Work permit refusal risk eases in 2026: what Saskatchewan workers and employers need to know

Figures on this page come from IRCC's updated operational instructions published on canada.ca, current as of October 2026. Instructions and timelines can change; always verify directly with IRCC before relying on them.

What changed for applicants waiting on an LMIA decision?

Work permit applicants no longer risk refusal simply because their employer's Labour Market Impact Assessment is taking longer than expected. On October 28, 2026, IRCC updated its instructions to officers on Temporary Foreign Worker Program applications processed concurrently with a pending LMIA. The new direction tells officers to hold the application until the LMIA decision is made, rather than deciding it against a fixed deadline.

Concurrent processing exists for a specific situation: a worker already in Canada whose current permit is expiring applies for a new TFWP work permit while their employer's LMIA application is still with Employment and Social Development Canada. To qualify, the worker's existing permit must expire in 2 weeks or less, and the employer must have submitted the LMIA with enough lead time for ESDC to process it before that expiry, with no decision made yet. Applying before the old permit expires gives the worker maintained status, meaning they can keep working under their existing conditions while the new application sits with IRCC.

That waiting period used to have a ceiling. IRCC had raised the concurrent processing hold from 60 to 90 days on August 21, 2026. The October 28 update removes the cap entirely for eligible applications, so a slow LMIA decision no longer forces a refusal on its own. An LMIA is still required for the underlying work permit: ESDC issues a positive or neutral LMIA to confirm that no qualified Canadian citizen or permanent resident is available to fill the job.

What changed for job-offer genuineness refusals?

A second update, effective September 17, 2026, changes how IRCC handles doubts about whether a job offer behind a work permit application is genuine. Previously, an officer with concerns could request more information from the employer or refuse the application outright. Under the updated instructions, officers can no longer summarily refuse on genuineness grounds. They must instead send the applicant a procedural fairness letter that sets out the specific concerns and notifies the employer that supporting documents must be sent directly to IRCC.

The employer then has 15 days, or whatever response period applies at that processing office, to provide that evidence. The officer schedules a follow-up review 30 days after the employer's deadline, to allow time for the response to reach the file. The requirement traces back to section 200(5) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, which lets an officer refuse a work permit application where the offer of employment is not genuine; the new instructions govern how that assessment has to be carried out, not whether it can happen at all.

Who do these changes apply to?

The genuineness instructions cover employer-specific work permits broadly: LMIA-exempt permits issued under the International Mobility Program, and every permit issued through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which always requires an LMIA. The process differs slightly between the two streams, since ESDC has already assessed the job offer at the LMIA stage for TFWP cases, but officers in both streams remain responsible for confirming the offer is genuine before issuing the permit.

The same update folded in related clarifications: an employment contract is not required when the offer is submitted through the employer portal; a live-in caregiver exception applies to the active-engagement requirement; and the physical Canadian work-location requirement has been dropped, with officers now taking a holistic view of active engagement, including for home-based businesses. The instructions also restate the flagpoling ban in effect since December 2024.

What does this mean for Saskatchewan employers and workers?

For Saskatchewan workers renewing a permit through concurrent processing, the practical effect is less exposure to a refusal that has nothing to do with the merits of their file. An LMIA that simply takes time to process is no longer, on its own, a reason to lose status. For employers responding to a genuineness inquiry, the procedural fairness letter gives a defined, if tight, window to put the real facts of the job offer on the record before a decision is made, rather than finding out only after a refusal.

At the same time, access to an LMIA in the first place has not gotten easier everywhere. Regina is named among the census metropolitan areas where employers cannot apply for an LMIA for many non-exempt jobs paying under 120% of the median provincial or territorial wage, from October 9, 2026 to January 7, 2027, a restriction tied to local unemployment of 6% or higher. Saskatchewan employers hiring for lower-wage, non-exempt roles in Regina should check whether a planned hire falls inside that window before relying on the work permit process to move quickly.

What should Saskatchewan employers and workers do now?

File the LMIA as early as possible relative to the worker's permit expiry, since concurrent processing still depends on that lead time and on the permit expiring in 2 weeks or less. If a procedural fairness letter arrives, treat the 15-day window as firm and get complete, well-documented evidence to IRCC before it closes, since a missed or thin response is still a path to refusal. Because the Regina LMIA restriction runs on its own clock through January 2027, employers planning a lower-wage hire there should confirm eligibility before committing to a start date.

We cannot promise an outcome on any application, and procedural fairness is not the same as approval. What we can do is review a work permit or LMIA-dependent application against these updated instructions before it is filed, or respond to a procedural fairness letter on an active file. Our work permit team handles both, and our appeals and refusals practice steps in when a refusal has already happened. For more on how IRCC has been adjusting work permit processing this year, see our earlier coverage of personalized processing times for work permit extensions.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: CIC News, October 28, 2026 and CIC News, September 30, 2026; IRCC, Labour Market Impact Assessment review instructions and genuineness of the offer of employment instructions. This article provides general information, not legal advice.