Temporary migration helps Canada respond to labour market challenges by bringing in global talent to fill labour needs and skills gaps, and help Canada remain competitive.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has extended a number of facilitative measures to ease administrative processes for both employers and workers. This includes allowing foreign nationals to start working with a new employer more quickly once they have found a new job, and permitting visitors to apply for a work permit from within Canada.
Processing times are a challenge, in large part due to unprecedented demand. In 2019, we issued 404,000 work permits, and in 2021 we issued 599,300 work permits. For 2022, we issued higher numbers still, having issued over 1,082,280 work permits, more than doubling the 2019 volume.
We are continuing to work towards achieving the two-month processing commitment for clients abroad, while prioritizing applications in essential sectors such as agriculture, food processing, and health care. To help meet this demand, Budget 2022 committed $385.7 million over five years and $86.5M ongoing, for IRCC and federal partners, to ensure the timely and efficient entry of temporary workers to meet the needs of Canadian employers and fill critical vacancies in the labour market.
Supplementary Messages
Economic Recovery And Growth
Both economic and temporary migration help respond to many labour market challenges by bringing in global talent to fill labour market gaps.
To help ease these challenges and to continue to build a strong and diverse workforce spanning skill-levels and types, IRCC is exploring several policy proposals to facilitate the entry of temporary foreign workers into Canada and introduce more flexibility into our programming.
This includes allowing eligible family members (spouses and dependents) of work permit holders, regardless of skill level, the opportunity to receive open work permits to accompany the principle worker to Canada to improve potential settlement outcomes, provide valuable Canadian work experience for family members and provide an additional source of labour for Canada.
Processing
The Department hired up to 1,250 new employees by the end of Fall 2022 to increase our processing capacity and tackle the backlogs in the short term, while we take action to make our system more sustainable in the long term. These new hires, as well as an $85M investment, have allowed us to reduce wait times and return to pre-pandemic service standards for new clients in critical areas.
To help further reduce wait times, IRCC has implemented a two-year Temporary Public Policy to exempt eligible, low-risk permanent and temporary residence applicants who are already in Canada from the immigration medical examination requirement, where their previous exam has expired.
The Department estimates that this measure could streamline the application process for approximately 180,000 clients. It will also enhance client service by avoiding the cost of a subsequent exam (approximately $400) and the time to book and attend the appointment. The measure will also reduce the burden on in-Canada panel physicians who complete the exams on behalf of IRCC, especially significant as Canada’s health care systems are under considerable strain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pathways To Permanent Residence
The time-limited Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident Pathway provided a pathway to permanent residence for international graduates and temporary foreign workers in over 130 essential occupations, including in areas such as health care, caregiving, agriculture, manufacturing, trades and transportation.
To promote Canada’s official languages, streams were dedicated to French-speaking candidates. As of December 31, 2022, over 3,700 individuals were admitted through this pathway’s streams dedicated to French-speaking individuals.
As of December 31, 2022, over 62,900 individuals have become permanent residents through this pathway. Applications will continue to be processed in 2023.
In June 2022, new measures came into effect for those who applied for permanent residence through this pathway and are pending the processing of their applications. These changes include:
Applicants no longer being required to be in Canada at the time a decision is made on their application.
Applicants who apply for a work permit while waiting for their permanent residence application to be finalized will be able to get open work permits issued to them under a temporary public policy valid until the end of 2024. This will ensure that all permanent residence applications will be finalized before applicants will need to apply to extend their temporary status again.
Worker Safety And Rights (Protection Of Vulnerable Workers, Agricultural)
Foreign workers have the same rights to workplace protections under federal, provincial and territorial employment standards and collective agreements as Canadians and permanent residents
In June 2019 IRCC introduced the Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers, a temporary and non-renewable permit typically issued for 12 months (subject to officer discretion) to help workers quickly exit situations of workplace abuse and work for a new employer without compromising their authorization to work in Canada. My Department also recently received funding to support faster processing and improved service delivery of the Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers
My Department and ESDC have been working closely on regulatory amendments to strengthen the protection of TFWs which came into force on September 26, 2022. These regulatory changes address known risks by imposing additional conditions and requirements on employers such as prohibiting employers from charging or recovering recruitment fees from workers. These conditions are subject to inspection, and consequences (administrative monetary penalties, bans from hiring TFWs) if not adhered to.
Global Skills Strategy
The Global Skills Strategy was launched in June 2017 to provide companies to access to top talent by getting highly skilled workers into our country faster.
Between its launch and the end of December 2022, over 93,350 work permits have been approved for highly skilled workers (principal applicants only) to work in occupations such as computer programming, information system analysis and software engineering. Spouses of these workers are eligible to apply for work permits to pursue their own careers if they choose.
More workers are deciding to stay in Canada, with approximately 15,200 permanent residence admissions being made by former workers under the GSS (principal applicants only) by the end of December 2022.
Quebec Flexibility Under The TFWP
The Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec expressed an intention to provide Quebec with more flexibility under the IMP and the TFWP. Measures include:
Implementing an expansion to the Processus Simplifié for accessing a Labour Market Impact Assessment to National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill-level C occupations. This allows for additional flexibility for Quebec employers under the TFWP to address their labour needs akin to what is currently in place for NOC A and B occupations (employers do not need to submit proof of recruitment efforts and benefit from lower wage requirements).
IRCC introduced a new work permit pathway under the International Mobility Program Plus (IMP+), allowing eligible foreign nationals, who have received a letter of invitation from the province, to work for nearly any employer in the province before or after submitting their application for permanent residence to IRCC. The processing of this new pathway is capped via Ministerial Instructions.
These new measures will allow future permanent residents to move to Quebec right away and begin working and settling into their new home, all while filling acute labour shortages.
Supporting Facts And Figures
Work permit numbers were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic: in 2019, IRCC issued work permits to 403,545 workers across all sectors in the TFW Program and IMP. Issuance dropped to approximately 325,655 holders in 2020.
However, work permit issuance is now rebounding. Between January and December 31, 2021, approximately 113,900 work permits were issued under the TFWP and 485,400 under the IMP for a total of 599,300.
