If you last looked at free trade agreement work permits a couple of years ago, the codes you remember are wrong. IRCC has restructured the LMIA exemption codes for every trade agreement, and its own program delivery pages now carry a standing warning that the old codes no longer apply.
What the codes are now
Under the current IRCC instructions, the main agreements break down like this:
- CUSMA (US and Mexico): traders T34, investors T35, professionals T36, intra-company transferees T37 (executives and managers) and T38 (specialized knowledge)
- CPTPP (Pacific partners): investors T50, intra-corporate transferees T51/T54/T55, professionals and technicians T52, spouses T53
- CETA (EU member states): intra-corporate transferees T41/T42/T44, spouses T45, investors T46, contractual service suppliers T47, independent professionals T43, technologists T48
- Canada–UK Trade Continuity Agreement: F60–F67
- Bilateral FTAs: Chile F20–F24, Colombia F10–F15 and T25, Korea F30–F36, Panama F42, Peru F50–F55, Ukraine F70–F74
- GATS professionals: T33
Why it matters
The employer selects the exemption code when filing the offer of employment in the Employer Portal, and the code cannot be changed on that offer afterwards. An offer filed under a stale code creates mismatches between the offer, the application and the officer’s assessment, friction a clean file does not need.
It also matters for research: older articles, forum posts and even some professional summaries still describe NAFTA-era or early-CUSMA codes like T21–T24. If the source you are reading refers to those, it predates the current instructions.
What has not changed
The legal basis is the same: work permits under international agreements issue under paragraph 204(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, LMIA-exempt, within the International Mobility Program. The categories, professionals, intra-company transferees, traders and investors, still carry their own documentary tests, and the employer still files an Employer Portal offer and pays the compliance fee.
Where to start
The agreement depends on your passport; the category depends on your file. See our dedicated pages on CUSMA work permits, CPTPP work permits, CETA work permits and the free trade agreement hub, or book a consultation for the comparison across every route open to you.
Sources: IRCC – International free trade agreements (program delivery instructions); IRCC – LMIA exemption codes; IRPR s. 204.
About the author
Miguel Martins Pereirinha is a Canadian immigration lawyer and partner at Slayen Immigration Law in Vancouver, British Columbia. He practises Canadian immigration law exclusively — work permits, permanent residence, family sponsorship, citizenship and inadmissibility — and works with clients in English and Portuguese.
