Canada’s free trade agreements create LMIA-exempt work permits for professionals and technicians from treaty countries. Under CUSMA, a qualifying American or Mexican professional can be issued a work permit for pre-arranged professional services without any Labour Market Impact Assessment, and citizens of Chile, Peru, Colombia, Korea, Panama, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and CPTPP countries have their own categories with different lists, education thresholds, and durations. The employer still submits an offer of employment through the IRCC Employer Portal and pays the employer compliance fee. This guide explains which treaty route fits which hire, and what officers actually assess.
Key Takeaways
- FTA work permits are LMIA-exempt under the International Mobility Program, but the employer must still file an online offer of employment and pay the employer compliance fee.
- CUSMA and the Canada-Chile agreement use a closed list of professions; if the occupation is not on the list, the category does not apply, though officers should accept alternative job titles for the same profession.
- The Peru and Colombia agreements work in reverse, covering all NOC TEER 0 and 1 professionals except a list of exclusions, and adding a positive list of eligible technicians.
- Durations vary sharply by treaty, from CETA’s 12 months in a 24-month period to CUSMA’s initial permits of up to three years.
- A mandatory wage assessment is generally not required under most of these categories, but wage can still be evidence of whether the job offer is genuine. Verify current requirements on IRCC’s program delivery instructions before filing.
Free trade agreement work permits are one of the most underused tools in Canadian corporate immigration. They are faster than an LMIA, they carry no advertising or recruitment obligation, and for the right candidate they can be issued in weeks. The catch is precision: each treaty has its own eligible-occupation list, its own education requirements, and its own view of what employment arrangement is acceptable.
What is an FTA work permit, and what does the employer still owe?
An FTA work permit is a work permit issued under an LMIA exemption tied to an international agreement. It sits inside the International Mobility Program, alongside intra-company transfers and the other categories covered in our guide to LMIA-exempt work permits. Each treaty category has its own exemption code, for example T36 for CUSMA professionals, F22 for Chile, F52 for Peru, F12 for Colombia, F32 for Korea, F42 for Panama, T52 for CPTPP, and T43, T47 and T48 for the CETA categories, with F60, F66 and F67 mirroring those for the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement.
LMIA-exempt does not mean employer-free. Before the worker applies, the Canadian employer creates an Employer Portal account, submits an online offer of employment, and pays the employer compliance fee. Everything declared in that offer can later be tested in an employer compliance review, so the wage, hours, duties, and work location in the portal must match the contract and the reality. Our employer compliance guide covers what that review looks like.
CUSMA and Chile: a closed list of professions
The CUSMA professional category and the Canada-Chile equivalent share essentially the same structure, differing mainly on education requirements. Both are limited to citizens of the treaty country, and both require the person to be providing pre-arranged professional services in an occupation that appears on the treaty’s appendix.
The list is exhaustive
The professions list cannot be interpreted expansively. Accountants, architects, engineers, computer systems analysts, economists, graphic designers, hotel managers, interior designers, lawyers, management consultants, social workers, urban planners, a long set of scientists, and college, seminary and university teachers all appear. Executive positions do not. Officers should, however, allow alternative job titles for the same underlying profession.
Most listed professions require a professional degree such as a bachelor’s, often with no work experience needed. A handful accept a post-secondary diploma plus experience instead: computer systems analysts, graphic designers, industrial and interior designers, and technical publications writers generally need three years of relevant experience if they hold a diploma rather than a degree, and management consultants without a bachelor’s degree generally need five years of experience. Where the occupation is regulated provincially, the applicant must show they can lawfully practise.
What “pre-arranged professional services” means
Three arrangements qualify: the foreign national is a salaried employee of a Canadian company; the foreign national holds a contract to provide services to a Canadian company; or there is a contract between the foreign national’s foreign employer and a Canadian consumer for the provision of services. A person can work under more than one contract at a time, but a separate work permit is issued for each contract.
Self-employment in Canada is not permitted, and the Canadian employer cannot be a company owned or controlled by the applicant. Someone who is self-employed outside Canada can still qualify if they are delivering pre-arranged services to a Canadian client.
Where to apply and for how long
Visa-exempt nationals may apply at a port of entry, and CUSMA professionals may also apply from inside Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Initial permits can be granted for up to three years, with no limit on the number of extensions as long as the officer remains satisfied the person is a genuine temporary resident.
Peru and Colombia: the negative list, plus technicians
The Canada-Peru and Canada-Colombia agreements take the opposite approach. Rather than listing eligible professions, they cover all foreign nationals who meet the general definition of a professional, that is NOC TEER 0 or 1 occupations, except those on an exclusion list. The exclusions include health, education and social services occupations, cultural industries occupations, judges, lawyers and notaries other than foreign legal consultants, and several manager categories. Both agreements also add a positive list of eligible technicians, covering engineering technologists, construction inspectors, electricians, plumbers, chefs, graphic designers, and a range of trade supervisors and contractors.
These two treaties extend to permanent residents of the treaty country, not just citizens. On education, Peru and Colombia both require a post-secondary degree in the specialty requiring four or more years of study for professionals; technician thresholds differ between the two treaties, so check the treaty text rather than a summary. Because Peruvian and Colombian nationals are not visa-exempt, applications generally go to a visa office rather than a port of entry.
Korea, Panama, CETA, the UK, CPTPP, and GATS
The remaining routes each have a distinctive shape.
Korea covers contract service suppliers, who are employees of a Korean company contracted to serve a Canadian consumer, and independent professionals who are self-employed Koreans serving a Canadian consumer. A direct employer-employee relationship between a Canadian company and the Korean professional is not eligible under this category, which is the opposite of the CUSMA position and a frequent source of error.
Panama covers listed specialty occupations and generally requires a post-secondary degree in a specialty requiring four or more years of study.
CETA and the Canada-UK Trade Continuity Agreement run on the same rules, with the UK agreement incorporating CETA’s provisions and differing mainly in program code. Both cover contractual service suppliers, independent professionals, and engineering and scientific technologists. Contractual service suppliers must have been employed by the EU or UK enterprise for at least a year and hold three years of professional experience in the contracted activity; independent professionals generally need six years. These permits are built for short engagements, covering the supply of a service for a period not exceeding 12 months within a 24-month period.
CPTPP covers professionals and technicians from a defined set of member countries, with occupations at NOC TEER 0 through 3. Unlike most other FTA categories, CPTPP applies both a language requirement, meaning the officer must be satisfied the applicant can communicate in English or French for the job, and a prevailing wage requirement assessed much like an LMIA. Professionals generally need a four-year post-secondary degree plus two years of paid experience; technicians generally need a two-year post-secondary or technical credential plus four years of experience.
GATS offers limited entry of 90 consecutive days within a 12-month period for a defined group of professions, where the person is entering under a service contract between a foreign service provider and a Canadian consumer. It has become less useful since the Global Skills Strategy introduced short work-permit exemptions for brief high-skilled assignments.
What officers actually assess
Three elements decide most FTA applications. The first is the genuineness of the offer of employment: whether the employer is actively engaged in business, whether the position fits a reasonable employment need within its operations, and whether the employer can realistically deliver the promised hours, wages, and benefits. A ten-person company hiring a third supervisor, or a restaurant hiring a full-time web developer, will attract questions. If the business need is not self-evident, explain it in the supporting letter.
The second is the applicant’s qualifications. An officer must not issue a permit where there are reasonable grounds to believe the person cannot perform the work sought. That means degrees, transcripts, licensing where the occupation is regulated, and experience letters whose duties genuinely track the NOC, not copied and pasted from it. Language evidence deserves attention: refusals citing an applicant’s inability to perform the work often turn on the absence of any language proof, even where none was requested. In Carciu v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 FC 809, the Federal Court found a refusal unreasonable where the officer disregarded the employer’s own assessment of the applicant’s English. Putting some form of language evidence on the record protects the file.
The third is ties to the home country, assessed on the applicant’s own circumstances: family, assets, employment and travel history, and status in the country of application. The Federal Court has repeatedly held that an absence of travel history is a neutral factor rather than a negative one.
Frequently asked questions
Does a CUSMA work permit require an LMIA?
No. CUSMA professional work permits are LMIA-exempt under the International Mobility Program. The Canadian employer still submits an online offer of employment through the IRCC Employer Portal and pays the employer compliance fee, and the application must still meet all ordinary temporary residence requirements.
Can a software developer get a CUSMA work permit?
Not automatically. The list of professions is closed, and the computer-related entry is “computer systems analyst”, a categorization widely criticized as outdated because it does not squarely capture software developers and programmers. Whether a particular role fits depends on the actual duties against the listed profession, so the job description matters a great deal.
How long does an FTA work permit last?
It depends on the treaty. CUSMA and several other categories allow initial permits of up to three years with extensions. CETA and the Canada-UK agreement are limited to service supply not exceeding 12 months within a 24-month period. CPTPP permits are generally issued for one year. Confirm the current program delivery instructions before relying on any duration.
Can my spouse work if I hold an FTA work permit?
Possibly. The general spousal open work permit is available where the principal applicant works in a TEER 0 or 1 occupation, or a listed TEER 2 or 3 occupation, and holds a work permit with sufficient remaining validity. Some treaties, including Colombia, Korea, and CPTPP, contain their own spousal provisions that may help where the general rule does not. Verify the current IRCC criteria.
Can I be self-employed in Canada under an FTA category?
No. These categories require pre-arranged services for a Canadian client or employer, and they do not permit self-employment in Canada or soliciting business in the Canadian labour market. Being self-employed outside Canada is generally acceptable where the Canadian services are pre-arranged.
The bottom line
FTA work permits reward employers who match the hire to the right treaty and document it properly. Start with citizenship, then the occupation list, then the education and experience threshold, then the employment arrangement the treaty actually allows. Build the file around three things an officer will test: a genuine offer, a qualified applicant, and credible temporariness. Where the treaty route does not fit, an LMIA-based pathway set out in our hiring guide may still work. Treaty instructions are updated regularly, so confirm the current IRCC program delivery instructions before filing. If you would like a proposed hire assessed against the treaty categories, book a consultation with our team.
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration law and IRCC/ESDC policy change frequently, and every case turns on its own facts. Reading this article does not create a lawyer–client relationship. Obtain advice tailored to your situation before you act.
Talk to a Canadian immigration lawyer. BridgePoint Law advises individuals and businesses across Canada — and on Canada–US–China cross-border matters — on CUSMA and free trade agreement work permits. Book a consultation with our team in Toronto and Kingston. We work in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.
