Family members of WP holders who are Economic Class PR applicants or chosen by a province [R205(c)(ii) – C49] – Canadian interest – IMP

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

The instructions on this page should be reviewed in conjunction with

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

The Minister has designated the following categories of work for genuine family members of principal foreign nationals who hold work permits and are the principal applicants in an Economic Class permanent resident application or have been formally nominated or selected by a province or territory as necessary for public policy reasons related to the competitiveness of Canada’s academic institutions, or economy, under subparagraph 205(c)(ii) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR).

In these instructions, family member is defined as per subsection R1(3) as

• the spouse or common-law partner of the principal foreign national
• the dependent children of the spouse or the principal foreign national
• dependent children of the dependent children (grandchild of principal foreign national or spouse)

The family member should be included in the permanent resident application as a dependent.

On this page

• Eligibility
• Documentary evidence
• Principal foreign national
• Genuine relationship
• Work permit processing in the Global Case Management System (GCMS)

Eligibility

To be a dependent family member, the applicant for an open work permit must be in a genuine relationship with a principal foreign national. For the dependent family member to be eligible, the principal foreign national must meet all of the following:

• hold a valid work permit (employer-specific or open under a non-family category)
• be authorized to work in Canada for a period of at least 6 months after the family member’s open work permit application is received
• be physically residing or plan to physically reside in Canada while employed
• be eligible for a permanent resident pathway as the
  • principal applicant in a permanent resident application in an Economic Class listed in the Bridging Open Work Permit instructions (administrative code A75)
  • the holder of a valid provincial nomination or Québec Selection Certificate (CSQ)
    Family members of principal foreign nationals who have work permits issued under the following administrative codes are included under this administrative code (C49): A73, A75, A76 or T13.

Documentary evidence

With the application for an open work permit, the dependent family member should be providing the following:

• evidence of genuine relationship (for example, marriage certificate, Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union IMM 5409, birth certificate, adoption papers)
• evidence that the principal foreign national holds a valid work permit
• evidence of the principal foreign national’s submission of a complete permanent resident application in an Economic Class listed in the Bridging Open Work Permit instructions, or evidence that the principal foreign national has been nominated or selected by a province or territory.

Principal foreign national

The principal foreign national is the first foreign national parent in the family unit who obtained a work permit.

In assessing eligibility for a family member open work permit, the principal foreign national continues to remain the principal parent in the family unit.

The principal foreign national cannot obtain an open work permit under the C41, C42, C46, C47, C48 or C49 administrative code categories based on the dependent family member’s open work permit.

For example, if the principal foreign national is the holder of a work permit issued based on a LMIA and the dependent spouse obtains an open work permit under LMIA exemption code C41 as the spouse of a high-skilled worker, the principal foreign national cannot quit their job under the LMIA-based work permit and obtain a work permit in the low-skilled spousal category (code C47) on the basis of their spouse’s C41 open work permit and employment in a TEER category 4 or 5 occupation.

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

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

If officers have concerns as to the genuineness of the relationship, they may request further documentation or information to confirm that the relationship between the dependent spouse or common-law partner and the principal foreign national is genuine and is not a relationship of convenience.

Work permit processing in the Global Case Management System (GCMS)

Under the Application screen, officers should enter the following information in the specified fields: