Co-Op Work Permit

If you will be completing a mandatory internship outside of Canada, you do not need a Coop Work Permit to do so. However, please check with your program coordinator prior to accepting any offers to ensure your internship is approved for credit.

• It depends.
• If the job or work placement you will be doing for your internship brings you into close contact with vulnerable people, you will need to undergo a medical exam by a panel physician when applying for your Co-op Work Permit - even if you are not prompted to do so when submitting your study permit and coop work permit application. Students with work placements or clinicals in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Education must undergo a medical exam. Other examples of such jobs include:
  • workers in health-care settings;
  • clinical laboratory workers;
  • patient attendants in nursing and geriatric homes;
  • medical students admitted to Canada to attend university;
  • medical electives and physicians on short-term locums;
  • workers in primary or secondary school settings, or workers in child-care settings;
  • domestics;
  • workers who give in-home care to children, the elderly and the disabled;
  • day nursery employees; and
  • other similar-type jobs.
     
• If you already have a Co-op Work Permit, it is important to verify the conditions of your permit. If it does NOT have the condition that states that you are restricted from working in the industry where you will be employed (e.g., healthcare, primary or secondary education, daycares, senior homes, etc.), then you may use it to complete your mandatory internship. If it DOES state this condition, then you will need to undergo a medical exam by a panel physician and apply for a new Coop Work Permit so that the condition is removed in order to be able to begin your mandatory internship. There is no fee to apply for a new Coop Work Permit.
• You can find a list of panel physicians in your area on the Immigration Canada website.