LMIA Exempt Work Permit

If you already have an open work permit, your employer does not need an LMIA at all. An open permit allows you to work for nearly any employer in Canada, so the question does not arise. IRCC puts this in plain terms, with separate steps for hiring with an LMIA and hiring without one.

For anyone else, the exemptions trace back to sections 204 to 208 of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Each section deals with its own kind of situation:

• Section 204: agreements and arrangements, including trade deals
• Section 205: interests of Canada
• Section 206: no other way to support yourself
• Section 207: people applying for permanent residence from inside Canada
• Section 207.1: workers facing vulnerable situations
• Section 208: humanitarian grounds

Getting an exemption is not the same as being approved. The officer still has to be satisfied that you meet all the normal requirements for a work permit, so every other part of your application still counts.

Each exemption carries a short code, T36 for instance, which shows the officer which rule your employer is counting on. Plenty of codes were changed on 15 December 2022, and new ones came in with them. So an older guide, or a friend's story, might name a code that no longer exists.

These permits run through the International Mobility Program, which supports employers in meeting labour needs that serve Canada's economic, social, and cultural priorities. Employers pay a fee, set at $230 as a starting point unless they qualify for an exemption. A separate fee applies when an employer hires three or more entertainers as a group, provided the whole group, staff included, receives the same offer at once.

CUSMA is short for the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. Under it, five kinds of workers can get a Canadian work permit with no LMIA, and section 204 of the regulations gives each group its own exemption code. Here is each group with the code used before 15 December 2022 and the code used since:

• Traders: T34 now, T21 previously
• Investors: T35 now, T22 previously
• Professionals: T36 now, T23 previously
• Executives and senior managers (company transfer): T37 now, T24 previously
• Specialized-knowledge staff (company transfer): T38 now, T24 previously

The old codes were the ones in use until the December 2022 changeover, and the current codes took their place on that date. For professionals covered by CUSMA, T36 replaced T23 on 15 December 2022; other agreements use different codes for professionals.

With an intra-company transfer, a company shifts one of its own employees from an overseas office to a related Canadian one. Several trade agreements include exemptions for employees transferring within a company, but the categories and codes differ by agreement.

Most transfers fall into three buckets: people in executive or senior management roles, staff with specialized knowledge, and, for some agreements, management or graduate trainees. Agreement by agreement, the codes look like this:

• CUSMA: T37 for executives and senior managers, T38 for specialized-knowledge staff, and no code for trainees
• Colombia: F13, F15, and F14 respectively
• Chile: F23 and F24, with no trainee code
• South Korea: F33, F35, and F34 respectively
• Peru: F53, F55, and F54 respectively
• European Union (CETA): T44, T41, and T42 respectively
• CPTPP: T51, T55, and T54 respectively

Until the December 2022 update arrived, a single code, T24, covered every transfer type under CUSMA, Colombia, Chile, South Korea, and Peru, while T44 did the same for all CETA transfers. CETA transferees' spouses and common-law partners get their own code, T45.

The categories differ by agreement: Panama lists professionals, while Colombia, Chile and Peru list traders, investors and professionals. South Korea lists traders, investors, contractual service suppliers and independent professionals. Colombia and South Korea also list spouses and common-law partners. Under the European Union agreement, the deal reaches investors, people supplying services under contract, professionals working independently, and technologists in engineering and science.

CPTPP takes in investors, professionals and technicians, plus their spouses. UK independent professionals use code F60, while GATS professionals work under T33.

A few arrangements outside trade also count. Both airline staff and employees of the United States government fall under code T11.

Apart from trade agreements, the minister can create public policies under section 25.2 of Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that let people inside Canada get work permits with no LMIA. Current examples include open permits for recent graduates of Hong Kong, for Hong Kong residents following a permanent residence pathway, for people backed by a provincial or territorial support letter, and a policy for those hoping to apply for permanent residence in Quebec.

Each policy fits a particular situation, so find the government's page for whichever one fits your case before you count on it. This page gives information, not immigration advice, and you can call to talk your case through with a consultant (calls may be recorded).