The province of British Columbia and Citizenship and Immigration Canada have announced a program which expands the availability of open work permits to family members of foreign workers in that province. Under the newly announced Pilot Project, in effect from August 15 2011 to February 15 2013 and with a cap of 1800 open work permits, the spouses, common-law partners, and working-age dependants of holders of most classes of occupation-specific work permits.

In all provinces at present, the spouses and common-law partners of highly skilled work permit holders, those classified as doing work in NOC 0, A, or B categories, are eligible for such open work permits without any caps. The Pilot project therefore expands this to include most NOC C and D classified occupations (exceptions are Live-In-Caregivers, Seasonal Agricultural Workers, and International Experience Class youth program workers), and to allow dependent children of working age to participate.