Work Permits Update — September 24, 2026

What You Should Do

• -If you applied under the 2021 TR-to-PR pathway and are still awaiting a PR decision, confirm your eligibility for the open work permit extension at canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/tr-pr-pathway/open-work-permit.html — the deadline to apply is December 31, 2026.
• -If your current TR-to-PR open work permit expires within the next 4 months, submit your renewal application now through the IRCC portal to maintain work authorization while your PR application is pending.
• -If you are an employer with fewer than 10 employees at a work location hiring low-wage temporary foreign workers, review the updated ESDC Program Requirements for Low-Wage Positions page (updated August 18, 2026) to understand that Service Canada will now use a workforce size of 10 for cap calculations — potentially allowing you to hire 1–2 low-wage TFWs depending on the applicable cap rate.
• -If you are an in-Canada work permit applicant whose employer's LMIA is still pending, confirm with your employer or immigration representative that you can now benefit from the extended 90-day concurrent processing grace period (effective August 21, 2026) instead of the previous 60-day window.
• -If you are applying for an LMIA-based work permit, check the new provincial wage thresholds (effective July 17, 2026) at globalworkpath.com/canada-work-permit-lmia-updated to confirm whether your position qualifies under the high-wage or low-wage stream, as this affects processing requirements.