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 designated the work performed by genuine spouses or common-law partners of principal foreign nationals who hold a work permit and are the principal applicants in an Economic Class permanent resident application 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).

On January 30, 2023, the Minister included the work performed by all family members defined in subsection R1(3) as necessary under R205(c)(ii).

As of July 13, 2023, the designation of work performed under R205(c)(ii) applies to all new and pending applications.

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)

On this page

• Eligibility
• Documentary evidence
• Applications received as a family group
• Application assessment
  • Principal foreign national
  • Genuine relationship
  • Dependent children and working age
  • Final decision

Eligibility

For the dependent family member to be eligible under R205(c)(ii), administrative codes C49, the principal foreign national must, at the time of decision on the family member application, meet all of the following requirements. The principal foreign national must:

• have applied for permanent residence as the principal applicant in an Economic Class that remains in process.
• be authorized to work in Canada by reason of
  • a valid work permit issued or provisionally approved (i.e., the letter of introduction has been issued) for the reason that the applicant applied for permanent residence (PR) in an Economic class and met certain requirements of that class except if the work permit was assessed under
    • R204(a) – a spousal open work permit issued under a Free Trade Agreement
    • R206 – refugee claimant or unenforceable removal order - (administrative codes S61 or S62)
    • R205(a) – an open work permit issued for spouses or common-law partners and dependent children under the Home Child Care Provider Pilot or Home Support Worker Pilot (C91) or for spouses or common-law partners under the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot participants (C17)
    • R205(c)(i.1 or i.2) - a coop program for students (administrative code C32 or C33);
    • R205(c)(ii) – family member of a worker in any TEER (administrative code C41, C46, C47,C48, C49)
• be authorized or be provisionally approved (i.e., the letter of introduction was issued) to work in Canada for a period of at least 6 months or longer after the receipt date of the family member’s open work permit (OWP) application.
  • For example, if the OWP application was submitted on March 1, 2023, the principal foreign national’s work authorization must be valid until September 1, 2023 (6 months).
• be physically residing or plan to physically reside in Canada while employed.
  • For CSQ holders and provincial nominees: be physically residing or plan to reside in the province of nomination or selection.
• be in one of the following situations:
  • be in a genuine relationship with the applicant as a spouse or common-law partner
  • be the parent of the applicant who is a dependent child as defined in R2.

The family member applicant must meet the following requirements:

• be included in the permanent resident application as an accompanying dependent.
• if they are in Canada at the time of submission must
  • have a valid temporary resident status
  • be eligible for restoration of status as a temporary resident
  • be eligible to apply for a work permit from within Canada [R199]

If the principal foreign national holds or is approved for an open work permit because they are eligible to apply for one of the Economic classes, but has not yet submitted an application for permanent residence, their family members may be eligible to apply for an open work permit under administrative codes C41/C46 (family members of high-skilled workers) or C47/C48 (family members of low-skilled workers).

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:

1. evidence of a genuine relationship if the applicant is the spouse or common-law partner
   • For example, (but not limited to) marriage certificate, Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union (IMM 5409),
     Or
     evidence that the dependent child meets the definition of R2
   • For example, but not limited to, birth certificate, adoption papers
2. evidence the applicant has been included as a dependent in the principal foreign national’s submission of a complete permanent resident application in an Economic Class
   • For example, a copy of the IMM 0008 or a copy of the acknowledgment of receipt of the permanent resident application, or an indication in GCMS that the applicant is an accompanying dependent
3. evidence that their principal foreign national’s authority or provisional approval to work in Canada is valid for 6 months or longer after the receipt date of the family member’s work permit application
   • For example, a copy of a work permit or copy of the letter of introduction

Consult this table (PDF) for information about coding work permit applications of eligible family members.

Applications received as a family group

If the family members and the principal foreign national are applying together as a family group, the principal foreign national’s application must be assessed first. The principal family members application in the group may be considered as documentary evidence of the authority or provisional approval to work in Canada and the requirement of 6-month duration.

If the principal foreign national is eligible and admissible, then the dependent family members are assessed for eligibility and admissibility – when they all receive a positive assessment, then the officer will enter Final Decision in GCMS.

If the principal foreign national’s work permit application is refused, the work permit applications of family members will be refused for not meeting the requirements of this category.

If the family group is approved, the principal foreign national must enter Canada before or together with their family members. The dependent family member cannot arrive in Canada prior to the entry of the principal foreign national.

Principal foreign nationals and family members applying as a family group in Canada must meet the requirements of R199.

Refer to this table (PDF) for information on whether the family members can apply for their open work permit before, upon or after entry to Canada. In most cases family members cannot apply with the principal foreign national as a family group at the port of entry.

Application assessment

Officers must be satisfied that all eligibility requirements are met at the time of decision on the family member work permit application. Mandatory association to the principal foreign national: The family member must be associated with the principal foreign national in GCMS. Association should be completed on the Client screen and not just within the application.

This is required to ensure the ability to revoke a family member work permit under public policy considerations.

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

Principal foreign national

The principal foreign national is the first foreign national in the couple who has submitted an application for a permanent residence and applied for and obtained a work permit.

In assessing eligibility for a family member open work permit, the principal foreign national continues to remain the principal in the couple and cannot obtain a spousal open work permit under R205(c) off of the spousal open work permit of their spouse.

For example, if the principal foreign national is the holder of a bridging open work permit issued under the administrative code A75 and the dependent spouse obtains an open work permit under LMIA exemption code C49 as the spouse of a worker who is a permanent resident applicant, and the spouse is working in an employment in a TEER category 4 or 5 occupation, the principal foreign national cannot obtain an openwork permit in the low-skilled spousal category (code C47) on the basis of their spouse’s C49 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; or
• 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.

Dependent children and working age

There is no set minimum age to be eligible for a work permit. The submission of work permit applications on behalf of minor children is at the discretion of their parent(s) or authorized guardian(s).

The ‘working age’ varies across provincial and territorial jurisdictions and there is no minimum age for work permit issuance specified in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) or its regulations.

As such, unless there are reasonable grounds for an officer to be satisfied that a dependent child is unable to perform the work sought or any other reasons for refusal, minors may be issued a work permit.

IRCC and CBSA officers are not required to assess the minimum age requirements in the province of destination for dependent children. Therefore, the onus is on the Canadian employers to meet the requirements of the labour laws of the province of destination.

Please refer to the PDIs on Who qualifies as a dependent child to confirm if an applicant meets the definition of a dependent child in relation to the principal applicant.

The child must meet the definition of dependent child when we receive the work permit application and at time of decision.

Final decision

Approval

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

In the Global Case Management System (GCMS) under the Application screen, officers should enter the information below in the specified fields:

Refusals

If an officer has determined that the applicant does not meet the eligibility requirements. They should record their reasons for decision as per the instructions in: Decision making: Standard of review and process for making a reasonable decision.

Previous updates

January 30, 2023