There’s a crisis in my home country. Does Canada have a temporary immigration program to help me?

For refugees or displaced people outside Canada

There are other benefits too. For example, people applying may not have to pay some fees and they may get a loan to help with travel costs.

There are different programs people can apply to under the EMPP. These include a program for people who have a job offer in Canada and a program for people without a job offer. Each program has its own conditions. For example, work experience and language skills.

For more information, watch this webinar by the Muslim Legal Support Centre.

The deadline to apply is June 12, 2025. Some programs also limit how many applications are processed each year.

• are extended family members of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and
• meet other conditions.

For this program, an extended family member means a person's:

• married or common-law partner
• child of any age
• grandchild
• parent
• grandparent
• sibling, half-sibling, or adopted sibling

The person applying is called the applicant. An applicant can include their family members in their application. The extended family member in Canada must be willing to support the person applying and any family members they include in their application for one year.

The TRV is usually valid for up to 3 years.

The applicant can apply for a work or study permit in Canada. They may be eligible for 90 days of healthcare coverage through the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP).

The program closes when 5,000 applications have been accepted into processing or until April 22, 2025, whichever comes first.

Watch this CLEO webinar to learn more about the special immigration measures for Gazans.

• a study or open work permit, or extension
• a visitor record
• a new temporary resident permit if they already have one

They can also apply if they're in Canada with a valid temporary status and they:

• left Haiti on or after March 1, 2024, and
• arrived in Canada on or before April 26, 2024.

But they must be a family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who also left Haiti.

Some Haitians applied for Canadian permanent residence and were approved but cannot give IRCC their passport or travel document due to the crisis in Haiti. For Haitians in that situation, IRCC may give them a travel document to come to Canada.

These policies are in place until November 19, 2025.

IRCC has guidelines on how they process applications under the special measures for people from Haiti.

• graduated from a post-secondary school in the last 10 years, and
• have valid temporary status.

Their family members over age 18 can also apply for open work permits.

The deadline to apply is by February 7, 2025.

Hong Kong residents who graduated from certain Canadian study programs or have specific Canadian work experience can get permanent residence for themselves and their family members. They must apply for permanent residence by August 31, 2026.

And they may be able to get an open work permit while waiting for the decision on their permanent residence application. They can apply for work permits until May 2029.

To apply under these programs, they need a valid passport issued by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or by the United Kingdom to a British National Overseas.

• passports
• permanent resident travel documents
• Canadian citizenship certificates

Iranians in Canada with valid temporary status can get the following without paying the fee:

• a study or open work permit or extension
• a visitor record
• biometrics
• a new temporary resident permit if they already have one

Apply by February 28, 2025.

• Israeli nationals and Palestinian passport holders with valid temporary status
• those who came through the special program for extended family in Gaza
• those who left Israel or Palestine on or after October 7, 2023, and are the family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who also left on or after that date

They can apply without paying the fee for:

• a study or open work permit or extension
• a visitor record
• a new temporary resident permit if they already have one

There's temporary health coverage for those who came through assisted departures.

• Lebanese nationals
• Non-Lebanese people who are family members of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who left Lebanon on or after September 29, 2024
• Non-Lebanese people without Canadian citizenship or permanent residence who are affected by the first-generation limit on citizenship and their family members who left Lebanon on or after September 29, 2024

People who left Lebanon with the help of the Canadian government on or after September 29, 2024, are also eligible.

These people may be able to apply for the following from within Canada without paying the fee:

• a study or open work permit, or extension
• a visitor record
• a new temporary resident permit if they already have one

The first-generation limit on citizenship might apply to you if you:

• were born outside Canada,
• your parent was also born outside Canada to a Canadian parent, this means that your grandparent was a Canadian citizen, and
• you do not have another parent who was born in Canada or became a citizen through naturalization before you were born.

• a study or open work permit, or extension
• a visitor record
• a new temporary resident permit if they already have one

There's also a policy to help people in Canada who:

• left Sudan on or after April 15, 2023,
• entered Canada before July 15, 2023, and
• are the family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who also left Sudan on or after April 15, 2023.

They can apply without paying the fee for:

• a study or open work permit
• biometrics
• permanent residence as a sponsored spouse or child in Canada with faster application processing

They must have valid temporary resident status both when they apply and when IRCC decides their application.

Canadian citizens and permanent residents affected by the conflict in Sudan do not pay any fees to get travel documents, citizenship certificates, or permanent residence travel documents.

People must apply by October 27, 2025.

• travel to Canada using their temporary resident visa
• apply for a fee-exempt study or open work permit, or visitor extension in Canada

This is allowed until December 31, 2024.

People in Canada whose CUAET application was approved before February 4, 2024, and arrived in Canada on or before March 31, 2024, can apply for:

• a new study permit or extension
• a new open work permit or extension.

All Ukrainians and their family who are in Canada as temporary residents can access free settlement services until March 31, 2025.

You and your family can apply to come to Canada and get permanent residence if all the following are true:

• you're the immediate or extended family member or de facto dependent of a previously resettled Yazidi person or survivor of Daesh who lives in Canada as a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• your family member in Canada came under the survivors of Daesh initiative
• you're a national of Iraq, and
• you're in Iraq when you apply and when a decision is made on your application.

A de facto dependant is someone who depends on a person for emotional or financial support, or both, and is a key part of that person's family unit. They do not have to be a relative.

Family member or extended family member of a person includes, their:

• immediate family members
• child regardless of the child's age or marital status
• parent
• grandparent
• grandchild
• sibling
• aunt or uncle
• great aunt or great uncle
• child of an aunt or an uncle
• niece or nephew
• current or former legal guardian