Public Policy to facilitate work permits for prospective permanent residence applicants in Quebec

This temporary public policy aims to support Quebec in its objective of transitioning a greater proportion of eligible temporary residents to permanent residency under its provincial program. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is proposing to facilitate access to an employer-specific work permits under the International Mobility Program (IMP) for select temporary foreign workers via this limited-time public policy. Applications under this public policy have a 30-day processing standard. Applicants have until December 31, 2026, to submit their applications.

Applications made under this public policy cannot be made on entry; therefore, these instructions do not apply to officers employed by the Canada Border Services Agency. Work permit applications must be submitted online.

The instructions on this page should be reviewed in conjunction with

Eligibility

As per section 25.2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, under this temporary public policy, the principal applicant must meet certain criteria at the time of application.

There are 3 cohorts of applicants under this public policy:

Cohort 1 Applicants who have a valid employer-specific work permit under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) or the IMP that will expire on or before December 31, 2026, and are applying for a work permit extension under this public policy.

Cohort 2 Applicants whose employer-specific work permit under the TFWP or the IMP has expired but who have applied for a work permit extension before expiry (maintained status) and are now applying for a work permit under this public policy.

Cohort 3 Applicants whose employer-specific work permit under the TFWP or the IMP expired between March 13, 2026 and December 31, 2026, and who are currently out of status. Applicants in this cohort are applying for a work permit under this public policy as well as restoration of their temporary resident status.

Important: Applicants are not eligible under this public policy if:

Their work permits have expired, but they have transitioned to visitor status and are still in Canada
Their work permits expired before March 13, 2026 and they are currently out of status, even if they are within the 90-day restoration period, and regardless of whether they applied for restoration before March 13, 2026

Common eligibility criteria

Applicant is/was working in the province of Quebec and seeks to extend their work permit for the same employer.
Applicant has an offer of employment for a position located in the province of Quebec.
Applicant provides confirmation that they have been invited to apply under the Programme de sélection des travailleurs qualifiés du Québec (PSTQ) by the province of Quebec and have submitted a Demande de Sélection Permanente (DSP) to that province.

Note: The confirmation of a DSP submission is issued before the Certificat de selection du Québec (CSQ).

Note: Applicants destined to work in Quebec under the IMP do not require a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ).

Other Admissibility and Selection Criteria: Foreign nationals eligible under this public policy are subject to all other legislative eligibility and admissibility requirements not exempted under this, or another public policy.

Provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) for which an exemption may be granted

For foreign nationals who meet the conditions listed in cohorts 1 and 2:

The requirement in subparagraph 200(1)(c)(ii.1) to intend to perform work described in section 204 or 205 or to be described in section 207 of the IRPR.

For foreign nationals who meet the conditions listed in cohort 3:

The requirement in section 182 for a visitor, worker or student to have complied with any other conditions imposed, other than those referred to in paragraph 185(a), subparagraphs 185(b)(i) to (iii), or paragraph 185(c) of the IRPR;
The requirements in paragraphs 199(a) to (i) that a foreign national must meet in order to apply for a work permit after entering Canada;
The requirement in subparagraph 200(1)(c)(ii.1) to intend to perform work described in section 204 or 205 or to be described in section 207 of the IRPR;
The requirement in paragraph 200(3)(e) that a work permit not be issued to a foreign national who has engaged in unauthorized work or study in Canada or has failed to comply with the conditions of a previous permit or authorization.

Documentary evidence

In order to identify applications under this public policy for tracking purposes and the 30-day processing standard, the employers and applicants will use the following code:

In the Employer Portal, employers will select the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)-exemption code R01 and add the code “PPTR2PRQC2026” in the Job Title box. Employers will still add the National Occupational Classification (NOC) code that reflects the employee’s occupation.

Note: Employers who are unable to apply via the Employer Portal may use the Offer of Employment to a Foreign National Exempt from a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) form (IMM 5802) if they were authorized by the Client Experience Branch to submit the form (see Alternate submission [IMM 5802] for details).
Applicants who have received an offer of employment under the public policy must select in the online application tool that they have a “written job offer” and under the question “Which option best describes your work situation,” that they are “applying for a work permit under an active pilot project or an active Public Policy for work permits announced by IRCC” for them to trigger the employer-specific work permit results.
Applicants will also add the code “PPTR2PRQC2026” in the Job Title box of the application form (IMM5710).

Note: Employers and applicants who fail to enter the code “PPTR2PRQC2026” when applying will not be subject to the 30-day processing standard.

Mandatory documents to submit with work permit application

Confirmation of the submission of their DSP to the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration
An offer of employment for a position located in the province of Quebec.
The LMIA-Exempt number starting with the letter A

Employment documents to request if needed

Employment reference letter
Employment records
Employment contract

Application assessment

When assessing if the work permit application meets the requirements of the temporary public policy, officers should review the offer of employment that appears under the Employment Details tab in the Global Case Management System (GCMS) for information provided by the employer.

Offer of employment submitted through the Employer Portal

The employer must submit an offer of employment, as per section R209.11, before a work permit application is made.

The following are specific fields officers should review in GCMS:

Field	Considerations
LMIA Exemption Code	R01 This code is auto-populated from the LMIA-exempt offer of employment.
Requirements Exemptions Met	Information in this field outlines how the job position or the foreign national meets the work permit category requirements. This should not be a cut and paste from IRCC’s website.
NOC and Job Title	The NOC code is auto-populated from the LMIA-exempt offer of employment. Note: Employers will be instructed to put PPTR2PRQC2026 as the job title.
Wages	The employer must comply with provincial or territorial rules and regulations with regards to wages.
Business operating name	Business operating name
Address (work location)	The place of work must be in the province of Quebec.
Duties and Job Requirements	These are the activities that the foreign national will be performing. Do they align with the work permit category and the occupation stated?
Worker Information fields	The name of the work permit applicant match with the most recently approved LMIA work permit Passport number and citizenship These fields in the Employment Details tab must match exactly those in the Clients & Parties tab.

Employer compliance fee

Regulations for the International Mobility Program provide that, when hiring LMIA-exempt foreign workers, employers must pay an employer compliance fee and submit an offer of employment to IRCC.

Under this public policy, employers do not have to pay the employer compliance fee as they are not referenced under R303.1(1) since the applicant is exempt from the requirement to perform work under R204 or R205. However, these employers must submit an offer of employment and are subject to the employer compliance regime.

Final decision

Approval

On the “Application” screen, officers should confirm or enter the following information in the specific fields:

Field	Selection or input
Case type	52
Province of destination	Quebec
City of destination:	The city of destination entered by the applicant should match the address of employment in the IMP offer of employment. This information is under the Employment Details – LMIA-exempt tab.
Administrative Code:	R01
NOC	The NOC code is auto-populated from the LMIA-exempt offer of employment.
Intended occupation	Job title Important: Officers must change this from the code entered by applicants: PPTR2PRQC2026
LMIA/LMIA-exempt #	“A” number from the work permit application. This number is auto-populated from the work permit application, and it is what is used to match the application with the offer of employment in the Employer Portal. If the work permit application was submitted on paper, the officer must manually enter the number.
Business operating name	Business operating name
Duration	Up to 12 months Important: The public policy expires on December 31, 2026. The work permits must not have a validity date later than December 30, 2027 (12 months).
Renewals	Possible only if the renewal is submitted before December 31, 2026.
Fees	Work permit processing fee – $155 Employer compliance fee – Not payable – Exemption code EC1 Restoration fee (if applicable) – $246.25 Biometric fee (if applicable) – $85

Refusal

If an officer has determined that the applicant does not meet the eligibility requirements, they should record their refusal reasons in a case note, outlining the rationale underlying the decision as well as the facts and elements that were considered . For assistance, officers can follow the steps in Decision-making: Standard of review and process for making a reasonable decision.

Applications that are submitted after December 31, 2026, must be refused as the public policy will be expired.