ARCHIVED – Operational Bulletin 122-A - July 9, 2012

Pilot Project for Working-Age Dependent Children of Skilled Workers Destined to Alberta

This document has expired. Please refer to OB 122-B for current information.

Background

In the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) annex to the Agreement for Canada-Alberta Cooperation on Immigration, signed on April 1, 2009, the parties agreed as follows:

“7.2 The Canada-Alberta Working Group on TFWs, defined in section 9.2, will initiate the following pilot projects within 12 months of signing this Annex:

…
c) Dependents, aged 18-22, of TFW who are engaged in work within the NOC [National Occupation Classification] 0, A and B skill categories being eligible to receive open work permits.”

Furthermore, 7.3 of the Annex allows that dependents described above be exempt from the requirement to obtain a Labour Market Opinion (LMO).

New Pilot parameters

This pilot has been extended from July 30, 2012 to July 31, 2013 inclusively. These dates refer only to the period in which qualifying work permit applications must be received, not to the duration of the work permits. The terms of the pilot will apply only to qualifying foreign nationals (as described below) destined to work in the province of Alberta. All relevant work permits must be coded as indicated below to support an effective evaluation of the pilot.

Pilot procedures

All general eligibility criteria, conditions of the work permit and processing procedures outlined in the Foreign Worker Manual (FW 1) will continue to apply in conjunction with the following procedures:

A) Eligible participants

Dependent children of foreign nationals must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible:

1. Must be aged 18-22 at date of application and eligible to work in the province of Alberta;
2. Must be a dependent child (see Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), section 2, Interpretation) of a foreign national where the principal applicant is entering Canada, destined to Alberta as a TFW and has a valid, job-specific work permit with a minimum duration of 6 months in an occupation found within skill levels 0, A or B of the NOC system.

B) Open work permit issuance

1. A non job-specific open or open/restricted (depending on medical examination requirements, if applicable) work permit may be issued to a working-age dependent accompanying a TFW principal applicant as described above, upon application by the dependent (including payment of the appropriate fee) and without requiring an LMO from Service Canada.
2. A dependent’s work permit can only be issued after the primary applicant has been found to be eligible for a work permit. A dependent may apply for an open work permit at the same time as the principal applicant or subsequently – at a mission, port of entry or in-land – as long as the duration does not exceed the expiry date of the principal applicant’s work permit.
3. Verification of dependency should be performed as per existing procedures, so that officers are satisfied that the relationship is bona fide.

C) System instructions

1. The LMO exemption code is T13 in conjunction with R204(c) of the IRPR, “an agreement entered into by the Minister with a province or group of provinces under subsection 8(1) of the Act”.
2. Special program code: Officers are requested to use the NEW Special Program Code “WDP” (for working-age dependents of provincial TFW) in the Field Operations Support System (FOSS) or Global Case Management System (GCMS), on the dependent’s initial work permit and extensions for this pilot.
3. The name and work permit number of the principal applicant related to the dependent is to be included in the remarks for cross-reference purposes using the following wording: “Dependent of client 1234-5678 Smith, John A, on WP U9012345678 valid to DDMMYYYY”.
4. The dependent’s work permit should specify in the Province field and in the printed Conditions that it is only valid for work performed in the province of Alberta.
5. For any applications originating at a visa office, any coding, conditions and/or remarks not downloaded from GCMS must be entered into FOSS before generating the work permit.

D) Duration and extensions

1. The duration of the work permit issued to the accompanying dependent cannot exceed the expiry date of the work permit of the principal applicant.
2. Should the principal applicant’s work permit be extended, the work permit of the dependent can be similarly extended upon application.

Rationale

This pilot is meant to consider whether or not facilitating the issuance of work permits to working-age dependents of skilled TFWs will make Alberta a more attractive destination for the principal applicants, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the TFW program in attracting international workers with in-demand skills.