Can a Visitor Work in Canada? Permits and Penalties

A visitor generally cannot work in Canada. Holding a visitor visa or an Electronic Travel Authorization lets you enter the country as a tourist or short-term guest, but it does not give you the right to take a job, earn wages, or perform activities that compete with Canadian workers.¹ To work legally you need a work permit, and under the rules in force since early 2025, most visitors have to apply for that permit from outside Canada.²

What Counts as “Work”

Canadian immigration regulations define work as any activity for which wages or commissions are paid, or that competes directly with what Canadian citizens or permanent residents do in the labour market.³ That second half is the part visitors most often miss. An activity can qualify as work even when nobody pays you, if it displaces a Canadian who could otherwise be doing it.

What a Visitor Can Do Without a Permit

Business Visits

You can enter as a business visitor to attend meetings, conferences, conventions, or trade fairs. Buying Canadian goods or services on behalf of a foreign employer, taking orders, and receiving training from a Canadian company that sold you equipment or services are all acceptable.⁴ The catch is that your main place of business, your income source, and your profits must all remain outside Canada. Once you start doing the day-to-day work of a Canadian company, you are no longer a business visitor and likely need a permit.⁵

Helping Friends or Family and Small-Scale Volunteering

Casual, unpaid help for a friend or family member during a visit does not require a work permit. Part-time volunteer work that is incidental to your main reason for being in Canada, such as helping at a community event, also falls outside the definition.³ A useful test: would a Canadian normally be hired and paid to do this? If yes, a permit is likely required, even without pay.

Remote Work for a Foreign Employer

This is one of the gray areas. Canada has not published a formal policy that specifically addresses visitors performing remote work for a foreign employer while physically in the country. The regulatory definition of work centers on activities that enter the Canadian labour market or compete with Canadian workers, and where the employer, clients, and pay all originate outside Canada with no connection to the domestic market, many immigration practitioners treat the activity as falling outside that definition. A border officer still has discretion over your admission and the conditions of your stay, so be honest about your plans at the port of entry, and if your situation is ambiguous, speak with an immigration lawyer before you travel.

The Two Types of Work Permit

If your activity doesn’t fit an exemption, you need a work permit before you start. Canada issues two kinds:⁶

An employer-specific work permit ties you to a named employer, a specific job, and a specific location. Changing any of those requires a new permit.
An open work permit lets you work for nearly any employer in Canada without being tied to one job. Open permits are only available to certain applicants.

Who Can Get an Open Work Permit

Open work permits are limited to specific categories:⁷

International students who graduated from an eligible Canadian institution (post-graduation work permit)
Spouses and common-law partners of skilled work permit holders or international students
International Experience Canada participants in the Working Holiday category
Refugee claimants, protected persons, and their family members
Permanent residence applicants in certain streams
Victims of workplace abuse, through a vulnerable worker open work permit

If none of these fit you, you need an employer-specific permit, which starts with a job offer.

The Employer’s Role: LMIA

For most employer-specific permits, the Canadian employer must obtain a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment before you can apply. The LMIA confirms that no Canadian citizen or permanent resident is available to fill the position and that hiring a foreign worker won’t hurt the labour market. The employer files the LMIA, not you, but the outcome controls whether you can apply. Some permits are LMIA-exempt under the International Mobility Program, including intra-company transfers, workers covered by international trade agreements, and roles that provide broader economic or cultural benefits to Canada.⁸

What You Have to Show

Whichever permit you apply for, expect to demonstrate the following:

Relevant skills, education, and experience for the job
Enough funds to support yourself and any family accompanying you
A plan to leave Canada when the permit expires
Police clearance certificates from every country where you’ve lived for six consecutive months or more since turning 18⁹
Good health, with a medical exam if required

A medical exam is required if you plan to stay more than six months and have spent six consecutive months or more in certain designated countries in the year before arriving, or if your job involves protecting public health, such as healthcare or child care, regardless of your travel history or length of stay.¹⁰ The exam must be done by a panel physician designated by IRCC.

Can You Switch From Visitor to Worker Inside Canada?

For most people, no. Canada previously ran a temporary public policy that allowed visitors to apply for a work permit from within the country, and that policy ended in early 2025.² Under the current rules, most visitors who want a permit must apply from outside Canada or at a port of entry.

The narrow exception is for people who already hold a valid work permit and are applying to extend or change it. They can stay in Canada under what IRCC calls maintained status and continue working under the conditions of their original permit while the new application is processed.¹¹ That applies to existing workers, not to visitors seeking their first permit. If you entered as a visitor and now want to work, plan on leaving and applying from abroad.

What Happens if You Work Without a Permit

Working in Canada without authorization is illegal, and the consequences are long-lasting. Enforcement can include any combination of the following:¹

Removal from Canada through a departure, exclusion, or deportation order
A five-year ban on returning to Canada
A permanent fraud record with IRCC that follows every future application
Damage to future work permit, study permit, and permanent residence applications

The type of removal order matters. A departure order gives you 30 days to leave and allows you to return later, but if you don’t confirm your departure with the Canada Border Services Agency within that window, it converts automatically into a deportation order. An exclusion order bars you for one year, or five years if misrepresentation is involved. A deportation order permanently bars re-entry unless you obtain special authorization.¹² You pay your own travel costs, and failing to appear for a removal interview triggers a Canada-wide arrest warrant.

There’s also a practical risk beyond immigration enforcement. Unauthorized workers have limited ability to challenge unsafe conditions, wage theft, or workplace abuse, which makes exploitation easier.

Extending Your Visit Is Not the Same as Getting Permission to Work

Most visitors can stay up to six months, with the actual length set by the border services officer at the port of entry.¹³ If you want to stay longer, you apply for a visitor record before your current status expires.¹⁴ A visitor record extends your permission to remain in the country as a visitor. It is not a visa, and it does not grant work authorization. Overstaying, like working without a permit, creates an inadmissibility record that complicates future visits and applications.

1
Government of Canada. Understand the Consequences of Unauthorized Work
2
Government of Canada. Canada Ends Temporary Public Policy Allowing Visitors to Apply for Work Permits Within Country
3
Canada.ca. Volunteer Work Conducted by Foreign Students: When Is a Work Permit and an ESDC Confirmation Required?
4
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. href=”https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/business/visitors-events-conferences.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>Business Visitors Attending Meetings, Events and Conferences in Canada
5
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. What Is a Business Visitor
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Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Work Permit
7
Government of Canada. Open Work Permits: Eligibility, Restrictions, and Application
8
Canada.ca. Find Out if You Need a Labour Market Impact Assessment
9
Government of Canada. Police Certificate: When to Get a Police Certificate
10
Government of Canada. Find Out if You Need a Medical Exam for Your Temporary Resident Application
11
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. I Applied for a New Work Permit. Can I Stay in Canada if My Work Permit Expires?
12
Canada Border Services Agency. Enforcing Removals From Canada
13
Government of Canada. How Long Can I Stay in Canada as a Visitor
14
Government of Canada. Extend Your Stay in Canada (Visitor Record)