Stream analysis & planning
1–2 weeks
Consultation, document checklist, and a written plan with the fee for your exact stream.
Work permits
Working in Canada
Most work permits tie you to one employer and depend on paperwork the employer starts. A smaller set — spousal open permits, post-graduation permits — belong to you alone. The first job is always the same: confirm which permit actually fits, because applying under the wrong stream is the most common self-inflicted refusal we see.
Book a consultation
Complexity: Varies widely
Who walks this path
This pathway usually fits when…
- You have a written job offer from a Canadian employer
- Your spouse or partner already works or studies in Canada
- You're finishing Canadian studies and want to keep working
- You're an employer trying to hire someone from abroad
The route
5 waypoints, in order.
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Confirm the right permit type
Employer-specific or open? Labour-market assessment required, or exempt under a trade agreement or program? Twenty minutes of stream analysis here saves months later — this is most of what a first consultation does.
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Build the employer's side
For most employer-specific permits, the employer needs its own approvals first — job advertising records, wage evidence, a compliance filing. We prepare employers for this in parallel so the two halves of the file finish together.
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Gather your personal documents
Passport, status documents, proof of qualifications, police certificates, and — depending on your country of residence — a medical exam. We give you a written checklist and check every item against it before anything is submitted.
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Submit, then biometrics
The application is filed online with a full document package and a legal submission letter explaining how you meet each requirement. You'll give fingerprints and a photo at a collection point — we tell you exactly where and when.
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Decision and first day
If approved, you receive a letter to present when you enter Canada (or your new permit by mail if you're already here). We review it line by line — permits sometimes arrive with errors, and fixing them early is far easier.
The paperwork
The documents that decide the file.
Every file gets its own written checklist — this is the common core, not your list. Some streams need more; a few need less.
Read: Documents, done right →- 01 Passport (validity covering the whole requested period)
- 02 Written job offer or employment contract
- 03 Employer's approval documents, where the stream requires them
- 04 Proof of qualifications — diplomas, licences, reference letters
- 05 Proof of current immigration status, if you're in Canada
- 06 Police certificates from countries you've lived in
- 07 Medical exam confirmation, when required for your country or job
- 08 Proof of relationship, for spousal open permits
Timelines, told honestly
What we control, what the government controls.
Building the file
3–8 weeks
Mostly driven by how quickly documents arrive — employer paperwork and police certificates are the usual pacing items.
Government processing
Varies — weeks to many months
Published processing times differ enormously by permit type and country, and they move monthly. We quote the current published figures at your consultation and never round them down to look good.
Nobody controls government processing — not us, not anyone. What we control is submitting a complete, well-argued file the first time, which avoids the requests-for-more-documents that quietly add months.
About complexity: A spousal open permit can be genuinely simple. An employer-specific permit with a labour-market assessment involves two linked applications and real strategy. The consultation tells you which world you're in.
What it costs
Every service on this pathway has a published flat fee — and a plain list of what's never included, like government fees and translations.
See the work permits feesEducational only — not legal advice. Immigration law and processing times change with little notice, and small facts change answers. A consultation assesses your actual case, documents, and dates. Rules for this pathway have changed more than once in recent years — what you read anywhere (including here) can go stale quickly.
Other pathways
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02
Family sponsorshipBringing family home
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03
Permanent residencePoints-based PR
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04
CitizenshipBecoming Canadian
Next waypoint
Ready to walk the work permits path?
One hour with a lawyer or regulated consultant, in your language — you leave with a written plan, the current published processing times, and the exact flat fee for your file.