Canada is tightening the LMIA-exempt permits — what still works

Through 2026 IRCC has narrowed the International Mobility Program at the edges. The discretionary codes — C10 "significant benefit" and the reciprocal C20/C21 family — are being read more strictly, especially where firms were using them for overseas-to-Canada corporate moves that really belonged under the intra-company transferee rules. Spousal open work permit eligibility has also been cut back to a narrower set of occupations and study levels.

What this means for live files

• Overseas transfer via "significant benefit". If the client is genuinely moving within a corporate group, build it as an ICT: the corporate relationship, one continuous year of employment abroad with the group in the last three, and a role description that carries the managerial or specialised-knowledge claim. Do not fall back on C10 because the ICT evidence is harder to assemble.
• A true significant-benefit case. Still available, but expect scrutiny. Document the specific cultural, economic or social benefit to Canada with third-party support — a bare assertion will not carry it now.
• Spousal open work permits. Re-check eligibility against the current occupation and study-level restrictions before you tell a client their spouse can work. This has changed for both worker and student sponsors.

What still works

CUSMA and other trade-agreement professional categories, genuine ICTs, the PGWP (subject to its own tightened field-of-study and language rules), and LMIA-backed permits. The stable routes are the ones with defined criteria; the discretionary ones are where the tightening lands.

Confirm the exemption code and its current evidence list against IRCC guidance for every file — 2026 is a year where "this worked last year" is not a safe assumption.