On 2 September 2026 IRCC updated the program delivery instructions for CPTPP professionals and technicians \u2014 the guidance its own officers and CBSA officers use to decide these work permit applications. It is not a press release and it was not announced. It is the manual, published as a courtesy to stakeholders, and it says plainly how these files are assessed.<\/p>\n
The category is worth understanding because of what it removes: there is no Labour Market Impact Assessment. A Canadian employer does not have to prove they tried to hire a Canadian first. What replaces that test is a narrow set of conditions, and most of the refusals in this category come from the conditions people do not expect.<\/p>\n
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership has eleven member countries. The professionals and technicians provisions apply to seven of them. IRCC states this directly: the provisions do not apply<\/strong> to citizens or permanent residents of New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam.<\/p>\n Australia is the outlier, and it is the one worth noticing. For every other country the requirement is citizenship. For Australia, permanent residence is enough<\/strong>. Someone who was born elsewhere, moved to Australia and holds Australian PR can use this category on the strength of that status alone.<\/p>\n The category splits in two, and the split is not what most people assume. Professionals sit in the higher skill tier and need less<\/em> paid experience. Technicians sit lower and need more<\/em>.<\/p>\n The TEER tiers apply to applications received on or after 16 November 2022. Files received on or before 15 November 2022 were assessed against the older NOC 0, A and B categories.<\/p>\n “Commensurate” is not left to the employer’s judgment. IRCC defines the prevailing wage as the higher<\/strong> of two figures: the regional median hourly wage or salary for that occupation on Job Bank’s Compare wages page, or the wage inside the range the employer already pays current employees hired for the same job, at the same location, with the same skills and years of experience. Where a regional median is listed as “n\/a”, the officer moves to the provincial or territorial wage, then the national one.<\/p>\n Two details catch people. Housing costs, travel expenses and similar non-monetary elements do not count<\/strong> toward meeting the wage. And there is no requirement that the worker be paid by the Canadian enterprise, or in Canadian dollars \u2014 but whatever the currency, the wage must still be consistent with the Canadian prevailing wage. Paying an Australian salary in Australian dollars does not exempt the offer from the Canadian benchmark.<\/p>\n The initial work permit is issued for a maximum of one year<\/strong>. Extensions are allowed where the applicant documents a need for the stay to continue.<\/p>\n Before the application is filed, the Canadian company must submit an offer of employment through the IRCC Employer Portal and pay the employer compliance fee. IRCC is explicit that this offer does not create the ordinary employer-employee relationship as understood in the labour force \u2014 but the company that submits it still carries the conditions of the International Mobility Program and can be inspected under the employer compliance regime, with non-compliant employers named on a public list.<\/p>\n Pre-arranged employment can take three shapes: an employee-employer relationship with a Canadian enterprise, a contract between the professional and a Canadian enterprise, or a contract between the professional’s employer in the CPTPP country and a Canadian enterprise. A person can also hold more than one contract at a time \u2014 but a separate work permit is required for each.<\/p>\n This category does not permit self-employment in Canada. The part that surprises people is how widely IRCC draws that line: it is not about job title or corporate form. If the Canadian enterprise offering the job is substantially controlled by the applicant<\/strong>, entry must be refused \u2014 even where the company is a legally distinct corporate entity.<\/p>\n Officers weigh whether the applicant established the business, whether they have primary, sole or de facto control of it, whether they are its primary, sole or de facto owner, and whether they are the primary, sole or de facto recipient of its income.<\/p>\n Being self-employed outside<\/em> Canada is not a bar. A consultant running their own firm in Japan can use this category, provided the services to be delivered in Canada are pre-arranged with a Canadian employer.<\/p>\n At renewal, officers look for signs the person has been self-employed in Canada: incorporating a company specifically to be self-employed, initiating contact through direct mail or advertising, answering job or contract advertisements, or opening an office that functions as advertising \u2014 the “sign on the door” test. Responding to unsolicited enquiries, and running an office to deliver pre-arranged services to clients, are explicitly not<\/em> self-employment.<\/p>\n This is the asymmetry least likely to be noticed until it matters. A spouse or common-law partner may be issued an open work permit under exemption code T53 \u2014 but only where the principal applicant is a citizen of Australia, Chile, Japan or Mexico<\/strong>, or a permanent resident of Australia.<\/p>\n So a Malaysian engineer and a Mexican engineer can hold identical work permits in the same Canadian office, and only one of them can bring a partner who is free to work. The rule applies the same way to professionals and to technicians.<\/p>\n The spouse does not need to be a citizen or national of any listed country \u2014 eligibility follows the principal applicant’s status, not the partner’s. The open permit is issued to match the validity of the principal’s work permit, and it can be issued at a port of entry.<\/p>\n Each country has its own occupation list under Annex 12-A Section D. Australia’s is the broadest and is written as an exclusion list: all TEER 0 and 1 occupations are permitted except<\/em> health, education and social services occupations and related occupations; judges and notaries; managers in postal and courier services; managers of telecommunications carriers; occupations related to cultural industries; and recreation, sports and fitness program and service directors.<\/p>\n Australia also gets an education concession that matters. The general professional rule asks for a degree of four or more years. For Australian professionals, IRCC instructs that Canadian educational requirements should be deemed met<\/strong> where the Australian equivalent qualification is held \u2014 generally a three-year bachelor’s degree, which is the standard Australian length. In exchange, Australian professionals need a letter from the Canadian client or employer confirming their qualifications are acceptable in Canada.<\/p>\n Australia’s technician list is a fixed set of occupations rather than an exclusion list, covering trades and technical fields \u2014 among them electricians, plumbers, civil, mechanical, electrical and industrial engineering technologists and technicians, aircraft avionics mechanics and inspectors, drafting and land survey technologists, construction inspectors and estimators, graphic and industrial and interior designers, international purchasing and selling agents, occupations in geomatics and meteorology, and supervisors across a range of processing and manufacturing fields.<\/p>\n Where the occupation is regulated by a province or territory, the application needs evidence of licensing or certification from the relevant Canadian or foreign regulatory body. IRCC notes that some occupations instead require the person to sit an examination after arriving in Canada. An officer must be satisfied that the applicant holds, or can obtain, the licence needed to actually do the work.<\/p>\n Language is assessed only where the officer has a concern. If they do, they can ask for evidence that the person can perform the specific job and understand workplace health and safety requirements. Where the job offer itself sets a language requirement, the applicant has to satisfy the officer they meet it.<\/p>\n Nothing above creates a route for someone holding a passport from a country outside the agreement. There is no CPTPP work permit for Iranian citizens as Iranian citizens, and no version of this category that a Canadian employer can use to sponsor someone the agreement does not cover.<\/p>\n The one place it becomes relevant is dual status. Anyone who has become a citizen of Australia, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru or Brunei \u2014 or who holds Australian permanent residence \u2014 is assessed on that status. Australian PR is the widest door here, because it does not require citizenship at all, and Iranians are among the larger migrant communities in Australia. If that describes you, this is a category to look at directly rather than through Express Entry.<\/p>\n For everyone else, the comparable LMIA-exempt routes run through other parts of the International Mobility Program \u2014 intra-company transfers, the francophone mobility stream, or a spousal open work permit \u2014 and each has its own conditions. This particular instruction does not widen any of them.<\/p>\n This article is general information, not legal advice, and it describes IRCC’s instructions to its officers rather than any individual case. Hadi Imani is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, licence R522575, practising in Toronto; that licence covers Canadian immigration only.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n\n
\n \nStatus<\/th>\n Countries<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Covered<\/th>\n Australia (citizens and<\/em> permanent residents), Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Not covered<\/th>\n New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Technicians need twice the work experience of professionals<\/h2>\n
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\n \nRequirement<\/th>\n Professional<\/th>\n Technician<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Occupation tier<\/th>\n TEER 0 or 1<\/td>\n TEER 2 or 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Education<\/th>\n Post-secondary degree of 4+ years, unless the country-specific rules say otherwise<\/td>\n Post-secondary or technical credential of 2+ years, as the minimum entry requirement for the occupation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Paid work experience<\/th>\n 2 years in the sector of the contract<\/td>\n 4 years in the sector of the contract<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Pre-arranged Canadian job<\/th>\n Required, in an occupation listed for that country in Annex 12-A Section D<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Wage<\/th>\n Commensurate with similarly qualified people in that industry and region<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n The wage test has a specific definition<\/h2>\n
One year, and the employer has to act first<\/h2>\n
Self-employment is barred, and the test is about control<\/h2>\n
The spousal open work permit excludes three eligible countries<\/h2>\n
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\n \nPrincipal applicant is a<\/th>\n Can the spouse get an open work permit?<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Citizen of Australia, Chile, Japan or Mexico<\/th>\n Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Permanent resident of Australia<\/th>\n Yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Citizen of Brunei, Malaysia or Peru<\/th>\n No<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Australia’s own carve-outs<\/h2>\n
If your occupation is regulated<\/h2>\n
If you are not from a CPTPP country<\/h2>\n
Related reading<\/h2>\n