Spouse open work permit for students

The same rules that began on January 21, 2025 still apply. Your spouse qualifies only when you have a valid study permit and you are enrolled in one of the programs that the Government of Canada page for students lists:

• a master's degree program lasting 16 months or more
• a doctoral degree program
• one of the professional degree programs on the list, offered by a Canadian university
• the Francophone Minority Communities Student Pilot, which has qualified since August 26, 2024

By professional degree, we mean a university credential that prepares you for a specific regulated occupation. The degrees on the list are the Doctor of Medicine, law degrees (LLB, JD or BCL), the Bachelor of Engineering, a bachelor's in nursing (BScN or BSN), the Bachelor of Education, and degrees in pharmacy, dentistry, optometry and veterinary medicine.

Programs shorter than 16 months at the master's level don't qualify, and a college diploma or a regular bachelor's degree outside the professional list doesn't either. If your spouse's family open work permit was approved before the change and is still valid, it stays valid.

The word "open" is there because the permit isn't locked to a single job or employer. Your spouse is free to work for nearly any employer, apart from one that has broken the rules on hiring foreign workers, or one that offers escort, striptease, erotic dance or erotic massage services.

Your spouse's work permit usually expires on the same date as your study permit.

Most of the time your spouse applies online. Paper applications are only possible because of a disability or a technical problem with the online system.

1. Collect proof that you're enrolled, since the officer has to confirm you're in a program that qualifies. Any of these will do: your letter of acceptance, a letter from your school confirming enrolment, or your transcripts.
2. Collect proof of your relationship, like a marriage certificate, since the permit rests on your partner actually being your spouse or your common-law partner.
3. In the online form, choose the option for spouses of international students so the application is routed into the correct stream.
4. Your spouse pays the fees and, if asked, gives biometrics, which means fingerprints and a photo taken at an official collection point.

These are the per-person costs of the application, in Canadian dollars.

Processing for a work permit submitted inside Canada was roughly 16 weeks as of October 21, 2026, which means it's wise to apply well before your spouse wants to start work.

Your spouse can renew under this stream only while you continue to meet the same conditions, and only until the expiry date of your study permit. The extension cannot go past that date.

There is one further limit: you can't be in your program's final term when your spouse requests an extension. Any renewal must match the length of your own permit.

Because this permit is tied to your studies, it doesn't continue on its own after your study permit runs out. Whether your spouse can keep working at that point hinges on your next step (for example, getting your own post-graduation work permit), and spouses of workers follow a different set of rules than spouses of students.

If you intend to seek a post-graduation work permit, you have 180 days from the day your school confirms program completion. If you studied a master's at a school with eligible programs, a program of at least 8 months can lead to a 3-year post-graduation work permit, and a doctoral degree can lead to up to 3 years.