Temporary Foreign Worker Program Overhaul: What Workers Need to Know

tfw

On June 20, 2014, the Government of Canada announced major changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). These changes have significant repercussions for Canadian employers across the country as well as current and future foreign workers.
The recent TFWP overhaul affects Canadian employers. Of course, many of these changes also have a significant impact on how foreign workers obtain their work permits, as well as what will happen during and after arrival in Canada.
Following is detail of the most important changes and what they mean for current and future foreign workers in Canada.

Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs)

In most cases, Canadian employers need to obtain government approval before hiring a foreign worker. This approval comes in the form of a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), formerly known as a Labour Market Opinion (LMO).
In the eyes of the government, the responsibility for securing an LMIA rests solely with the employer in Canada. The LMIA process assesses whether the employer is eligible to hire from abroad.
If you are a foreign worker who has received a job offer in Canada, especially from a small or medium sized employer, you should be prepared for the employer to possibly question whether they want to go through this process at all.

LMIA-Based Work Permit Restrictions

In addition to increased LMIA requirements, there are now new time limits placed on work permits that require LMIAs. Individuals whose Canadian job offers are considered ‘low-wage’ under the new LMIA system (that is, individuals who will be paid less than the provincial median wage) will be issued work permits valid for no longer than one year in length. In addition, low-wage applications that were submitted before June 20, 2014 will not be processed. They will be returned with a refund of government processing fees. Employers are welcome to re-apply following the new rules for low-wage LMIAs.
The government has also implied that the maximum work permit length for ‘high-wage’ workers, who are paid a salary that meets or exceeds provincial median wages, will also be reduced. It has been reported that the maximum length will be cut to two years, although this has yet to be formally implemented.
Options remain in place to renew work permits that are set to expire, as well as to transition from temporary worker status to permanent resident status.
Moratorium Lifted for Food Service Work Permits
On April 24, 2014, the government announced a moratorium on LMIA and work permit issuances for certain occupations in the food services sector. As ofJune 20, this moratorium has been lifted and workers in the food sector may once again apply for work authorization.

LMIA-Exempt Work Permits

Work permits that do not require LMIA approval are now known as ‘International Mobility Programs’.
Certain work permits are LMIA-exempt but remain tied to a specific employer. These sorts of permits most commonly pertain to individuals applying under the NAFTA Program and the Intra-Company Transfer Program.
Currently, individuals are able to apply for their LMIA-exempt work permit once they obtain a job offer from a Canadian employer. In the future (date unknown), Canadian employers will be required to submit their job offers for approval to Citizenship and Immigration Canada before the foreign worker can apply for the work permit. Employers will be required to pay a $230 processing fee to have their job offer evaluated.
The foreign worker must still pay the standard $155 work permit application fee when submitting an application.

Open Work Permit Fees

In the future (date unknown), recipients of Open Work Permits will be required to pay a $100 ‘privilege fee’ in addition to the standard application fee of $155. Individuals who are eligible for open work permits include the spouses of foreign workers and students in Canada as well as participants in certain work exchange programs.
All new fees will help to cover government services such as work permit processing and employer compliance inspections.

Working in Canada Today

It is important to note that individuals who are currently in Canada on a work permit will not see any changes made to their current permits. However, any requests to renew or extend their work permits will be subject to the new rules.

Program Trains Recent Canadian Immigrants for Oil and Gas Jobs

The Oil and Gas Training Program (OGTP) helps recent immigrants start promising careers in the oil and gas industry

Canada’s shortage of workers with the skills needed to service its oil and gas industry and the higher than average unemployment rate of recent immigrants are both being addressed by a new Alberta program that provides oil drilling training for recent immigrants to help them get jobs in the province’s oil-patch.

The Oil and Gas Training Program (OGTP) was created by the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society which administers it jointly with Enform, a Western Canadian oil and gas safety association created by major upstream oil and gas companies.

The latest class of 16 trainees graduated last week after completion of the 15-week training program. The skills they acquired will enable them to get entry-level positions in Alberta’s oil and gas industry, which has a pressing need for workers to expand oil sands projects in northeastern Alberta.

Data emerging over the last several years showing a growing income gap between recent immigrants and the general population since the 1970s has prompted non-governmental immigrant serving organizations and governments at different levels to look to find ways to improve the employment prospects of immigrants.

Canadian-Gov Backed Website to Help Immigrants Find Jobs in Toronto Launched

The Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) has launched a new online network, www.networksforimmigrants.ca, to help Canadian immigrants find jobs.

The website will make pre-existing networks of professional Canadian immigrants easily accessible to employers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) through a search feature and a directory.

The website is part of an initiative, called PINs (Professional Immigrant Networks), that started in 2009, to help immigrants, whose unemployment rate of 8.4% is above that of native born Canadians of  5.4%, connect to employers.

The initiative has received $100,000 in funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada and from Scotiabank through a sponsorship agreement.

TRIEC hopes to expand its website to other regions of Canada to make it a national job network for immigrants.