Can I change employers on a closed work permit?

The short version

Yes, you can change employers. In most cases you need the new work permit approved before you start working for the new employer, not just submitted.

You can resign whenever you like. Your employer has no hold over you because they supported your permit. But resigning and starting are two different things, and the gap between them is where people get into trouble.

There is a route that lets some workers start sooner. Whether it applies to you is the question worth getting answered before you hand in notice.

Current processing time for an employer-specific permit filed inside Canada: see our IRCC processing times guide, which is kept current.

What a closed work permit actually restricts

A closed work permit, which IRCC calls an employer-specific work permit, authorises you to work for one named employer only. The permit names four things:

• your employer
• your job or occupation
• your work location, where one applies
• how long you can work

Those are conditions, not suggestions. Working outside them, including for a different employer, is working without authorisation. That can affect your current status and every application you make afterwards.

If you leave that employer, your permit does not transfer. It stays valid until its expiry date, but it does not authorise work for anyone else. See open vs. closed work permits in Canada.

Can I quit my job first?

Yes. Your employer cannot require you to stay simply because they supported your work permit application. There is no indenture here.

What resigning does is start a period where you have status in Canada but no authorisation to work. How long that period lasts depends on when your new permit is approved, which depends on when it was submitted and which route it is going through.

So the sequence matters more than the decision. The question is not whether you can quit. It is what you have in place before you do.

Can I start the new job before the new permit is approved?

Sometimes. This is the part worth getting a straight answer on.

Under a temporary public policy, IRCC can authorise you to start working for the new employer while your new work permit application is being processed, rather than waiting for the decision.

You qualify if you hold an employer-specific work permit (or are working without a permit, other than as a business visitor or a short-term Global Skills Strategy worker) and you have already submitted your new employer-specific work permit application from inside Canada.

You then ask for the authorisation through IRCC's web form, pasting IRCC's template with the priority code PPCHANGEWORK2020. IRCC says it responds in about 10 to 15 days by email. That email, not the permit, is what lets you start.

If you do not qualify, the default applies: your new permit has to be approved before you start.

This is a temporary public policy and IRCC can end it without notice. Check the IRCC page and the date this page was last reviewed before you rely on it.

What your new employer has to do

Most routes require the employer to act before you can apply.

If the job needs a Labour Market Impact Assessment, your new employer applies for that first, and you apply for the permit once it is approved. Two sequential applications, which is why this is the slowest route.

If the job is LMIA-exempt, your employer still submits an offer of employment and pays the compliance fee before you apply.

Either way, the timeline is partly in your new employer's hands. It is worth asking them directly how quickly they can do their part, before you give notice at your current job. See work permits and the Global Talent Stream.

Will changing employers affect my permanent residence application?

Not necessarily, and for many people not at all.

Plenty of workers change employers while a permanent residence application is in progress through Express Entry or a Provincial Nominee Program. The question is whether your particular application depends on your particular employer.

It may, if:

• your provincial nomination is tied to a specific job offer with a specific employer
• your Express Entry profile claims points that depend on your current employment
• you are relying on Canadian work experience that you are still accumulating in the current role

Before you resign, confirm whether your PR strategy is tied to the job you are leaving. That is a ten minute conversation and it is much cheaper than finding out afterwards. See permanent residence.

A note on who you hire

For a straightforward permit application, a licensed immigration consultant and a lawyer can both file for you. The difference shows up if you are refused.

Only a lawyer can appear for you in Federal Court, so a consultant cannot take a refused application to judicial review no matter how your file develops. On a routine application that may never matter. It is worth knowing before you choose. See appeals and judicial review.

The order to do things in

1. Confirm whether your PR strategy depends on your current employer.
2. Get the new offer in writing, and ask the new employer how fast they can do their side.
3. Find out whether you qualify to start before approval.
4. Submit, in the right order.
5. Then resign.

Most of the damage we see comes from doing step 5 first.

What this means for you

Timing is the whole game here, and the order you do things in decides whether you keep working through the transition.

If you are weighing an offer, book a consultation before you resign. We will tell you whether you can start the new job right away or have to wait, and if your situation is simple enough to handle yourself, we will say that too.