Spousal open work permits: work out which stream you fall under first, because 6 months and 16 months are two different sets of conditions

First work out which stream you fall under

Two different routes get called the same thing, and their rules live on separate pages:

1. The open work permit a spouse applies for while the principal applicant works in Canada. This is temporary status and it tracks the principal applicant's work permit. That is what this page covers. 2. The open work permit available during inland spousal sponsorship. That one tracks a permanent residence application and runs on a different set of rules. Applying this page's conditions to it produces the wrong answer entirely. For that route see inland versus outland sponsorship.

Within the route this page covers there is a further split. The official page does not give one general set of conditions. It gives a separate set of "requirements the principal applicant must meet" per stream, both headed must meet 4 requirements, with different conditions inside. The question that splits them: was the principal applicant's current work permit issued or approved because they applied for an economic class permanent residence program or pilot?

Separately, holders of a work permit under a free trade agreement should first check whether the agreement they are relying on gives their spouse eligibility, and come back to this table if it does not. Quebec's PSTQ carries its own provision. Both are covered under "Other situations assessed differently" below.

This split is hard to spot on the official page, because both sets sit under the same subheading, Principal applicant requirements, just under different branches. Whichever one you scroll to first is the one you tend to read.

The number that circulates most widely is 16 months. It only holds for the second row. Anyone in the first row who measures themselves against 16 months reaches a conclusion they should not.

One further note: the official text says spouse or common-law partner. Common-law partners are within this measure on the same footing as spouses.

The permanent residence pathway stream: four requirements, at least 6 months

The official text:

You (the principal applicant) must meet 4 requirements:
- You hold a valid work permit or are approved for a work permit (employer-specific or open work permit under a non-family member work permit category).
- Your work permit must be valid in Canada for at least 6 months after we receive your family member's open work permit application.
- You live and work in Canada or you plan to live and work in Canada.
- Your work permit was issued or approved because you applied for an economic class permanent residence program or pilot.

There is no TEER condition among the four. The validity requirement is at least 6 months, counted from when IRCC receives the spouse's application. The last requirement is the key to the split: the permit has to have been issued or approved because of an application to an economic class permanent residence program or pilot.

The first requirement allows two permit types: an employer-specific permit, or an open work permit, in either case under a non-family member work permit category. The third asks that the principal applicant lives and works in Canada, or plans to.

The programs and pilots listed by IRCC:

• Agri-Food Pilot
• Atlantic Immigration Program
• Canadian experience class
• Caring for children class and caring for people with high medical needs class
• Federal skilled trades class
• Federal skilled worker class
• Francophone Community Immigration Pilot (FCIP)
• Holders of a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) who applied for permanent residence, including the Quebec skilled worker class and the Quebec investors program
• Home Child-Care Provider Pilot and Home Support Worker Pilot, Direct to PR stream
• Provincial Nominee Program
• Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Program
• Rural Community Immigration Pilot (RCIP)
• Start-up business class

The high-skilled worker stream: four requirements, at least 16 months

This stream is also headed must meet 4 requirements. The first two:

• You have 1 of the following: a valid work permit (some exceptions apply); an approval for a work permit that hasn't been issued yet (port of entry letter of introduction); an authorization to work without a work permit (some exceptions apply)
• You're living or plan to live in Canada while working.

The first lists three states and one of them is enough: holding a valid work permit; having a permit approved but not yet issued, which is the port of entry letter of introduction; or holding an authorization to work without a work permit. IRCC notes that exceptions apply to the first and the third.

The third requirement is the occupation, the TEER condition, covered in the next section. The fourth is validity:

Your work permit or authorization to work must be valid for at least 16 months after we receive your spouse or common law partner's open work permit application, unless you're the spouse of a foreign-trained medical professional recruited by Quebec.

At least 16 months, counted from the same point: when IRCC receives the spouse's application.

Here is where it is easy to come up short. "Still a year left" sounds comfortable, but a year is 12 months, four short of 16, and the requirement already fails. Plenty of people only think about their spouse's permit when their own renewal is approaching, by which point the condition has long passed.

Two situations are known not to require the full 16 months:

The second is already stated at the end of the official text quoted above.

TEER 0 and 1 are fully open, TEER 2 and 3 have to be checked against a list

This condition exists only in the high-skilled worker stream. The permanent residence pathway stream has no such requirement. The official text:

• any high-skilled occupation at the TEER category 0 (management) or 1 (professional) level … at the time your spouse or common-law partner submits their application, or
• a select high-skilled occupation at the TEER category 2 or category 3 level …

TEER is the official categorisation of occupations. The text gives 0 as management and 1 as professional.

Everything turns on the word select in the second line. TEER 0 and 1 are fully open. TEER 2 and 3 are not: only the occupations named on IRCC's list count. A commonly heard version is that TEER 0 through 3 all qualify, which drops select.

The list is not short. TEER 2 runs to around sixty entries and TEER 3 to several dozen. Whether a given occupation is on it can only be settled against the official eligibility page. Guessing by industry does not settle it.

There is also a timing point. The text reads at the time your spouse or common-law partner submits their application, so it goes by what the principal applicant's occupation is at the moment the spouse files, not by the occupation held when the work permit was issued.

Dependent children can no longer use this route

The official text:

As of January 21, 2025, only select spouses or common-law partners may be eligible to apply for an open work permit under this measure.
This means that as of January 21, 2025, your dependent child, or their dependent child, are no longer eligible for an open work permit under this measure.
However, in certain situations, your family member in Canada can still apply for an extension of their initial work permit received through this measure, even after January 21, 2025.

Two separate things here.

One is that as of January 21, 2025, dependent children, and their dependent children, can no longer apply for an open work permit under this measure.

The other is that a family member in Canada who already received a work permit through this measure can, in certain situations, still apply for an extension. The text is extension of their initial work permit received through this measure. That sentence is often read as "children can still apply", and the two differ by a step: an extension presupposes a permit already received. A child holding such a permit and working in Canada is also subject to the minimum working age and occupational restrictions of the province or territory, and open work permit holders have to comply with federal, provincial and territorial labour laws.

Other situations assessed differently

• Work permit holders under a free trade agreement (FTA). Some FTAs give spouses open work permit eligibility in their own right, and which one applies depends on the agreement being relied on. If the FTA route does not work, an application under this measure may still be possible.
• Quebec's PSTQ. As of June 5, 2026, a temporary worker who applied to Quebec for permanent selection under the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés may have a spouse or common-law partner who is eligible. IRCC's wording is may be eligible, not a certainty.

On the spouse's own side, IRCC states three requirements, of which the first is meeting the general eligibility requirements for a work permit. For the other two, the official page's own text governs.

The difficulty is that the conditions are tied to each other

The conditions that trip people up all sit with the principal applicant: which stream applies, how much validity is left on the permit, and whether the occupation counts. These three are not independent. Change one and the other two have to be worked out again. Changing jobs can move both which stream applies and the TEER condition at once. Move the permit's expiry date and the 6-month or 16-month count starts over.

How long the application takes has no fixed number. Use IRCC's processing times tool for the current figure. On status while a decision is pending, see maintained status and the 90-day window to restore status.

Consultation rates are here.

Common questions