Operational Bulletins 097 – January 30, 2009

Temporary Foreign Worker Units (TFWUs) Support

Background

The Temporary Foreign Worker Units (TFWUs) of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) offer assistance to Canadian employers by advising them and by providing written recommendations on labour market opinions (LMOs) and/or work permit exemptions. These units also educate Canadian employers and their representatives on the process of hiring a temporary foreign worker (TFW). Each region in Canada has a dedicated point of service for employers.

Current Status

TFWUs accept formal written requests from employers seeking to determine if the TFW they wish to hire is exempt from the requirement of an LMO or a work permit. The opinion is sent back to the employer by letter or fax, with a recommendation that the TFW also be sent a copy to present to the officer at the Port of Entry. The opinion of the TFWU officer who reviewed the request is also documented in FOSS in the form of an NCB (Non-Computer Based Entry).

TFWUs only deal with employers and/or their representatives seeking to hire a TFW. Currently, these units only provide opinions for employers seeking to hire TFWs from outside Canada for countries whose nationals do not require a Temporary Resident Visa.

New status

Effective immediately, the TFWUs will be increasing regional support to include missions. For TFW applications where regional expertise would assist the decision-making process, missions should send their enquiries to the TFWU’s e-mail address in the region where the TFW will be working. If the TFW is likely to be working in more than one region, the request should be submitted to the region where the bulk of the duties would be performed. Enquiries should be sent to the respective TFWU’s office, with a copy to the IR Liaison Desk (see below for e-mail addresses).

In addition, if information about a TFW application or information regarding a certain employer is brought to the attention of a TFWU, it should provide the information to the appropriate mission, with a copy to the IR Liaison Desk.

All other TFW related questions from missions should continue to be managed as per previous instructions.

Contacts

To contact a Citizenship and Immigration Canada TFWU, please use one of the following e-mail addresses:

British Columbia/Yukon Territory Region TFWU-Vancouver-UTET@cic.gc.ca

Prairies/Northern Territories Region (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Nunavut): TFWU-Calgary-UTET@cic.gc.ca

Ontario Region: TFWU-Toronto-UTET@cic.gc.ca

Quebec Region: CIC-QUE-SRTE@cic.gc.ca

Atlantic Region (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador): TFWU-Atlantic-UTET@cic.gc.ca

To contact the IR Liaison Desk, please e-mail: CIC-NAt-operational-RIM-TFW@cic.gc.ca.