Spousal and family open work permits in 2026

You and your partner are planning a life in Canada, and one question keeps coming back: can the person who is not the main applicant work too? If you are feeling unsure, you are not alone. For years the answer was usually yes, and a lot of advice online still says so. On January 21, 2025, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) narrowed who can get a family open work permit, and in 2026 it added a few targeted measures. The good news is that many families still have a way in. This guide is organised by situation, so you can find the one that matches your family, check its conditions, and then confirm them on canada.ca before you apply.

What changed on January 21, 2025

Before that date, the spouse of almost any international student or foreign worker could apply, and in many cases so could their dependent children. Now the student’s program or the worker’s job decides it. Dependent children of workers who are not on a pathway to permanent residence are no longer eligible, and family members of workers in TEER 4 or 5 jobs who are not on a pathway are not eligible either. If a family member already holds one of these permits in Canada, they may still extend it, as long as they apply before it expires, keep valid status, and the extension does not go past the worker’s permit or their own passport.

If your partner is a student

• A master’s degree program that is 16 months or longer.
• A doctoral (PhD) program.
• Certain professional university degrees: medicine (MD), dentistry (DDS, DMD), law (LLB, JD, BCL), optometry (OD), pharmacy (PharmD, BS, BSc, BPharm), veterinary medicine (DVM), nursing (BScN, BSN, BNSc, BN), education (BEd) and engineering (BEng, BE, BASc).
• A short list of eligible pilot programs, such as the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot outside Quebec and some provincial programs for internationally educated nurses and other health professionals in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Partners of students in other bachelor’s degrees, college diplomas and shorter programs no longer qualify through their partner’s studies. That can be hard to read if you were counting on it, but it is not always the end of the road: check the other situations below, because one of them may fit your family now or later. An existing permit can still be extended if your partner keeps a valid study permit, studies full time in a program that is eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit, and is not in their last term. Our Spousal Open Work Permit guide explains how the permit itself works.

If your partner is a worker

If your partner works in Canada and is not on a pathway to permanent residence, you may qualify when all of these are true:

• They work, or will work, in any TEER 0 (management) or TEER 1 (professional) occupation, or in one of the select TEER 2 or TEER 3 occupations on IRCC’s list.
• Their work permit is valid for at least 16 months after IRCC receives your application.
• They live in Canada, or plan to, while they work, and your relationship is genuine.

IRCC’s select TEER 2 and 3 list covers areas such as health care, technicians and technologists, skilled trades and construction, early childhood education, transport, natural resources and the Canadian Armed Forces. Check your partner’s exact NOC code against that list. If your partner works in a TEER 4 or 5 job and is not on a pathway to permanent residence, you are not eligible. For the different kinds of work permits, see our work permit guide.

If your partner is on a pathway to permanent residence, or has applied

These are the most open routes. The worker’s TEER level does not matter, and they are the only worker routes where dependent children can qualify as well as the spouse or partner. The worker’s permit must be valid for at least 6 months after IRCC receives the family member’s application.

• A worker on a pathway who has not applied yet: they work in a TEER 4 or 5 job and are in an eligible stream, such as a Provincial Nominee Program stream, the Atlantic Immigration Program, the Agri-Food Pilot, a Quebec selection certificate, the Start-up Visa or the Yukon Community Pilot.
• A worker who has applied for economic permanent residence: their work permit was issued because they applied under an eligible program, such as the Canadian Experience Class, the Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trades class, a Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program or the Agri-Food Pilot.
• Family members covered: the spouse or common-law partner, a dependent child of the worker or of their partner, and the dependent child of a dependent child.

If your partner holds a BOWP

A Bridging Open Work Permit (BOWP) keeps a principal applicant working while IRCC decides their permanent residence application. IRCC’s instructions say a genuine accompanying spouse, common-law partner or dependent child of a BOWP holder is eligible for an open work permit, whatever the holder’s occupation. They apply under the route for family members of economic PR applicants, so the BOWP generally needs at least 6 months of validity left when IRCC receives their application. Family members cannot get a BOWP of their own. Read more in our BOWP guide.

If you are being sponsored for permanent residence

This route is separate from the student and worker rules above. If your partner is sponsoring you as a spouse, common-law partner or conjugal partner, you can apply for an open work permit while IRCC processes the PR application. Our inland spousal sponsorship guide covers the whole process. The main conditions are:

• You are included in the PR application and have the acknowledgement of receipt (AOR) for it.
• You live in Canada with your sponsor. This applies whether you applied inland or outland, so an outland applicant who lives in Canada with the sponsor can also apply. Applicants living abroad cannot.
• You generally hold valid temporary resident status. If your status ends within 2 weeks, you can apply before the AOR arrives. If you are out of status under the spousal public policy, you must wait for the approval in principle letter.
• An accompanying dependent child who lives with you and your sponsor can also apply, if they meet the minimum working age where they live.

The 2026 special measures

• British Columbia Significant Investment Projects (from March 23, 2026): the spouse or common-law partner of a worker with a work permit or letter of introduction under a significant investment project agreement can apply. The worker’s job can be at any TEER level and the 16-month rule does not apply. Dependent children are not included.
• Health professionals recruited by Quebec (from May 25, 2026): the spouse or common-law partner of a worker recruited by Quebec as a registered nurse (NOC 31301), respiratory therapist or related occupation (32103), or medical laboratory technologist (32120) can apply without the 16-month rule. A letter of selection from a qualifying Quebec program is needed.
• Quebec skilled worker candidates (from June 5, 2026): under a temporary public policy that runs until December 31, 2026, the spouse or partner of a worker found eligible under it can apply if they have valid status, or status that expired in the last 90 days, and are named on the worker’s Quebec permanent selection application.

Summary: find your situation

The open work permits in this guide are part of the International Mobility Program, not the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Our piece on the International Mobility Program explains the difference with IRCC’s own numbers, so you can read the news knowing where you stand.