Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced a temporary public policy on September 9, 2026 that allows foreign nationals holding a valid work permit to enrol in a course of six months or less without applying for a study permit, even if the course ends after the period of stay authorized on their first entry to Canada. Signed by Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Lena Metlege Diab on August 5, the policy took effect on September 4, runs until December 31, 2027, and may be revoked at any time. It revives a measure of the same name introduced in June 2023 that expired on June 27 of this year, but with a narrower reach: the earlier policy let eligible workers, including those on maintained status, study programs of any length without a study permit, whereas the new one requires applicants to hold a valid work permit and waives only the requirement that a course be completed within the initial authorized period of stay. As of June 30, 2026, roughly 1.55 million foreign nationals in Canada held a work permit only, and about 630,000 held a study permit. IRCC says the measure is intended to help workers already in the country, such as tradespeople, nurses and laboratory technicians, upgrade their skills and credentials to fill gaps in critical sectors, and that it does not change the government's overall target of reducing temporary residents to less than 5 percent of the population.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) revised its officer instructions on August 21, 2026 to extend the deadline for submitting a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) under concurrent processing of inland work permit applications from 60 calendar days to 90 calendar days, giving foreign workers in Canada an additional 30 days of buffer when an employer's LMIA has not yet been decided and their status is at risk of lapsing. The change was not accompanied by a news release or policy announcement, and surfaced only through a revised update date on the officer guidance page titled "Labour Market Impact Assessment Review – Temporary Foreign Worker Program". The immediate backdrop is a sustained increase in Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) processing times: the high-wage stream rose from 46 business days in November 2025 to 88 business days in July 2026, while the low-wage stream rose from 44 business days to 73. Critically, ESDC reports processing times in business days while IRCC counts the 90 days in calendar days, and 90 calendar days converts to roughly 64 business days — still well short of the current high-wage average. Concurrent processing is also expressly framed in the guidance as an arrangement assessed on an exceptional basis rather than an entitlement available to every inland applicant, and applicants must meet four preconditions, including holding a work permit that expires in two weeks or less.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) published updated officer guidance on July 29, 2026 confirming that applicants for a C20 reciprocal employment work permit must already be employed by the company abroad at the time they apply, and that arrangements in which the foreign national only begins working for the company after arriving in Canada no longer qualify for an exemption from the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), on the reasoning that such arrangements cannot deliver the exchange of knowledge and experience the category is built around; at the same time the new guidance deletes the "neutral labour market impact" language that ran through the previous version and clarifies that reciprocity need not run between Canada and one specific other country, allowing a multinational to satisfy the test by showing it creates comparable opportunities for Canadians across its offices worldwide. The change lands against a federal push to shrink the temporary resident population: work permit holders under the International Mobility Program (IMP) grew by more than 153% between 2019 and 2025, from roughly 500,000 to over 1.23 million, while the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan cuts annual temporary resident arrivals to 385,000, about 43% below the 673,650 target for 2025, with the IMP work permit target compressed from 285,750 to 170,000. For employers who cannot use C20 or another IMP exemption, the only alternative is the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and an LMIA, where as of June 2026 processing times had climbed to 79 days for the high-wage stream and 71 days for the low-wage stream, on top of a non-refundable CAD $1,000 fee per position.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) has published the scoring criteria for applicants to its Ontario Workforce Priority Stream (OWPS), posting the details on its official website on July 20, 2026 and marking a pivotal step in the province's 2026 immigration overhaul. Under the new rules, applicants who hold a job offer are ranked across 11 factors — among them work region, occupational skill level, wages, occupational category, Ontario work experience and language ability — for a maximum of 130 points, with the highest scorers first in line to receive an Invitation to Apply (ITA) for a provincial nomination and, ultimately, a route to Canadian permanent residence (PR) through the Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). OWPS is organized into three pathways: one for higher-skilled occupations in National Occupational Classification (NOC) TEER categories 0 to 3, one for lower-skilled TEER 4 and 5 occupations held by work-permit holders, and one for self-employed physicians who can bill through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). The grid is the latest operational detail to emerge after Ontario shut down all of its former immigration streams and, on June 26, 2026, laid out the full eligibility requirements for the three OWPS pathways — an overhaul set against Ottawa's sharp cuts to provincial nomination allocations beginning in 2025, which at one point halved Ontario's allotment from its 2024 level. The OINP's Expression of Interest (EOI) system remains closed for now and is expected to reopen later this summer, at which point the province anticipates holding draws and issuing invitations to candidates.

On July 15, 2026, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that it is pausing new intake for the Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP): until further notice, it will not accept new interest-to-sponsor forms and will not issue invitations to potential sponsors. At the same time, the department said it will continue processing applications already in its inventory and plans to approve up to 15,000 people for permanent residence (PR) through the program in 2026, a figure aligned with the 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan. The move extends a freeze on new applications that has been in effect since early 2026 and lowers the program's annual admissions target from 24,500 in 2025 to 15,000, a cut of roughly 39%. IRCC emphasized that family reunification remains a pillar of Canada's immigration system, and that families shut out of the PGP for now can still reunite through the super visa, which permits stays of up to five years per entry, is valid for multiple entries for up to 10 years, and has recently seen both its insurance and income requirements relaxed.

On June 26, 2026, Ontario formally published regulatory amendments introducing the new Ontario Workforce Priority Stream, marking Phase One of the province's comprehensive overhaul of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP). The new stream contains three pathways, aimed respectively at higher-skilled workers (TEER 0 to 3), lower-skilled workers (TEER 4 to 5), and self-employed physicians eligible to bill through the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). All three pathways are in effect immediately, but applicants cannot be considered until Ontario reopens its Expression of Interest (EOI) system, which officials say is "expected to open later this summer." The reform follows a plan that Ontario first proposed in December 2025 and that culminated on May 30, 2026, when the province closed all of its former permanent residence streams in a single move. It is being advanced against a backdrop of federal cuts to provincial nomination allocations, which saw Ontario's allocation fall from 21,500 in 2024 to 10,750 in 2025 before recovering to 14,119 in 2026. The goal is to ensure that every nomination is matched more precisely to Ontario's labour shortages. A planned Phase Two would add three further pathways for priority healthcare, entrepreneurs and exceptional talent, none of which yet has a confirmed opening date.

The Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration (MIFI) has announced that it will reopen intake for family sponsorship applications on July 2, 2026, after the previous round reached its limit, setting a new two-year cap of up to 15,700 sponsorship undertakings, of which 13,300 are reserved for the spousal category and 2,400 for parents and grandparents. Compared with the first round of 13,000 places opened in 2024, the new total is roughly 20% higher, and for the first time adult dependent children aged 18 and older are excluded from the cap. MIFI says it will prioritize earlier-filed applications once intake reopens, and any applications received beyond the limit will not be processed, will be returned as submitted, and will have their fees refunded. Because family reunification for those settling in Quebec follows a process distinct from the rest of Canada, applicants intending to settle in the province must first apply to MIFI for a Quebec Selection Certificate (CSQ) before they can apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for permanent residence.

In Canada, most foreign nationals who want to work must first obtain a Work Permit, but under Section R186 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) and related public policies, certain people may work legally without one — most notably three groups: business visitors who pursue internationally focused activities without entering the Canadian labour market, digital nomads who perform remote work for a non-Canadian employer, and international students whose study permits already carry conditions authorizing work. Business visitors and digital nomads can generally enter on a visitor visa or electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) and stay up to six months at a time, while authorized students may work unlimited hours on campus, up to 24 hours per week off campus during academic terms, and unlimited hours during scheduled breaks. Notably, Canada's openness to digital nomads stems from the Tech Talent Strategy launched in 2023, and the 24-hour weekly off-campus cap is a relatively recent IRCC rule that replaced the long-standing 20-hour limit. Whatever the category, every temporary resident must be admissible and satisfy an officer of their intent to leave at the end of their authorized stay — the onus rests entirely on the applicant, and entry is never guaranteed.

On May 30, 2026, all nine nomination categories under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) will simultaneously lose their legal basis — the largest single change to the program since it began. Under amendments to Ontario Regulation 421/17, the foreign worker, international student with a job offer, in-demand skills, master's graduate, Ph.D. graduate, human capital priorities, French-speaking skilled worker, skilled trades and entrepreneur categories will all be revoked, eliminating every existing pathway to provincial nomination in Ontario; after that date, candidates who currently meet the eligibility criteria will no longer qualify under existing rules. Taking effect the same day are regulations enabling targeted draws across all new Expression of Interest (EOI) streams and a formal employer-verification requirement that bars candidates from applying unless their employer is registered. Ontario has not yet published what will replace the categories, nor what will happen to candidates already in the EOI systems — and the overhaul lands against a federal backdrop in which PNP allocations were cut by half in 2025 before a partial 2026 rebound.

The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) ran two targeted Employer Job Offer draws on April 30, 2026, issuing a combined 997 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) to candidates already living in Canada on a valid work or study permit and holding a job offer in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), with 720 invitations going to the Foreign Worker stream at a minimum score of 57 and 277 going to the International Student stream at a minimum score of 81; this is only the OINP's second GTA-focused round of 2026, comes 566 ITAs higher than the March 25 GTA draw and at noticeably lower cutoff scores in both streams, and arrives against the backdrop of a 14,119-nomination 2026 allocation from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that the province must work through before sweeping amendments to the Ontario Immigration Act take effect on May 30, 2026 and abolish all current nomination categories, while invited candidates and their employers face tight 14-day and 17-day windows to file their respective parts of the application before any nomination can be advanced to IRCC for permanent residence.