This spring, a Nurse who was living in Ethiopia as a refugee arrived in Canada for work. Like many others before her, she arrived after submitting an application under Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), which is now paused. Unlike others, she arrived first on a work permit while her permanent residence remains processing – with the support of a special travel document issued by some states to enable people living there as refugees to safely and lawfully travel, called a Convention Travel Document (CTD). 

We ask our Veronica Wilson, Legal Director with TalentLift, to share her insights on this milestone. 

TalentLift: What is a Convention Travel Document (CTD), and why does someone need to use one? 

Veronica: 

A CTD is an internationally-recognized travel document issued by some countries to people living as refugees or who are stateless and cannot safely obtain or use a passport. It can be used like a passport for international travel, including to receive visas and border stamps. It is typically issued by national governments often in collaboration with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to people who are recognized as refugees. 

For people living as refugees, a CTD can remove a major documentation barrier and open access to work, study and other visa opportunities in countries like Canada. It’s an important mobility tool that can facilitate return travel where this is required under the terms of temporary visas or desired by individuals. 

TalentLift: In this case, what economic immigration pathway did the candidate use, and how did a CTD assist them (and their employer)?

Veronica: 

The candidate received a job offer from a Canadian healthcare employer and applied for an employer-specific work permit based on a provincial nomination while her permanent residence application continues to be processed. The nomination was facilitated through the Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), which allowed eligible applicants to apply for permanent residence without a valid passport. However, the now-paused EMPP did not extend to work permits. Regular economic immigration rules therefore applied to this candidate’s work permit application.

Ordinarily, an applicant provides a copy of their passport with their work permit application. Once approved, they send the original passport to a Canadian visa application centre so the visa can be placed inside it.

Because this candidate did not have a national passport, TalentLift worked with UNHCR in Ethiopia towards an alternative. We included a letter with the application confirming that, if the work permit was approved, UNHCR would support her in obtaining a CTD from the government of Ethiopia. This worked – and Canada approved the work permit. Following approval, UNHCR facilitated the applicant’s CTD application, the Ethiopian government issued the CTD, and Canada issued the visa, allowing her to successfully travel to Canada.

This case demonstrates that, for eligible individuals living as refugees, the absence of a passport does not necessarily prevent participation in Canada’s economic immigration system.  

For the employer, the CTD allowed a qualified nurse to come to Canada on a work permit and address an urgent healthcare staffing need rather than waiting many additional months for her permanent residence application to be finalized. We estimate that the work permit allowed her to arrive approximately 17 months earlier than she would have through the permanent residence process alone based on current EMPP processing times. This meant 17 fewer months spent waiting in displacement for the candidate, and 17 months sooner that her in-demand skills could support Canada’s healthcare system and the people who rely on it.

TalentLift: What are some of the limits of CTDs in practice? 

Veronica: 

CTDs are an important solution, but access remains a challenge. Not all countries issue them, and where they are available, eligibility depends on having formally recognized refugee status. Application processes, processing times, validity periods, and renewal rules also vary considerably between countries, which can create barriers for someone with a time-sensitive economic immigration opportunity.

In this case, TalentLift was able to work closely with UNHCR and by extension with a country that issues CTDs, and the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi demonstrated a willingness to facilitate an alternative for this qualified applicant. Without the support of any one of these stakeholders, access may not have been possible. 

TalentLift: What’s your vision for scaling the use of CTDs? (In an ideal world, how would the Canadian Government and candidates interact with CTDs moving forward?)

Veronica: 

The mechanisms already exist. The challenge is making them more accessible and predictable for people who have an economic immigration opportunity.

One of the important features of the EMPP was that it recognized that not having a passport should not prevent someone from accessing economic immigration. Candidates who could not obtain passports could still be approved, with Canada facilitating their travel through Single Journey Travel Documents. However, the EMPP is now paused, and people in refugee circumstances should not have to rely on one dedicated program when they have the skills and experience Canadian employers need.

CTDs can help bridge that gap by allowing qualified candidates to access Canada’s existing economic immigration pathways and compete for opportunities alongside other international talent, regardless of their displacement background or shifting Canadian immigration program criteria.

Ideally, I would like to see Canada work more closely with UNHCR and governments in countries hosting displaced populations to make CTDs more accessible when someone has a confirmed economic immigration opportunity. This could include expediting refugee status determination (RSD), or exploring more flexible eligibility requirements rather than the need for RSD for people with a confirmed pathway to a third country. It may also require funding for resource-strained governments to build the capacity to offer this important service. 

We also need consistency in how CTDs operate. While some are valid for five years and renewable abroad, others have shorter validity periods and require the holder to return to renew them. Ideally, all CTDs would be valid for at least five years and renewable from abroad.

We recognize that this is complex for host countries, which need to balance access to CTDs with their own refugee protection systems and migration considerations. The goal is not necessarily universal access, but to create practical mechanisms for people who already have a confirmed economic immigration opportunity in a third country so that documentation does not prevent them from accessing it.

Improving CTD access will take time, and in the meantime, Canada already has an important alternative to a passport through Single Journey Travel Documents (SJTD). Canada should develop a clear framework for issuing SJTDs to people who are otherwise eligible for temporary work or study permits but cannot obtain a passport or other travel document.

For example, Canada could issue an SJTD alongside a temporary resident permit – a discretionary permit that allows a person who does not meet a standard immigration requirement to enter or remain in Canada when the reasons for admitting them outweigh any associated risks. This could address cases where the absence of a return-travel document would prevent an otherwise eligible applicant from demonstrating their practical ability to leave Canada, as required for temporary work and study permits. Eligibility could be limited to applicants with compelling reasons for being unable to obtain or use a passport, a credible pathway to permanent residence, and a confirmed opportunity in an occupation or region experiencing labour shortages.

When the EMPP resumes, in whatever form, it should include a scalable solution such as this to overcome the passport barrier across both permanent and temporary economic immigration pathways. 

TalentLift: Do you have advice for other applicants, and the immigration practitioners supporting them, on accessing CTDs in order to apply for Canada’s economic immigration pathways?

Veronica: 

For applicants, don’t assume that not having a passport means economic immigration is out of reach. If you have an opportunity in Canada or another country, find out if your country of residence issues CTDs and, if so, if you may be eligible for one. Even if you have not yet completed the refugee status determination (RSD) process required to obtain a CTD, there may be opportunities to seek support to expedite that process based on a confirmed economic immigration opportunity.

For immigration practitioners, I encourage you to look beyond the passport requirement and be creative in identifying solutions to documentation barriers. I also hope more practitioners will consider economic immigration for people living in displacement or as refugees as part of their practice.

Every successful case helps build our collective knowledge and creates a precedent for others to follow. I am always happy to share what we have learned through our cases, and I encourage others to share their experiences and precedents as well. The more we learn from each other, the more people in displacement we can support to access these opportunities on the basis of their skills rather than the documents they hold. 

Candidates living in refugee circumstances and seeking a job in Canada can join TalentLift. Employers seeking global talent while engaging their team in something transformative can start hiring.