Work Permit in Canada: Open vs. Closed Work Permits Explained

IRCC recognises two kinds of work permit: an employer-specific work permit and an open work permit. The phrase “closed work permit” is common in conversation but it is not the official term. The difference is not about quality or seniority. It is about what the document itself names.

An employer-specific permit names things on the permit

IRCC describes it as a permit that lets you work in Canada under the conditions set out on it, until the expiry date. Those conditions appear on the document in three places:

• Additional Information, which carries the employer, the location and the occupation.
• Conditions, a numbered list of requirements to meet.
• Remarks, which may add clarifications or further conditions.

The permit form is an IMM 1442, and IRCC states you must comply with everything listed on it. In practice that is why changing employer, role or location generally means a new application rather than a quiet switch.

This route needs a job offer from an employer who is not on the non-compliant employers list. IRCC states that most jobs need a labour market impact assessment, and that it is the employer's job to work out whether the position needs one or is exempt.

An open permit is not tied to one employer, but it is not unrestricted

An open work permit lets you work for any employer in Canada with two carve-outs written into the definition: employers on the non-compliant list, and employers who regularly offer striptease, erotic dance, escort services or erotic massage.

Because it is not job-specific, the employer does not need a labour market impact assessment, does not submit an offer of employment and does not pay the employer compliance fee.

What surprises people is that an open permit can still carry restrictions printed on it. IRCC gives two examples: limits on the type of work, where a medical exam may be needed for certain jobs, and limits on where you can work, such as a provincial nominee class permit that is valid in one province only.

A second point that is not widely known: IRCC states that most people applying from outside Canada cannot get an open work permit, and that most open work permit applicants must apply from inside Canada. Open permits are available only in specific situations, among them post-graduation work permit applicants, working holiday participants, spouses and partners of certain students and workers, sponsored family members, protected persons, and people who have left an abusive workplace.

Which one applies to you

It is decided by the stream you apply under, not by preference. Read the Additional Information and Conditions fields on any permit you already hold, because those fields, not the job title, define what you are authorised to do. Our work permits page sets out the streams in more detail.