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
- are an international student who graduated from a designated learning institution and are eligible for the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program
- are a student who’s no longer able to meet the costs of your studies (destitute student)
- have an employer-specific work permit and are being abused or at risk of being abused in relation to your job in Canada
- are a dependent family member of someone who applied for permanent residence
- are the family member of certain foreign workers in Canada
- are the spouse or common-law partner of an international student
- are the spouse or common-law partner of an applicant of the Atlantic Immigration Pilot Program or the Atlantic Immigration Program
- are a refugee, refugee claimant, protected person or you’re their family member
- are under an unenforceable removal order
- are a temporary resident permit holder
- are in Canada and being sponsored as a spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner or accompanying dependent child
- are a Quebec investor who received a Quebec Notice of Intent to Select
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.
- 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. ↩︎
- 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. ↩︎
- 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). ↩︎
- 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). ↩︎
- IRP Regulations, s. 186, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/section-186.html. ↩︎
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