NAFTA Work Permit Provisions to Carry over to United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA)

On September 30 2018, the governments of Canada, the USA, and Mexico announced agreement in principle on the provisions of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, or USMCA. While the USMCA is not yet implemented and the provisions of NAFTA currently remain in place, the expectation is that USMCA will replace NAFTA once the agreement is signed by the three nations and once it is ratified by the three governments involved. There therefore remains the possibility that the USMCA is further revised or is not implemented at all.

As it stands, the immigration provisions included in NAFTA have been included in USMCA without modification. Although there was a desire by some to revise the somewhat dated list of eligible occupations, that is not presently planned.

The provisions of NAFTA allow citizens of Mexico and the USA to seek and obtain business visitor admission or work permits under certain circumstances in the absence of a Labour Market Impact Assessment. In addition to nationality, the definition of the role in Canada and the education and training of the candidate are used to evaluate the eligibility for a work permit. As such applications can typically be processed or finalized at a Canadian port of entry, delays associated with these cases are often shorter than other classes of application.

Date Posted: October 03, 2018 Posted In: Business Visitor,International Mobility Program,Temporary Work Permits

Tags: work in canada, work permit, work visa