Maple News reports that Quebec has introduced a temporary public policy expanding open work permits to spouses and common‑law partners accompanying applicants for permanent selection in the province, effective June 5, 2026. Under the policy, a qualifying spouse or partner may be issued an open work permit without the usual eligibility requirements.
The exemption covers: not having engaged in an unauthorized period of work or study; not having committed serious violations of temporary resident conditions; and the standard requirements for applying for a work permit from within Canada remain waived for these accompanying spouses.
The policy also applies to foreign nationals who are out of status or who previously held only visitor or student status and are applying for restoration of status as a worker with their work permit application, provided the work permit application is submitted within 90 days of the person’s temporary resident status.
To qualify, the principal permanent‑selection applicant must have been invited to apply for permanent selection under Quebec’s Skilled Worker Selection Program (PSTQ), have submitted a Demande de sélection permanente (DSP), and fall into one of three situations: (1) a valid employer‑specific work permit expiring on or before December 31, 2026, with a parallel extension application for the same employer; (2) maintained status—work authorization under maintained status with an extension application for the same employer and a subsequent work permit application; or (3) an expired work permit that expired on or after March 13, 2026, with an application to extend stay or restore status.
In all cases, the principal applicant must include with the spouse’s work permit application a confirmation that a DSP has been submitted in response to the PSTQ invitation.
The policy is set to expire on December 31, 2026, and applies to applications received on or after June 5, 2026, including pending applications as of that date. As with other temporary public policies, it could be revoked without notice.