Working in Canada as an International Student

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) defines work as “an activity for which wages are paid or commission is earned, or that competes directly with activities of Canadian citizens or permanent residents in the Canadian labour market.” Further information about IRCC’s definition of work, including clarification of what activities ‘compete directly' and examples of work that meet IRCC’s definition can be found online.

Many activities that do not provide wages or compensation, including some types of volunteer work, meet IRCC’s definition of work. For this reason, volunteering can require a foreign national to have authorization to work without a work permit, or an actual work permit. If you have a specific volunteer activity in mind, it’s recommended that you meet with an International Student Advisor (ISA) to discuss the opportunity and whether or not it could meet IRCC’s definition of work and require authorization to work in Canada. Learn more about volunteering in Canada.

If a volunteer activity meets IRCC’s definition of work, then you will need to meet the eligibility requirements to work on and/or off-campus and limit any off-campus volunteer hours to 20 hours/week. 

International students studying at the UM must meet all of the following requirements to work off campus while they are studying. You must:

• have a valid study permit that includes a condition stating they are authorized to work in Canada
• be a full-time student at the UM (please refer to the document outlining how the UM defines full-time status for the purposes of IRCC)
• be enrolled in an academic, vocational or professional training program
• be enrolled in a program of study at least six months or more in duration that leads to a degree, diploma or certificate.
• have a valid Social Insurance Number (S.I.N)

The following UM international students are not eligible to work off-campus:

• English Language Centre (ELC) students
• Students completing a pre-Master’s program
• Students taking General Studies courses through Extended Education

Students in the above programs would only be eligible to work off-campus once they start a degree, diploma or certificate program at the UM. If your study permit has a condition that restricts you from working off-campus while you are in a non-eligible program, you can apply to change the conditions of your study permit once you have been accepted to a full-time program that meets the eligibility requirements to work off-campus.

You can only work up to 20 hours per week off campus during regular academic sessions but can work full-time during scheduled breaks between academic sessions, if eligible. For most undergraduate students (exception: Faculty of Nursing students), the Summer term is not a required term and can be considered a scheduled break between the Fall & Winter academic sessions.

For most Masters & Ph.D. students who are participating in studies on a regular basis in an academic term and/or are registered in the academic year are considered to be full-time students (exception: students in the MBA and MPA programs must be registered in and complete 9 or more credit hours per term to be assessed as full-time). The regular academic session for graduate students is September – August each year (Fall, Winter, and Summer terms). The Summer term is not considered to be a scheduled break for graduate students. Students in graduate programs are considered to be in ‘intensive programs’ for the purposes of IRCC. The only scheduled breaks for graduate students are the “Term Breaks” listed in the Academic Calendar (the Fall and Winter Term Breaks).

- International students in undergraduate programs who aren’t required to register in the Summer term and for whom Summer is an optional term may be eligible to work full-time hours in the Summer term, regardless of their course load. To be eligible, a student must have been registered in a full-time UM course load before the Summer term and must be confident that they will register in a full-time UM course load after the Summer term.

- Any international students for whom Summer is not an optional term (example: Masters and PhD students, undergraduate students in the Faculty of Nursing, etc.) are only eligible to work up to 20 hours/week off-campus during the Summer term, as it’s not a break for those programs.

- You are not eligible to work full-time hours during the Summer term if it is your first term of study, as you don’t meet the eligibility criteria for full-time work during that term. You would need to meet the regular eligibility criteria for off-campus work (including registration as a full-time student) and limit yourself to 20 hours of work for the duration of that term.

- Please refer to our full-time status document to confirm if the Summer term is required or optional for your program of study.

- IRCC announced that the temporary public policies that allowed some international students to work more than 20 hours/week off-campus was not extended past April 30, 2024.

International students studying at the UM must meet all of the following requirements to work on-campus while they study. You must:

• have a valid study permit that includes a condition stating they are authorized to work in Canada
• be a full-time student at the UM (please refer to the document outlining how the UM defines full-time status for the purposes of IRCC)
• have a valid Social Insurance Number (S.I.N)

For IRCC purposes, on-campus employment is defined as employment facilities within the boundaries of campus, and the employer can be the institution, a student organization, a private business, or a private contractor providing services to the institution on campus.

• Fort Gary Campus Map
• Bannatyne Campus Map

Students who meet the eligibility requirements to work on-campus can work an unlimited number of hours on-campus, but the hours must follow provincial labour standards. While IRCC does not restrict the number of hours that students can work on-campus, many on-campus job opportunities will limit the number of hours to 20 hours/week so that students are able to balance their study and work obligations.

Remember–it is always your responsibility to ensure that you meet the eligibility criteria to work on or off-campus and don’t work more hours than you’re allowed to.

You must stop working on the day you no longer meet the eligibility requirements to work on or off-campus. This can include: 

• If your registration status changes from full-time to part-time. You must stop working on the day that your registration status changes from full-time to part-time and you won’t be able to resume working on or off-campus until you resume full-time studies. Please review the information on ‘Understanding your enrollment status’ for more detailed information. 
• If your study permit expires. 
• If you’ve completed your program of study and receive a Confirmation of Eligibility to Graduate, or an official program completion e-mail from the Registrar’s Office. Please review the information on ‘Working after program completion’.

There can be serious consequences for working when, and where, you are not permitted to work. This can include working when you’re a part-time student or not registered, or if you work more hours that you’re allowed to. Enforcement action taken by the Canada Border Services Agency can include invalidation of your study permit or even removal from Canada, as detailed in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations. Please review IRCC’s information about non-compliance and the negative impacts that can result from working or studying without authorization.

If you are unsure if you can work on or off campus, please make an appointment to see an international student advisor (ISA). Instructions on how to meet with an ISA can be found on the International Centre website.

Experiential education is a great way to apply what you are learning in the real world. For some academic programs, work experience is part of the curriculum. However, international students need a co-op work permit to participate in a co-op, field placement, internship, practicum or clinical placement, whether you are paid or unpaid.

• Please review our Co-op Work Permit of International Students immigration page for detailed information on eligibility, when and where to apply and how to apply.

If your required work will be with children or seniors, in a healthcare setting, or in agriculture, then you will need to complete an IRCC medical exam before you submit your application for a Co-Op work permit. Please see the information in the next section on medical exams for more information.

If you plan to work in a job in which public health must be protected, then you will need to complete an IRCC medical exam performed by an IRCC panel physician. Examples of such jobs are: 

1. jobs that bring you into close contact with people, such as:

• workers in health care settings
• clinical laboratory workers
• patient attendants in nursing and geriatric homes
• medical students admitted to Canada to attend university
• medical electives and physicians on short-term locums
• workers in primary or secondary school settings, or workers in child-care settings
• domestics
• workers who give in-home care to children, the elderly and the disabled
• day nursery employees
• other similar jobs

2. agricultural workers who’ve visited or lived in one of these countries for six months or more in a row in the year before they came to Canada

If you completed an IRCC medical exam when you applied for your initial study permit and/or co-op work permit and you don’t have a condition on your permit that restricts you from working in one of the above occupations, then you wouldn’t need to complete another IRCC medical exam to work in one of these jobs, unless you have lived in one or more of these countries for more than 6 months within the past year.

If you did not have to complete an IRCC medical exam when you applied for your initial study permit and/or co-op work permit and you have a condition on your permit that restricts you from working in one of the above occupations, then you will need to complete an IRCC medical exam and apply to change the conditions on your permit. You wouldn’t be able to start working in one of these jobs until the restriction is removed from your permit.

If you are applying for a co-op work permit to work in one of the above jobs for your program requirements and you haven’t had an IRCC medical exam performed within the past 12 months, then you should complete an IRCC medical exam with a panel physician before you submit your co-op work permit application. Completing the medical exam after you have submitted your application can delay processing.

Details on how to find a panel physician can be found online.

Before you start working in Canada, you will need a Social Insurance Number (SIN). A SIN is a nine-digit number that you need to work in Canada, to file taxes or to have access to government programs and benefits.

The International Centre hosts sessions where you can apply for your SIN, so check the International Centre events page for dates. You can also apply for a SIN in person at a Service Canada office. Bring one of the following documents to apply for your SIN:

• a study permit that states you “may accept employment” or “may work” in Canada
• a work permit (e.g. co-op, post-graduation or spouse/partner work permit)

To be eligible for an open work permit, the dependent spouse or common-law partner must be in a genuine relationship with a principal foreign national, in this case an international student. In addition, the international student must:

• Hold a valid study permit or be provisionally approved for a study permit (if applying as a family group outside of Canada)
• Be studying on a full-time basis or have proof of enrolment in full-time courses in a graduate program (master’s and doctorate) at a university or polytechnic institution, or a professional degree-granting program in a university (for example, medicine, dentistry, law)
• Be physically residing or plan to physically reside in Canada while studying

Spouses or common-law partners of international students studying at the undergraduate level or in any diploma or certificate programs at the UM are not eligible for an open work permit under this category. Details about the eligibility for spouses and common-law partners to apply for an open work permit can be found online.

There are three options for when and where a spouse or common-law partner can apply for an open work permit:

• Outside of Canada when you apply for your initial study permit – you would be applying together.
• Outside of Canada after your initial study permit application has been approved – they would be applying separately.
• Inside of Canada if they enter Canada as a visitor and meet the requirements in R199 to apply for a work permit from inside of Canada.

If your spouse or common-law partner is inside of Canada with an open work permit, you are able to extend their work permit when you apply to extend your study permit.

If you’ve completed your studies and are applying for the post-graduation work permit (PGWP), there are additional requirements for your spouse or common-law partner to apply for an open work permit under this category. Please visit this IRCC website for more information, or make an appointment with an International Student Advisor to further discuss.