Spouses and common-law partners of study permit holders – [R205(c)(ii) – C42]– Canadian interest

Important: Only spouses or common-law partners of study permit holders are eligible for an open work permit. Their dependent children are not eligible to apply for an open work permit under this category (C42).

In these instructions, “officer” refers to employees of both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency.

The instructions on this page should be reviewed in conjunction with the following:

Open work permit – General processing and issuance
Conditions and validity period on work permits

On March 19, 2024, the Minister designated the work performed by the following spouses and common-law partners of full-time students as necessary under paragraph R205(c)(ii):

spouses and common-law partners of full-time students in graduate programs (master’s and doctorate) in a university or polytechnic institution
spouses and common-law partners of full-time students in professional degree programs in a university (e.g., medicine, dentistry, law)
spouses and common-law partners who hold a valid open work permit under the C42 category and who are extending their work permit as spouses of full-time students in a post-graduation work permit (PGWP) eligible program of study at a PGWP-eligible designated learning institution.

This International Mobility Program (IMP) work permit category is intended for spouses and common-law partners who are not, themselves, already study permit holders actively engaged in full-time studies. The reasons for allowing spouses to enter Canada and work is to increase the competitiveness of Canada’s academic institutions or economy.

In these instructions, “spousal” refers to either common-law partner or married spouse situations.

Eligibility

To be a dependent spouse or common-law partner, the applicant for an open work permit must be in a genuine relationship with a principal foreign national.

Applications were submitted before March 19, 2024

All applications received on or before March 18, 2024, shall be processed following established rules and procedures that were in place before that date.

For the applicant to be eligible under administrative code C42, the principal foreign national must meet all of the following requirements:

Documentary evidence

Officers should be satisfied that the principal foreign national continues to comply with the study permit conditions. Should officers have any concerns, they may wish to request additional information from the applicant to ensure that the eligibility requirements of the administrative code C42 are met, or they may wish to undertake an assessment to ensure the material documents provided in the spousal open work permit application are bona fide.

Officers can consult the student compliance portal in the Global Case Management System (GCMS) to ensure the principal foreign national is actively engaged in their program of study, or review guidance in Assessing study permit conditions, Document examination and seizure and ENF 2 manual on misrepresentation (PDF) and follow the rules of procedural fairness.

Applications submitted before March 19, 2024

With the application for a spousal open work permit, officers should be satisfied that they have the following documentation to make an assessment:

proof that the applicant is the genuine spouse or common-law partner of a valid study permit holder (for example, marriage certificate or Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union – IMM 5409), or other proof of relationship
proof that the principal foreign national is attending a designated learning institution (DLI)
proof that the principal foreign national is actively engaged in full-time studies in a post-graduation work permit-eligible study program and institution, such as
- a Canadian public post-secondary institution, such as a
  - college
  - trade or technical school
  - university
  - CEGEP in Quebec
- a private post-secondary institution in Quebec that operates under the same rules and regulations as a public post-secondary institution in Quebec
- a private or public secondary or post-secondary institution in Quebec offering qualifying programs of 900 hours or longer leading to a diploma of vocational studies (DVS) or an attestation of vocational specialization (AVS)
- a Canadian private institution authorized by provincial statute to confer degrees (for example, a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or doctorate), but only if the study permit holder is enrolled in a study program leading to a degree as authorized by the province, which may not include all study programs offered by the private institution

If the principal foreign national is enrolled in a private post-secondary program/institution other than those listed above, the spouse or common-law partner is not eligible for a spousal open work permit.

Applications submitted on or after March 19, 2024

With the application for a spousal open work permit, officers should be satisfied that they have the following documentation to make an assessment:

proof that the applicant is the genuine spouse or common-law partner of a valid study permit holder (for example, marriage certificate or Statutory Declaration of Common-Law Union – IMM 5409), or other proof of relationship
for spouses of students who are in a graduate or professional degree granting program of study: proof of the international student’s enrolment in a degree granting program of study, such as
- an acceptance letter from a designated learning institution (DLI)
- proof of enrolment letter from DLI or
- transcripts from current program
If the applicant holds a valid work permit under this category (C42) and is extending their C42 work permit
- the same instructions on required documentation for applications received before March 19, 2024, apply

Application assessment

Officers must be satisfied that all eligibility requirements are met at the time of decision on the family member work permit application.

Mandatory association to the principal foreign national: The family member must be associated with the principal foreign national in GCMS. Association should be completed on the Client screen and not just within the application. Refer to Associate client to a client in GCMS Help.

If officers have any concerns as to the genuineness of the documents provided, they may wish to undertake an assessment to ensure this material information is genuine and does not reflect a direct misrepresentation of facts to appear eligible for the permit.

Principal foreign nationals

The principal foreign national is the first foreign national of the couple who obtained a study or work permit or was deemed authorized to work under the provisions of section R186, other than under paragraphs R186 (v or w).

In assessing eligibility for a spousal open work permit, the principal foreign national continues to remain the principal in the couple.

The principal foreign national cannot obtain a spousal open work permit under the C41, C42, C47 or C49 administrative codes based on the dependent spouse’s spousal open work permit and TEER category.

For example, if the principal foreign national is a study permit holder and the dependent spouse obtains an open work permit under LMIA exemption code C42 for spouses of study permit holders, the study permit holder cannot quit schooling and obtain a work permit in the C41 spousal category on the basis of their spouse’s C42 open work permit and employment.

Genuine relationship

As per section R4, a foreign national shall not be considered a spouse or a common-law partner of a person if the marriage or common-law partnership

was entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring any status or privilege under the Act or
is not genuine

If officers have concerns as to the genuineness of the relationship, to be procedurally fair, they should request further documentation or information to confirm that the relationship between the dependent spouse or common-law partner and the principal foreign national is genuine and is not a relationship of convenience. Procedural fairness means giving the applicant the opportunity to respond to the concerns of the officer prior to any decision.

If the officer believes that the applicant has misrepresented themselves, the officer should follow the instructions for proceeding with a determination.

Final decision

Approval

The work permit will be issued under the authority of paragraph R205(c)(ii).

In the Global Case Management System (GCMS) under the Application screen, officers should enter the information below in the specified fields

Field	Selection or input
Case Type	20
Province of destination	Unknown
Exemption code	Spouse of full-time student: C42
Employer	Open
Intended Occupation	Open
Special program codes	SPGradC4 Description: Spouses of students in graduate programs (SPGradC42) SPPolC42 Description: Spouses or common-law partners of students in a master’s or doctorate degree at a polytechnic institution (SPPolC42) SPProC42 Description: Spouses of students in professional programs (SPProC42) Note: Officers will need to manually enter the applicable code for applications submitted by representatives, as this is not triggered in the authorized paid representative portal.
NOC	99999 [don’t use other synthetic NOC codes]
Duration	The open work permit may be issued for a period that ends no later than the validity of the principal foreign national’s study permit or the applicant’s passport expiry, whichever comes first. If the principal foreign national is authorized to study without a permit under section R189 at the time the spouse’s work permit application is submitted, the spousal application should be placed on hold until the principal foreign national’s study permit extension application is assessed.
Conditions	Officers should ensure that instructions provided in Medical conditions to be imposed for open employers but occupation-restricted work permits are followed.
User Remarks Mandatory	The following remark must be added to all open work permits: Authorized to work as per applicable labour laws.
Fees	$155 work permit processing fee $100 open work permit holder fee
Biometrics	Work permit applicants are required to provide biometric information and pay the biometric fee – $85 The regular biometric exemptions apply (for example, under 14 or 1 in 10 rule).

Refusals

If an officer is not satisfied that all the requirements of section R200, including the assessment under paragraph R205(c)(ii), are met, they must record their reasons and outline the rationale underlying the decision as well as the facts and elements considered. They must also provide an explanation for the decision in a case note.

Refusal reasons should clearly indicate which criteria or what requirement of section R200 was not met and explain how the conclusion was reached. For assistance, officers can follow the steps in Decision-making: Standard of review and process for making a reasonable decision.

Previous updates

July 13, 2023
January 30, 2023

Spouses and common-law partners of study permit holders – [R205(c)(ii) – C42]– Canadian interest – International Mobility Program (2024)

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