Khanam v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 883: Federal Court Upholds Spousal Open Work Permit Refusal Filed After January 21, 2025 Policy Change

The Federal Court reviewed the refusal of an open work permit application submitted by the spouse of a foreign worker following IRCC’s January 21, 2025 changes to spousal open work permit eligibility. The applicant argued that her application was submitted before the policy change took effect and should have been assessed under the previous rules. The Court dismissed the application, finding that the evidence showed the application was received after the established deadline.

Key Principle

For online immigration applications, the relevant date is when IRCC receives the application through its online system not when payment is made. Where an application is submitted after a published policy cutoff, it will be assessed under the new eligibility requirements.

Background

The applicant, a citizen of Bangladesh, applied for an open work permit as the spouse of a foreign worker employed in Canada. Effective January 21, 2025, at 5:00 UTC, IRCC restricted eligibility for spousal open work permits to spouses of workers in specified occupations. Because the applicant’s husband worked as a Food Services Supervisor, he no longer qualified to sponsor her under the new policy. The applicant argued that she completed payment before the deadline and that her application should therefore have been processed under the previous eligibility rules.

Court Findings

• Application Was Received After the Policy Cutoff

The Court held that the Global Case Management System (GCMS) records established that the online application was received after the January 21, 2025, 5:00 UTC deadline. Accordingly, the officer reasonably applied the new eligibility requirements.

• Payment Does Not Determine Filing Date

Justice McDonald accepted the applicant’s payment receipt as admissible because it related to procedural fairness. However, the receipt only confirmed when the application fee was paid and did not establish when the work permit application itself was submitted. The filing date is determined by the time the application is received through IRCC’s online system.

• IRCC’s Published Deadline Was Clear

The Court relied on IRCC’s publicly available guidance stating that online applications are processed based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and that applications received before the January 21, 2025 cutoff would be assessed under the previous rules. Since the applicant’s application was received after that deadline, the officer correctly applied the new policy.

Outcome

The Federal Court dismissed the application for judicial review, holding that the officer reasonably determined the application was submitted after the policy cutoff and properly assessed it under the revised spousal open work permit eligibility requirements.

Case Citation: Khanam v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 883 (CanLII)