Question regarding applying for a common-law employer specific work permit

[nana300000]

Hello,

I am going to apply for study permit soon (graduate degree, Toronto).
My common-law partner is going to join me, and he is currently looking for a postdoc position.

According to the Ontario regulations - a dependent of an holder of an employer specific work permit can pay the reduced tuition fee as Canadians pay, which is one third of the international fee.
This is only if the spouse/common-law partner received an employer specific work permit, and not the open work permit to which he is eligible because of my study permit.

So currently I am applying without him, and if he doesn't find a postdoc position until immigration date we think to apply for an open work permit for him at the border (we are from a country that does not require a visa, only an eTA).

My question is -
Is it possible to switch to an employer specific work permit once you have an open work permit?
If not (as it seems a bit irrational) -
Is it possible for him to enter Canada without applying for an open work permit, and once he finds a postdoc to apply from within Canada for an employer specific work permit?
I saw it is possible to apply within Canada to an open work permit if you are a dependent of someone who has a study permit, but we are very interested in this employer specific work permit because of the implications on the tuition fee which are significant...

Thanks a lot for the help!

 

[scylla]

You can apply for a closed work permit (employer specific) with a full time job offer in Canada and an approved LMIA from the employer. The LMIA tends to be the hard part since it takes months to process (with no guarantee of approval) and requires the employer to prove no Canadian could be found for the role.

 

[nana300000]

Thanks a lot for the quick answer!

If he finds a postdoc position I think it will be "a work permit with a labour market impact assessment​ exemption".

But is it possible to apply for a closed work permit from within Canada?

 

[scylla]

Yes - he can apply for a closed work permit from within Canada.

 

[nana300000]

Ok, great!

And two last questions (again thank you so much for the help!) -

- Can an open work permit (in case he applies for one in the border) can be changed to an employer specific work permit?
Or
- Can he enter Canada without applying for an open work permit (as he doesn't require visa), and only enter as my dependent? (in order to avoid this switching...)

Thanks again for all the help!