The Liberal government of Canada announced that from January 21, 2025, the spouse work permit (OWP) qualification of international students and work permit holders will be further tightened! Implement stricter restrictions!

Among them, the new deal of study permit mainly includes the following aspects: the work permit for Undergraduates' spouses is affected by their majors, and only the study permit holders of some majors can apply for their spouses; However, the restrictions on master's degree are relatively small, and only 16 months or more are required, and the spouse's family members can apply; Doctoral students do not limit the project time, and their spouses' families can freely apply for spouses' work permits. For work permits, only spouses of two types of foreign workers are allowed to apply, including foreign workers who are engaged in Teer 0 or 1 occupations, such as the holders of work permits for managers, engineers, technical experts and other highly skilled positions in various industries; And foreign workers engaged in specific Teer 2 or 3 occupations, such as natural and Applied Sciences, construction, health care, natural resource development, education, sports and military.

The complete list will be released on January 21. In addition, foreign workers must have at least 16 months remaining on their work permits when their spouses apply for OWP. The open work permit (OWP) issued under the old policy, which has been approved and has not expired, will continue to be valid until its original expiration date. Fortunately, according to the information on the official website, there are still some categories of spouses of foreign workers who can not be affected by the new deal and can still apply for open work permits according to the old rules, including spouses of foreign workers employed under free trade agreements (such as Canada Columbia FTA or cusma) and spouses of foreign workers who are applying for permanent resident status.

It can be seen that the intention of this policy update is also highly consistent with the previous policy direction, which is to further control the number of temporary residents in China, relieve the pressure on housing, infrastructure and social services, and ensure the long-term good governance and sustainable development of Canada.