A Canada work permit or a work visa is a temporary Canadian immigration document which allows an individual to move to Canada to work in a certain company. This may be misconstrued as a way of settling permanently in Canada by some individuals. The Canada work permit is mainly used to help employers in Canada who find it hard to fill positions with Canadian citizens. Applying for a Canada work permit allows a migrant to be eligible to work in Canada without necessarily undergoing a point based assessment, as opposed to the skilled work visas or the business visas, which require a point threshold to be met in order to qualify. This work permits allow one to work in Canada but you will require a job offer from a company in Canada.

The granting of a Canada work permit rests upon a job offer from an employer. Once the offer is received, it is confirmed by the Human Resource and Skills Development Canada, who will assess the impact of employing a foreigner as compared to a Canadian citizen. This is done to ensure positive impact in the Canadian labour market. Once the job offers are confirmed by the Human Resource and Skills Development Canada, then applicants may apply for a Canada work permit from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. They may be joined by their spouse or partner in Canada, but if they (spouse or partner) are wishing to work there, they will be required to submit their own working visa applications.

Usually the Canadian Immigration Service permits some cases in which members of a particular profession may not be required to obtain a Canada work permit, they would just need a temporary immigration visa to Canada. Examples of such people are: business visitors, foreign representatives, military personnel, foreign government officers, performing artists, athletes and coaches, news reporters, public speakers, judges, civil aviation inspectors and many more.