Officers have the authority to issue work permits under section 200 to foreign nationals who intend to perform work that:
- Would create or maintain significant social, cultural or economic benefits or opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent residents
- Would create or maintain reciprocal employment of Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada in other countries
- The Minister has designated as being work that foreign nationals could perform on the basis of the following criteria:
- The work is related to a research program
- The work is an essential part of a post-secondary academic, vocational or professional training program offered by a designated learning institution as defined in section 211.1
- The work is an essential part of a program at the secondary level
- That is a vocational training program offered by a designated learning institution in Quebec or,
- That is a program offered by a designated learning institution that requires students to work in order to obtain their secondary or high school diploma or certificate of graduation or,
- Limited access to the Canadian labour market is necessary for reasons of public policy relating to the competitiveness of Canada’s academic institutions or economy or,
- The work is of a religious or charitable nature
Note:
- For more details on the permanent resident process, officers would need to refer to Chapter OP 7b
- In addition, they could also consult the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program pre-nomination initiative
Foreign Workers – Work Permits for Start-Up Business Class Permanent Resident Visa Applicants
Typically, qualifying foreign nationals would receive a Commitment Certificate or Letter of Support issued by various designated entities. The authorities could consider these individuals for short-term work permits so as to facilitate their entry to Canada. However, this would only happen in cases where the designated entity supports the request for a work permit.
The Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for receiving Start-up Business Class Work Permits, the individuals would need to meet the following requirements. They would need to:
- Have the intent of residing in a province or territory (PT) other than Quebec
- Complete an Offer of Employment to a Foreign National Exempt from a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) form i.e. IMM 5802 that lists them as being self-employed
- In addition, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would need to be in possession of the form and the employer compliance fee
- Have a Commitment Certificate issued by a designated entity that indicates that the work permit applicant is ‘essential’ and that there are urgent business reasons that necessitate the applicant’s early entry into Canada
- This would also mean that the authorities would require completion of Section 8.0 of the Commitment Certificate AND,
- Possess a Letter of Support linked to a Commitment Certificate issued by a designated entity that mentions that the applicant must have sufficient funds for meeting the low income cut off (LICO) for their family size for a duration of 52 weeks
Source: CIC