A Labour Market Test You Can Be Exempted From by a Treaty You Did Not Sign
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Spain on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
107 exceptions recorded across 42 countries · none match Spain to Canada · Residency through work
The default work permit in Canada rests on an assessment by the Department of Employment and Social Development that the employment is likely to have a neutral or positive effect on the labour market. Two sections cut around it. Section 205 exempts work in Canada's own interests. Section 204 exempts work performed under an agreement between Canada and a foreign state, under a federal-provincial agreement, or under a youth mobility arrangement - and it names no country at all. Whether your nationality lets you skip the labour market test is therefore not answerable from the Regulations: it is answerable from the list of agreements, which is kept somewhere else.
At a glance
- The default test
- A neutral or positive effect on the labour market in Canada
- Who assesses it
- The Department of Employment and Social Development
- Who escapes it
- Work under an agreement, or work in Canada's own interests
Sections 204 and 205 of the Regulations.
- Countries named in section 204
- None - the section describes agreements by kind, not by party
- If the job is in Quebec
- The assessment is made in concert with the province
Requirements
- An offer of employment and a positive assessment, unless section 204 or 205 applies
- For work in Quebec: an assessment made in concert with the province
Country-level policy
Almost every answer on this page has a second half written by a province, and the Act says so out loud. Section 8 lets the Minister enter into agreements with a province, and then makes selection, sponsorship and the acquisition of status consistent with those agreements despite the other provisions of the Act. The Regulations carry the consequences one by one. A permanent applicant intending to live in Quebec and not in the family class meets the selection criterion by the province's opinion rather than Canada's. A labour market assessment for a job in Quebec is made in concert with the province. A study permit for Quebec cannot be issued without the province's certificate where its own laws require one. The start-up business class is prescribed for people who intend to live somewhere else entirely. Three of the eleven economic classes are Quebec's own. The result is that the question 'what does Canada require' is incomplete by design, and a reader who stops at the federal answer has half of one.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Spain
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«200 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) — and, in respect of a foreign national who makes an application for a work permit before entering Canada, subject to section 87.3 of the Act — an officer shall issue a work permit to a foreign national if, following an examination, it is established that - (a) the foreign national applied for it in accordance with Division 2; - (b) the foreign national will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay under Division 2 of Part 9; - (c) the foreign national - (i) is described in section 206 or 208, - (ii) intends to perform work described in section 204 or 205 but does not have an offer of employment to perform that work or is described in section 207 or 207.1 but does not have an offer of employment, - (ii.1) intends to perform work described in section 204 or 205 and has an offer of employment to perform that work or is described in section 207 and has an offer of employment, and an officer has determined, on the basis of any information provided on the officer’s request by the employer making the offer and any other relevant information, that the offer is genuine under subsection (5), or - (iii) has been offered employment, and an officer has made a positive determination under paragraphs 203(1)(a) to (g); and»The issuing rule. Note subparagraph (c)(ii): someone whose work falls under section 204 or 205 can be issued a permit without an offer of employment at all.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«203 (1) On application under Division 2 for a work permit made by a foreign national other than a foreign national referred to in subparagraphs 200(1)(c)(i) to (ii.1), an officer must determine, on the basis of an assessment provided by the Department of Employment and Social Development, of any information provided on the officer’s request by the employer making the offer and of any other relevant information, if - (a) the job offer is genuine under subsection 200(5); - (b) the employment of the foreign national is likely to have a neutral or positive effect on the labour market in Canada;»The quotation ends at the labour market limb. The paragraphs that follow deal with genuineness, caregivers and the employer's compliance history.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«204 A work permit may be issued under section 200 to a foreign national who intends to perform work under - (a) an agreement or arrangement between Canada and the government of a foreign state or an international organization, other than an agreement or arrangement concerning seasonal agricultural workers; - (b) an agreement entered into by one or more countries and by or on behalf of one or more provinces; - (c) an agreement entered into by the Minister with a province or group of provinces under subsection 8(1) of the Act; or - (d) a youth mobility agreement or arrangement between Canada and the government of a foreign state or the competent authority of any other foreign territory, or between Canada and an international or domestic organization, that would create or maintain reciprocal employment for Canadian citizens in a foreign state or territory.»Four kinds of agreement and not one party named. This is where Canada's origin-dependence in work actually sits, and the Regulations do not carry it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«205 A work permit may be issued under section 200 to a foreign national who intends to perform work that - (a) would create or maintain significant social, cultural or economic benefits or opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent residents; - (b) would create or maintain reciprocal employment of Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada in other countries;»Paragraph (b) is reciprocity as a general test rather than as a list: work that maintains reciprocal employment of Canadians abroad.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(4) In the case of a foreign national who intends to work in the Province of Quebec, the assessment provided by the Department of Employment and Social Development shall be made in concert with the competent authority of that Province.»About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
An exemption from the labour market assessment is not an exemption from the permit. Sections 204 and 205 change what the officer must be satisfied of, not whether a document is needed.
Which agreements are in force under section 204 is published by the Minister rather than by the Regulations, and the Justice Laws Website does not carry that list.
- consolidatesImmigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
Justice Laws Website, Department of Justice Canada
About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source