LMIA exempt work permits
An exemption answers one question and leaves the rest open. It removes the requirement for a labour market impact assessment. It does not remove anything the officer has to be satisfied of before a permit is issued.
About this work
What does LMIA exempt actually mean?
Sections 204 to 208 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations give the authority to issue a work permit to somebody who does not need a labour market impact assessment, under subparagraphs 200(1)(c)(i) to (ii.1). Permits issued that way sit in the International Mobility Program rather than the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
The department states the limit of that in its own instructions: meeting the criteria for an exemption category means only that the application can be processed without an assessment. The officer must still be satisfied that every regulatory requirement for issuing a work permit is met, including all the relevant factors in section 200.
That is the sentence worth reading twice. An exemption is a shortcut past one document. The applicant still has to show they will leave at the end of the authorised stay, that they can support themselves, that they are admissible, and that the job and the employer are genuine.
The assumption that costs applications
Exempt from the assessment, not from the test
The department's instructions say it directly: qualifying for an exemption category means only that the application can be processed without a labour market impact assessment. Everything else in section 200 still applies.
The officer still decides whether you will leave
A work permit is a temporary status and the applicant has to satisfy the officer they will depart at the end of the authorised period. An exemption says nothing about that, and it is a common refusal ground on files that qualified for the exemption perfectly well.
The employer and the job still have to be genuine
The category being available does not establish that the role exists, that the company is operating, or that the relationship between two companies is real. Officers read the intra-company category closely because it is the one most often stretched.
Admissibility is unaffected
Criminal or medical inadmissibility applies the same way it would to any other applicant, and an exemption does nothing to it.
Side by side
Where the exemptions sit in the regulations
5 routes, each with its own clock
The group an exemption belongs to decides which instructions apply to it. These are the regulatory sections, not the administrative codes, because the codes change and the sections have not.
| Provision | What it covers | A typical case | Where it is set out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section 204 | Agreements or arrangements | A professional or intra-company transferee under a free trade agreement | IRPR s. 204, with the category set by the agreement |
| Section 205 | Canadian interests | Significant benefit, including an owner running their own business | IRPR s. 205, with code C11 under paragraph 205(a) |
| Section 206 | No other means of support | Some refugee claimants awaiting a decision | IRPR s. 206 |
| Section 207 | Permanent residence applicants in Canada | A person with an application in progress from inside Canada | IRPR s. 207 |
| Section 208 | Humanitarian reasons | A person whose circumstances call for it | IRPR s. 208 |
Before the meeting
What to bring to the first meeting
5 things to bring
Bring what you have and say what is missing. A meeting with the papers in front of it settles in one sitting what two telephone calls will not.
- ✓The job offer or the corporate documents, depending on which exemption is in play
- ✓Any previous Canadian work permit, and the code printed on it
- ✓For a transfer, proof of the relationship between the two companies and your role in each
- ✓For a significant benefit permit, the business plan and the ownership documents
- ✓Every refusal you have had, from any country, with the date
Our approach
A clear path forward
The same four steps on every matter, whether it is a refusal at the Federal Court or a ticket at the Provincial Offences court.
Book a consultationUnderstand
We take the full history and read the documents before offering an opinion. Most bad advice comes from acting on half the facts.
Assess
You get a candid read on strength, timeline and cost, including when the honest answer is that you do not need to hire anyone.
Act
We prepare the application, the defence or the appeal properly the first time, because fixing a weak record later is harder and dearer.
Report
You hear from us at each stage, and you hear what a wait actually means rather than a date chosen to sound better.
Reported decisions
What has this work produced?
7 allowed of 22 reported since 2023
Public judgments of the Federal Court with Kapil Rathod as counsel of record, each checkable by citation on the court's own site. The rest were dismissed and are listed with these ones.
Super visa, parents and grandparents
Sharifi v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 99Docket IMM-23381-24
Application allowedWork permit, Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Sing v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 105Docket IMM-18690-24
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
Rehman v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 805Docket IMM-20802-24
Application allowedPermanent residence, Express Entry
Goel v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2025 FC 275Docket IMM-1797-24
Application allowedWork permit, job offer
Sharma v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1928Docket IMM-6445-23
Application allowedStudy permit
Tandel v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1487Docket IMM-3700-23
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
Gill v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1453Docket IMM-10337-23
Application allowed
Where to go next
An LMIA exempt work permit is issued under sections 204 to 208 of the Regulations and falls in the International Mobility Program.
The exemption removes the assessment, and the officer still applies every other requirement in section 200.
Common questions
What do people ask about LMIA exempt work permits?
7 answered here
Written to be read once and acted on rather than to be rung about. Each answer is complete where the law allows a complete answer.
Which exemption might fit?
The regulations group them, and the group decides which instructions an officer applies. Agreements or arrangements under section 204 covers free trade agreement categories such as the Canada United States Mexico Agreement, and provincial agreements. Canadian interests under section 205 covers significant benefit, intra-company transfers, reciprocal employment and research.
The remaining groups are narrower and easier to overlook. Section 206 covers people with no other means of support, including some refugee claimants. Section 207 covers permanent residence applicants already in Canada. Section 207.1 covers vulnerable workers. Section 208 covers humanitarian reasons. Public policies made under section 25.2 of the Act sit alongside them and come and go with the policy.
The order to work in is the same one the work permit page sets out. Test the exemptions before reaching for an assessment, because an assessment costs months and a fee per position, and a surprising number of hires qualify without one.
Why the exemption code matters
Each exemption stream carries an administrative code, and the code decides which set of instructions the officer applies to the file. A file coded to the wrong stream is assessed against the wrong criteria.
The codes were changed on 15 December 2022. Several were renumbered and new ones were added, so guidance written before that date can name a code that no longer means what it did. The Canada United States Mexico Agreement categories are the clearest example: the professional code, the trader code, the investor code and both intra-company transferee codes all moved.
This is a practical rather than an academic problem. Advice found online, a template from a previous filing, or an employer's own precedent from a few years ago can carry an obsolete code into a current application.
Where these exemptions actually get used
Three of them account for most of the work this firm sees. An intra-company transfer moves someone from a related company abroad into a Canadian entity, and turns on the corporate relationship and whether the role is genuinely managerial, executive or specialised knowledge.
A significant benefit permit under code C11 is the route for somebody coming to run their own business here, and asks what the business does for Canada rather than what it does for the applicant. It sits under paragraph 205(a).
The third is not employer driven at all. An open work permit for the spouse of a worker or student, and a post-graduation work permit, are both issued without an assessment. Neither is tied to one employer, which is the practical difference that matters most to the person holding it.
Does an LMIA exempt work permit mean the application is easier?
It removes one requirement. IRCC's own instructions state that meeting an exemption category means only that the application can be processed without a labour market impact assessment, and that the officer must still be satisfied every other requirement in section 200 is met. Refusals on exempt applications commonly turn on temporary intent or on whether the job and employer are genuine.
Which section of the regulations covers LMIA exemptions?
Sections 204 to 208 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, operating through subparagraphs 200(1)(c)(i) to (ii.1). Public policies made under section 25.2 of the Act sit alongside them. Permits issued on any of these bases fall under the International Mobility Program.
Do exemption codes change?
Yes, and they did on 15 December 2022, when several were renumbered and new ones were added. Guidance written before that date can name a code that no longer means the same thing, which is worth checking before a code from an older filing is reused.
Is an open work permit LMIA exempt?
Yes. An open work permit for the spouse of a worker or student, and a post-graduation work permit, are issued without an assessment. They are also not tied to a single employer, which is a separate advantage from the exemption itself.
Speak to someone this week
Bring the job offer or the corporate documents. Whether an LMIA exempt work permit is open to you, and which exemption fits the facts, is worth settling before an employer starts an assessment that may not be needed.