessment

Officers will need to manually add an ORG ID for spouses of FMCSP participants ONLY as follows:

• ORG ID: O163922933265
• Type: Organization
• Subtype: Other
• Other Description: Tracking – Aux fins de suivi
• Name: Francophone Minority Communities – Communautés francophones en situation minoritaire – PAL-TAL/LAP-LAT exception

Officers should be satisfied that the principal foreign national continues to comply with the study permit conditions, including those under section R220.1. Should officers have any concerns, they may wish to request additional information from the applicant to ensure that the eligibility requirements of the work permit category (administrative code C42) are met, or they may wish to undertake an assessment to ensure the material documents provided in the spousal open work permit application are bona fide.

Foreign nationals who are eligible for processing under administrative code C42 are subject to all other eligibility and admissibility requirements (including section A39) under the IRPA and the IRPR.

Officers must be satisfied that all eligibility requirements are met at the time of decision on the family member’s work permit application.

If officers have any concerns as to the genuineness of the documents provided, they may wish to undertake an assessment to ensure this material information is genuine and does not reflect a misrepresentation of facts to appear eligible for the permit.

Principal foreign nationals

The principal foreign national is the first foreign national of the couple who obtained a study or work permit or was deemed authorized to work under the provisions of section R186, other than under paragraphs R186(v) or (w).

In assessing eligibility for a spousal open work permit, the principal foreign national continues to remain the principal in the couple.

The principal foreign national cannot obtain a spousal open work permit under the work permit categories provided under the administrative codes C41, C42, C47 or C49 based on the dependent spouse’s spousal open work permit and Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category.

For example, if the principal foreign national is a study permit holder and the dependent spouse obtains an open work permit under labour market impact assessment (LMIA) exemption code C42 for spouses of study permit holders, the study permit holder cannot quit their studies and obtain a work permit in the C41 spousal category on the basis of their spouse’s C42 open work permit and employment.

Genuine relationship

As per section R4, a foreign national shall not be considered a spouse or a common-law partner of a person if the marriage or common-law partnership either

• was entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring any status or privilege under the IRPA, or
• is not genuine.

If officers have concerns as to the genuineness of the relationship, to be procedurally fair, they should request further documentation or information to confirm that the relationship between the dependent spouse and the principal foreign national is genuine and is not a relationship of convenience. Procedural fairness means giving the applicant the opportunity to respond to the concerns of the officer prior to any decision.

If the officer believes that the applicant has misrepresented themselves, the officer should follow the instructions for proceeding with a determination.

Final decision

Approval

The work permit will be issued under the authority of subparagraph R205(c)(ii).

In GCMS, under the “Application” screen, officers should enter the information below in the specified fields.

Refusals

If an officer is not satisfied that all the requirements of section R200, including the assessment under subparagraph R205(c)(ii), are met, they must record their reasons and outline the rationale underlying the decision as well as the facts and elements considered in a case note.

Refusal reasons should clearly indicate which criteria or what requirements of section R200 were not met and explain how the conclusion was reached. For assistance, officers can follow the steps in Decision-making: Standard of review and process for making a reasonable decision.

For example, if the applicant does not have sufficient funds to support themselves, the officer can indicate that paragraph R200(1)(b) is not met, as they are not satisfied that the applicant would be able to support themselves during their stay and pay for their departure from Canada given that an open work permit does not guarantee employment in Canada during the period of authorized stay. Therefore, they are not satisfied that the applicant will leave Canada at the end of their authorized stay.

Previous updates

• July 13, 2023
• January 30, 2023
• March 19, 2024
• May 22, 2024