Foreign nationals nominated by a province Provincial agreements [R204(c) T13] Agreements and arrangements International Mobility Program

This section contains policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff. It is posted on the departments website as a courtesy to stakeholders.

Note: In these instructions officer refers to employees of both Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canada Border Service Agency.

The instructions on this page should be reviewed in conjunction with

For more information on the permanent residence process for provincial nominees, see Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

In this situation, province legally refers to provinces and territories. Therefore, in these instructions, when province is used, it refers to both provinces and territories.

A person may be issued a work permit without requiring an LMIA, if they have a valid nomination from a province (other than Quebec) for permanent residence and a job offer from an employer based in that province. Work permit applications that include a valid nomination from a province or territory are processed under paragraph 204(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations using the administrative LMIA exemption code T13.

For Quebec cases, the legislative authority for the LMIA exemption is paragraph R205(a). For further information, see Quebec cases.

General eligibility

To be eligible for a work permit as a nominee, foreign nationals must

have a valid nomination from a province (other than Quebec) for permanent residence or proof that their application for permanent residence was submitted prior to expiry of the nomination
have an LMIA-exempt offer of employment from an employer based in the nominating province
- The employer submitted the offer in the Employer Portal and is subject to the employer compliance regime.
have a provincial support letter indicating the urgent requirement for the foreign national to begin the job prior to permanent residence

Important: Provincial nominees can apply for a work permit under the administrative code T13 [R204(c)] before submitting an application for permanent residence under the PNP unless the nomination is expired (prior to submission) or paused. Officers should check the client notes to verify the nomination has not been â€œpausedâ€ by the province of issuance (for example, a job offer has been withdrawn or the province is conducting an investigation).

Documentary evidence

The application for the work permit must include the following:

an LMIA-exempt offer of employment submitted in the Employer Portal (or through an alternate submission if it was approved) and proof the employer has paid the employer compliance fee
a copy of the confirmation of nomination letter from the provincial government that verifies that the foreign national has been nominated for permanent residence by the province
- Officers should not request the nomination certificate as provincial nominees are not issued a copy
a statement from the province that it has determined that all factors required for the issuance of a work permit under paragraph R204(c) as per its agreement with Canada have been met
- The required factors include
  - that the nominated individual is urgently required by the provincial-based employer
  - that the job offer is genuine and will create economic benefits or opportunities
  - that the employment is not part-time or seasonal
  - that the wages and working conditions of the employment would be sufficient to attract and retain Canadian citizens or permanent residents

Note: â€œUrgently requiredâ€ means there should be no unreasonable delay between approval and start of employment.

Applications that do not include the requested information will be refused since they do not meet the eligibility requirements under R204(c); they would require a LMIA. If an officer is not satisfied that the applicant is able to perform the work stated in the job offer, the officer is prohibited from issuing a work permit under R200(3)(a).

Expired nomination

If the nomination is expired, the foreign national must include a copy of the acknowledgement of receipt letter with their work permit application confirming that IRCC has received the PNP permanent residence application before the nomination expired.

Officers must verify that the PNP application is in the Global Case Management System (GCMS), or go through the Permanent Resident Digital Intake tool or the Centralized Intake Office (CIO) in Sydney if the permanent resident application is not in GCMS to ensure that the nomination has not been withdrawn by the province and that no adverse information is found regarding the file.

Questions regarding nominations should be referred to the CIO in Sydney.

Reminder: Officers should not request the nomination certificate from clients as provincial nominees are not issued a copy.

Work permit issuance in GCMS

Under the Application screen enter the following:

Field	Selection or input
Case type	52 Employer-specific LMIA-exempt applications The Case type field must indicate 52. No other case type will allow the correct linkage in GCMS. Entering a case type other than 52 will result in incorrect accounting for GCMS, requiring manual corrections to be made and making inspection activities more difficult.
Province of destination	This should match the province of nomination.
City of destination	Address of physical job location If there is more than one location within the province, enter the main location in this field and the secondary location in Remarks.
Exemption code	T13 This code will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
NOC	National Occupational Classification code The code will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
Intended occupation	Job title The job title will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
Employer	Business operating name The business operating name will auto-populate when the work permit is properly matched with the offer of employment.
Duration	The duration must be the one specified in the offer, to a maximum of 3 years, or until passport expiry, whichever is earlier.
Conditions (Mandatory)	Not authorized to work in any other location. (The location of the employer must indicate the province of nomination.) Not authorized to work for any other employer. Not authorized to work in any other occupation.

Open work permit for spouses and common-law partners

The spouse or common-law partner of a principal foreign national who has been nominated by a province is eligible to apply for a LMIA-exempt open work permit under administrative code C41.

Note: Eligibility for a C41 open work permit does not extend to dependent children of the provincial nominee. They must apply for an employer-specific work permit, or an open work permit if eligible, independent of the principal applicants nomination.