Countries Which Accept Canadian Refugee Travel Documents (CRTD)

United States

  • CRTD accepted
  • Visa required
  • Checked 2025-06-05

Germany

  • CRTD accepted
  • No separate visa required for visits of up to 90 days
  • See German Government site
  • Checked 2025-06-05

Mexico

  • CRTD accepted
  • Visas required unless you are also a Canadian PR
  • See Mexican Consulate site
  • Checked 2025-06-05

Italy

  • CRTD accepted
  • No separate visa required for visits of up to 90 days
  • See Italian Consulate site
  • Checked 2025-06-05

United Kingdom

France

Free Online English Learning Resources

Free Open Online Courses

Coursera

edX (audit courses for free)

The Open University (UK)

Other Resources

Other Resources and In-Person / Hybrid Classes

The first step for choosing a program, especially, community-funded programs is usually an assessment.

School Boards and Settlement Agencies in Ontario

Applying for Social Assistance in Toronto – Spanish, Tamil, and other languages

The City of Toronto offers an information sheet in multiple languages:

The Spanish and Tamil versions are also archived below:

Bilingual (Spanish/English) Legal Aid Ontario Consent Form

LAO routinely requests that clients sign a consent form – titled “Applicant – Consent to Inspect Documents and Records” – either online or in hardcopy before they will continue coverage of legal services. While we certainly review the rights and duties of a person covered by LAO with our clients, we thought it would be helpful to produce a bilingual version of the letter, in English and Spanish, for reference.

“Getting a Work Permit” as a means of staying in Canada

Many clients have come to me over the years who have delayed making a refugee claim or other application because they believed – and often, were told – that they could get a work permit instead, and stay in Canada that way.

The truth is, only a very small number of people are allowed to apply for a work permit within Canada. Getting a work permit also does not guarantee that you will be eligible for permanent residence, unless you are accepted into a specific program which allows that.

If you have made a refugee claim, or made and received first-stage-approval on certain other kinds of permanent residence applications, or if you have a long-term Temporary Resident Permit, you can apply for or renew a work permit from inside Canada.

Here are some of the few other people who can apply from inside Canada:

⯈ If you already have a work permit, you may be able to extend it and continue working for the same employer [click for details]

The Immigration Regulations1 (s. 199(a)) allow a person who already holds a work permit to apply for a work permit from within Canada. If your work permit required a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), your employer will probably need to get a new one.2

⯈ If you already have a work permit, you may be able to get a new one to work for a different employer [click for details]

The Immigration Regulations (s. 199(a)) allow a person who already holds a work permit to apply for a work permit from within Canada. The process is different than simply extending the existing permit; you will have to apply for a new permit, but can do so from within Canada, and may request permission to work for the new employer while waiting for the new permit to be issued.3

⯈ If you already have an Open Work Permit, you may be able to extend it if you are still eligible [click for details]

The Immigration Regulations (s. 199(a)) allow a person who already holds a work permit to apply for a work permit from within Canada. However, if you are apply to extend an OPEN work permit, you must be continue to be eligible for an Open Work Permit (just as when you initially applied). IRCC summarizes the people eligible for an Open Work Permit4 as follows:

You may be eligible for an open work permit if you

In each of these situations, you must meet additional criteria to be eligible.

⯈ If you are authorized to work in Canada without a work permit, and wish to take on additional work that requires a permit, you can apply from within Canada [click for details]

Under s. 186 of the IRP Regulations,5 there are a very few, specialized categories of persons who can work without a work permit. For example, diplomats and their family members, or people whose work naturally involves travel or touring (such as performing artists or athletes or referees), or people whose work is not able to be differentiated from their lifestyle (namely priests and religious workers). The ability to work without a work permit is limited both by the category of person that is eligible, and the kind of work they can do without a permit – for example, a member of clergy can preach, provide spiritual counseling, and organize and hold religious rites or services without a work permit, but should not be primarily involved in classroom teaching, fundraising, or administration of the religious institution. For some people under this category, they may be able to obtain a work permit within in Canada to expand the kind of work they are doing (for example, a member of clergy taking on classroom teaching, fundraising, or administration of the religious institution, or possibly something unrelated to their calling), for which they may or may not need an LMIA.


  1. Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 [IRP Regulations], s. 199, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/section-199.html. See also Canada, Immigration, Program Delivery Instructions, “Temporary Foreign Worker Program and International Mobility Program: Persons who may apply from within Canada”, updated 16 September 2014, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/persons-who-may-apply-within-canada.html. ↩︎
  2. Canada, Immigration, “Extend a temporary worker’s permit”, updated 9 December 2024, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/work-canada/hire-temporary-foreign/extend-permit.html. ↩︎
  3. Canada, Immigration, “Extend or change the conditions of your work permit: Changing jobs or employers”, updated 19 February 2025, https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/work-canada/permit/temporary/extend/change-jobs-employers.html (archived). ↩︎
  4. Canada, Immigration, Help Centre, “Who can apply for an open work permit?”, 10 June 2024, https://www.ircc.canada.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=177 (archived). ↩︎
  5. IRP Regulations, s. 186, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/section-186.html. ↩︎

Resources: What to do in an EMERGENCY

Emergency Preparedness Guide

Toronto Hydro has a booklet you can print out to record important information, as well as listing important/helpful (Toronto area) emergency numbers. It is available in English (https://tinyurl.com/toronto-hydro-emergency-guide), Tamil (https://tinyurl.com/toronto-hydro-emergency-tam), Spanish (https://tinyurl.com/toronto-hydro-emergency-sp), and several other languages, as well as the tips being available on the web-page itself (and can be translated using Google Translate)

You can generate your own Emergency Preparedness Guide (personalized by Ontario city) on the Province’s website. Another template is available on the Federal Government’s website.

The City of Hamilton has a brief checklist available in English, العربية (Arabic), 简体中文 (Chinese), Čeština (Czech), Francais (French), Soomaali (Somali), Español (Spanish), Kiswahili (Swahili), ትግርኛ (Tigrinya), اردو (Urdu), and Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese) 🔗here.

The Canadian Red Cross has a template available in English, Francais/French, العربية/Arabic,   简体中文 /Chinese simplified,  繁體中文/Chinese traditional, Farsi, Portuguese,  ਪੰਜਾਬੀ /Punjabi, Russian, Español/Spanish, Tagalog, and اردو /Urdu 🔗here.

Good To Know YouTube Playlist

Many of the videos on our Good To Know playlist include winter safety and emergency preparedness.

The City of London (Ontario) also has a video series:

New Ministerial Instructions: Parents and Home Care Workers

Brand new Ministerial Instructions dropped! (Care of the time machine that is the Canada Gazette, these are dated…tomorrow…)

Home Care Worker Program Generally: Ministerial Instructions regarding the processing of applications under the Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot Program (Child Care) and Home Care Worker Immigration Pilot Program (Home Support): https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2025/2025-03-22/html/notice-avis-eng.html#na1

Child Care Stream: Ministerial Instructions with Respect to the Home Care Worker Immigration (Child Care) Class: https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2025/2025-03-22/html/notice-avis-eng.html#na2

Home Support Stream: Ministerial Instructions with Respect to the Home Care Worker Immigration (Home Support) Class:
https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2025/2025-03-22/html/notice-avis-eng.html#na3

And a little add-on about Parents/Grandparents: Ministerial Instructions with respect to the processing of applications for a permanent resident visa made by parents or grandparents of a sponsor as members of the family class and the processing of sponsorship applications made in relation to those applications: https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2025/2025-03-22/html/notice-avis-eng.html#na4

Bilingual (Spanish/English) Designated Representative Letter

The RPD (refugee board) will send the “Designated Representative” (parent of a minor child in a family making a refugee claim) a letter setting out their responsibilities. The main text is reproduced below, in Spanish and English, and a formatted bilingual version is also available (see bottom of page).


As you are the parent or guardian of [name or names of minors] and have completed the Basis of Claim form on their behalf, the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada recommends that you be appointed as their designated representative. As the designated representative, you must be 18 years of age or older, understand the nature of the proceedings, not have any interests that conflict with those of the minor claimant, act in their best interests, and attend any hearings or other proceedings related to the claim. No hearing date has been scheduled yet.
Como usted es el padre o tutor legal de [nombre o nombres de los menores] y ha completado el formulario de Base de la Reclamación (Basis of Claim form) en su nombre, la División de Protección de Refugiados (RPD) de la Junta de Inmigración y Refugiados de Canadá recomienda que se le designe como su representante designado. Como representante designado, debe ser mayor de 18 años, comprender la naturaleza del procedimiento, no tener intereses que entren en conflicto con los de los menores reclamantes, actuar en su mejor interés y asistir a cualquier audiencia u otro procedimiento relacionado con la reclamación. Aún no se ha programado una fecha para la audiencia.

Being the designated representative does not mean acting as counsel. The responsibilities of a designated representative include, but are not limited to: 
Ser el representante designado no significa actuar como abogado. Las responsabilidades de un representante designado incluyen, pero no se limitan a:

  • Deciding whether to retain counsel and giving instructions to counsel, if applicable;
    Decidir si retener a un abogado y dar instrucciones al abogado, si corresponde;
  • Making other decisions regarding the case or assisting the minor claimant to make those decisions;
    Tomar otras decisiones relacionadas con el caso o asistir al menor reclamante en la toma de esas decisiones;
  • Informing the minor claimant about the various stages and procedures in the processing of their case;
    Informar al menor reclamante sobre las diversas etapas y procedimientos en el procesamiento de su caso;
  • Helping to get evidence to support the case and/or being a witness at the hearing if necessary;
    Ayudar a obtener pruebas que respalden el caso y/o ser testigo en la audiencia si es necesario;
  • Protecting the interests of the minor claimant and putting forward the best possible case to the Division;
    Proteger los intereses del menor reclamante y presentar el mejor caso posible ante la División;
  • Informing and consulting the minor when making decisions about the case; and
    Informar y consultar al menor reclamante al tomar decisiones sobre el caso; y
  • Filing and perfecting an appeal to the Refugee Appeal Division, if applicable.
    Presentar y perfeccionar una apelación ante la División de Apelación de Refugiados, si es aplicable.

For more information regarding the role and responsibilities of the designated representative, please consult  the  Designated  Representative  Guide:
https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/designated- representant/Pages/designated-representative-guide.aspx.
Para obtener más información sobre el papel y las responsabilidades del representante designado, por favor consulte la Guía del Representante Designado:
https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/designated-representative/Pages/designated-representative-guide.aspx.

If you refuse to act as the designated representative, you are required to inform the RPD of such refusal within 10 days of receipt of this letter. If no refusal is received within those 10 days, the RPD will assume that you accept the role and responsibilities of the designated representative.
Si usted se niega a actuar como representante designado, debe informar a la RPD de dicha negativa dentro de los 10 días posteriores a la recepción de esta carta. Si no se recibe ninguna negativa dentro de esos 10 días, la RPD asumirá que acepta el rol y las responsabilidades del representante designado.

If you have any questions, please contact the undersigned at the number below. 
Si tiene alguna pregunta, por favor contacte al abajo firmante en el número que se indica a continuación.

Sincerely,
Sinceramente,

[Initials of a refugee board staff member and general refugee board phone number]
[Iniciales de un miembro del personal de la junta de refugiados y número general de la junta de refugiados]