Canada has announced that visitor visa holders are no longer permitted to apply for work permits while in the country.
This new directive from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) takes immediate effect, as stated in a Wednesday announcement.
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The IRCC clarified, “Although the temporary policy was originally scheduled to expire on February 28, 2025, IRCC is ending the policy early as part of our broader efforts to manage the number of temporary residents in Canada and maintain the integrity of the immigration system.”
Concerns were raised that some individuals were misusing the policy to deceive foreign nationals into working in Canada without proper authorization. “IRCC will continue to process applications submitted before August 28, 2024, under the previous policy,” the statement added.
Introduced in August 2020, the policy was initially designed to assist visitors stranded in Canada due to COVID-19-related border closures, allowing them to apply for work permits without leaving the country. It also permitted those who had held a work permit in the past 12 months and then changed their status to “visitor” to work legally while awaiting a decision on their new work permit application.
With the termination of the policy, visitor visa holders must now leave Canada to apply for a work permit.
