EVERYTHING that changed with WORK visas in 2025!
Your guide to the most high-profile, controversial, and fateful changes in the field of Work Permits.
2025 was the year of the "great reset" for foreign workers. Restrictions, quotas, language requirements, closed programs, and provincial bans-all of this has created a new reality for those wanting to work in Canada.
So we will break down all the changes
1. Closure of the Domestic and Childcare Assistant program, as well as the closure of the Agri-Food Pilot and the introduction of a strict PR quota
As of January 2025, the agricultural program was officially paused: a final quota of 1,010 permanent residence applications was introduced, and the program closed that same year.
Also, in December, the Domestic and Childcare Assistant program was frozen, effectively ending until 2030!
This means that one of the most accessible programs for low-skilled workers has disappeared from Canada's immigration map.
2. End of an era: Spouses of foreign workers are no longer automatically eligible for an OWP. Effective January 21, 2025, the open work permit for spouses became a privilege, not the norm. Now, only spouses of workers in the TEER 0-1 and TEER 2-3 categories are eligible for an OWP—but only for strictly defined occupations.
All others are no longer eligible under the new regime. This is one of the most painful decisions made by the Canadian government and completely contradicts long-standing family reunification policy.
3. Quebec introduces a language requirement: French is mandatory
Effective December 17, 2025, Quebec officially required foreign workers to have oral French level 4 if they:
- have already worked in Quebec for at least 3 years,
- are outside Canada and applying for a Quebec work visa. Note: Those already in the province have been given a "vacation"—a three-year transition period until December 2028.
Agricultural workers are an exception: this requirement does not apply to them.
4. Quebec extends the ban on hiring foreign workers in Montreal and Laval
Employers in Montreal and Laval are prohibited from hiring foreign workers through the LMIA (low- and semi-skilled categories) until December 2026.
Only the following will be allowed to work:
- Highly-skilled specialists,
- Those who do not require a LMIA,
This has effectively frozen a huge number of jobs and hit small and medium-sized businesses in the vast French-speaking metropolis.
5. New ban on hiring foreign workers: hiring foreigners is prohibited in all regions of Canada with unemployment above 6%. A pan-Canadian rule has been in effect since 2025:
Employers are prohibited from hiring foreign workers if the regional unemployment rate exceeds 6% and the wage offered is below a certain threshold.
The minimum wage threshold varies by province, for example:
- BC / Alberta / Ontario — about $36/hour
- Quebec — about $34/hour
This restriction effectively only gives the green light to citizens of the European Union and a few other countries exempt from the LMIA requirement.
RESULTS: 2025 has become a year of tightening restrictions and closing doors
- The Domestic Helper and Agri-Food programs are a thing of the past.
- Spouses of workers no longer receive the OWP automatically.
- Quebec has tightened its selection process to the level of "almost impossible without French."
- LMIA restrictions have been expanded to the country's largest cities.
- Hiring of foreign workers is now tied to unemployment and wages.
The year 2025 revealed the most important thing: as elsewhere in the world, unemployment began to rise in Canada, and the demand for foreign labor began to decline.
As a result, workers became suddenly and painfully unneeded.
Despite the availability of multi-year work permits, renewing them became impossible, losing a job was very easy, and finding another employer became almost impossible due to restrictions.
Every effort was made to show them the door, politely but firmly...
Oleksandra Melnykova, Immigration and Refugee Consultant in Canada.
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