Are you an international student taking a co-op program or thinking about taking a co-op program in Canada?

The co-op experience is a full-time work experience over a period of time. During the Co-op, students may work up to 35 or 40 hours a week; thus, they don’t enroll in any classes. If you want to learn more about co-op programs in Canada, click here. In this blog, we will walk you through how to apply for a co-op work permit.

The Co-op work permit is a permit that students need for Co-op, internships, practicum, or work ops. The idea is to help students to gain work experience without conflicting with their studies. Students must have a Co-op work permit before starting their Co-op. There is NO fee associated with the Co-op work permit. The estimated processing time is around 5 months. Therefore, we highly encourage students to apply as soon as possible. Students do NOT need a Co-op position before applying for the permit.

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Before applying for a Co-op work permit, you will need to sign-up for a GCkey account if you don’t already have one.
After everything is set-up, and you are logged into your GCkey account follow these steps:

Scroll down and click “Apply to come to Canada”
Click on “Visitor visa, study and/or work permit”
Answer “Work” to “What would you like to do in Canada?”
Answer “Temporarily-more than six months” to “How Long are you planning to stay in Canada?”
Continue answering the questions until you get the page with the IMM 5710 form and checklist
Download the IMM 5710 form directly from the page
Uploaded the completed form and all of the required documents
Type your name to finalize the application
Please Note: There are serious consequences for not being truthful on an immigration form. Please only provide truthful information.

Here are some questions the application may have:

Are you accompanying a family member who has status in Canada?
Do you also want to apply for a study permit?
When does your status in Canada expire?
Have you had a medical exam performed by an IRCC authorized panel physician (doctor) within the last 12 months?
Have you lived in a designated country or territory for more than six months in the last years?