Announcements – International Experience Canada Work Permits Can Now be Mailed Within Canada

IEC Work Permits Inside Canada

Due to the government’s restrictions on flagpoling, which involves leaving Canada for the United States and applying for an immigration status document upon re-entry at the border, IRCC has made changes to the process of issuing International Experience Canada (“IEC”) work permits to those already inside Canada. Until December 1, 2025, as per its instructions here, IEC applicants who are inside Canada can ask that their work permits be mailed to them by submitting a webform. They must have submitted their IEC work permit application while still holding another valid IEC work permit, have a valid IEC approval letter/letter of introduction, and have valid status in Canada at the time of the request (this includes maintained worker status).

Those applying for employer-specific work permits under the Young Professionals and International Co-op categories must include the text:

My employer, [name], located at [address], may be contacted at [contact telephone or email] to confirm my continued employment offer. I intend to begin work for this employer as soon as my work permit is received.

Those applying for open work permits under the Working Holiday category must include the text:

I attest that my circumstances remain the same and I still meet the requirements of the open work permit program I was approved for.

All applicants must include the text:

A112025: I am requesting an A11 examination and the issuance of my work permit from within Canada. My application number is [W#########]. I submitted my IEC application on [DATE]. I received my POE letter of introduction and it is valid until [DATE].

My current contact information in Canada is as follows:

Telephone:

Mailing address:

Residential address:

BC PNP Numbers

The British Columbia (“BC”) Provincial Nominee Program (“PNP”) will only have 4,000 spots available in 2025, which is a reduction of 50% from 2024. BC has announced that approximately 1,100 of the applications will be for workers in healthcare, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers with a high economic impact. The remaining 2,900 spaces will be used to nominate applications already received.

As a result of the federal government’s reduction of the number of new permanent residents in 2025, only 55,000 new permanent residents are expected to come through PNPs of all provinces and territories. We are yet to see any announcements from the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) regarding the spots that they have available for the year. It will not be a surprise if we were to see a similar announcement from Ontario. Stay tuned.

If you have any questions about the above changes, you can reach out to us for a consultation. Our Canadian immigration legal professionals can be reached by phone (416-368-1111) or via email: caruso@cilf.ca; bonisteel@cilf.ca; ali@cilf.ca; mukherjee@cilf.ca; garciafialdini@cilf.ca.