Changes have been made to the instructions on how to process open work permits for family members of work permit holders in high- or low-skilled occupations. Family members of work permit applicants or work permit holders do not have a field in the application to indicate for which International Mobility Program (IMP) work permit category they are applying.
If the applicant said in their application that they are family members of a worker, the officer must record the appropriate category code based on the proof presented in their application that demonstrates the skill level of the principal applicant.
Officers should not be refusing applications because the labour market impact assessment (LMIA) exemption code is incorrect. Officers cannot refuse applications because the code the applicant provided in their documentary evidence is incorrect. The open work permit applicant is not responsible for selecting the correct administrative code; that is the responsibility of IRCC processing officers.
Family members of work permit applicants or holders do not have a field in the application form to indicate for which category code they are applying. If the applicant indicated in their application that they are a family member of a worker, the officer must enter the correct category code that relates to the proof provided in their application that shows the skill level of the principal applicant.
A family member is defined as:
the spouse or common-law partner of the principal foreign nationalthe dependent children of the spouse or the principal foreign nationaldependent children of the dependent children (grandchild of principal foreign national or spouse)
High-skilled occupations are considered to be those in the National Occupational Classification (NOC), Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category 0,1, 2 or 3. In addition, the synthetic code used by the Department for entrepreneurs (code 88888) is considered to be TEER 0 or 1.