IRCC Deputy Minister Transition Binder 2024 – Temporary Foreign Workers

Context

• Temporary foreign workers (TFWs) play a vital role in critical sectors of the Canadian economy and society by filling short-term labour and skills gaps, and by contributing to the social and cultural fabric of Canada.
• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) authorizes foreign nationals to work in Canada temporarily through either the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), which is jointly administered with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), or the International Mobility Program, which is solely administered by IRCC.

Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP):

• Objective: “Last resort” measure to fill temporary skills and labour shortages
• Labour market test: Yes – labour market impact assessment (LMIA)
• Requirements: Employers must demonstrate that no Canadian labour is available
• Department: ESDC administers the program; IRCC issues work permits under the program; and the Canada Border
• Services Agency (CBSA) verifies admissibility at the border
• Type of work permit: Employer-specific
• Employer compliance regime: Yes
• Cost: $1,000 LMIA application fee (includes compliance); plus $155 work permit application fee; and $85 biometrics fee. Primary agriculture occupations are exempt from this fee
• Sample occupations: Caregivers, cooks, food processors, service supervisors, Seasonal Agriculture Worker Program

International Mobility Program (IMP):

• Objective: Supports broader policy goals (e.g., Canadian economic competitiveness, international agreements, reciprocity).
• Labour market test: No.
• Requirements: Foreign nationals must demonstrate that their work will result in significant economic, social or cultural advantages or reciprocal benefit to Canada.
• Department: Administered by IRCC, with the CBSA verifying admissibility at the border.
• Type of work permit: Employer-specific (closed) and Open.
• Employer compliance regime: Yes – only for employer-specific work permits.
• Cost: $1000 LMIA application fee (includes compliance), although primary agriculture occupations are exempt from this fee; plus $155 work permit application fee; and $85 biometrics fee.
• Sample occupations: Senior managers, engineers, information technology professionals, business consultants, physicians, athletes, professors, International Experience Canada youth mobility agreements.
• The volume of TFW work permit applications^{Footnote 1} received has grown significantly in the past several years.
  • In 2015, 248,590 TFWs applied to work in Canada compared to 959,373 in 2023, representing an application increase of 286%.
  • During this time, the number of workers that applied through the IMP also increased, with 84% of temporary foreign workers applying through the IMP compared to 71% in 2015.
  • The TFWP saw a corresponding decrease from 29% to 16% of all TFWs.
• In addition to increasing volumes, a growing number of work permit holders^{Footnote 2} under the IMP have been open, allowing foreign nationals to work for any employer, anywhere in Canada.
  • For the 2022-2023 fiscal year, there were 485,431 open work permit holders, representing approximately 67.8% of the share of total work permit holders (716,204), who were issued work permits under both the IMP and the TFWP. In that same fiscal year, 233,275 foreign nationals held closed (employer-specific) work permits representing approximately 32.6% of the total share.
  • Under the IMP specifically, 85% (485,431) of temporary residents in the 2022-2023 fiscal year held open work permits and 15% (85,296) were closed (employer-specific).
• Under the employer compliance regimes of both the TFWP and the IMP, employers are required to be compliant with regulatory conditions such as providing proper wages and an abuse-free work place. If non-compliant, an employer could face a range of consequences including a warning letter, administrative monetary penalties and/or program bans.
• IRCC (in partnership with Global Affairs Canada), negotiates and manages the facilitative labour mobility provisions (Temporary Entry Chapters) within Canada’s free trade agreements. These tend to facilitate a range of workers, investors and spouses, on a reciprocal basis covering over 40 countries. Active negotiating partners include the United Kingdom, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia, and Ecuador (spring 2024). It is also expected that the modernized Free Trade Agreement with Ukraine will be ratified in early 2024, requiring implementation of a new labour mobility pathway.

International Experience Canada (IEC):

• Objective: IRCC also manages Canada’s bilateral/reciprocal youth mobility arrangements (YMAs) with more than 35 country and territory partners across Europe, Oceania, East Asia, and the Americas. IEC facilitates two-way flows of Canadian and foreign youth, aged 18-35, under three work permit categories: Working Holiday, International Co-op, and Young Professionals. The terms of each YMA are country-specific and vary from partner to partner, such as age eligibility, duration, the number of work permit categories, and the number of participations.

Impacts

• Employers tend to rely more heavily on TFWs to meet workforce demands:
  • in some industries experiencing difficulties attracting Canadians (e.g., agriculture);
  • when overall market conditions are tight (e.g., low unemployment, high job vacancy rate); and/or,
  • in certain niche, fast-moving sectors.
• Increasingly, temporary workers are seen as a pool of talent to transition to permanent residence, and to help meet francophone immigrations targets. This is particularly true for international students, who largely transition to work through the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program and later to permanent residence.
  • Canadian work experience, labour market attachment, language skills, and social/cultural integration are known to lead to positive long-term outcomes, and are reflected in permanent resident selection criteria.
• There are a number of pathways that provide opportunities for TFWs to stay in Canada permanently such as:
  • Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot,
  • Atlantic Immigration Program,
  • Provincial Nominee Program, and
  • Programs via Express Entry (Canadian Experience Class, Federal Skilled Workers, Federal Skilled Trades).
• Additionally, the Agri‑Food Pilot launched on May 15, 2020, and offers pathways to permanent residency specifically to temporary workers in the agriculture and agri‑food sectors, who are typically ineligible for federally administered permanent residence programs.

Recent Developments

Recent Facilitation Measures:

• IRCC has developed a number of new or expanded facilitation measures to support employers and workers alike. The recent measures include:
  • Open work permit public policy for Hong Kong: IRCC recently extended the public policy to February 2025 and broadened eligibility to all Hong Kong residents who graduated from post-secondary studies in the 10 year preceding their application.
  • Study authorization for foreign nationals with a work permit: A temporary public policy came into force on June 27, 2023, for a period of three years, to allow eligible work permit holders to study as full-time or part-time students without having to obtain a study permit.
  • Francophone Mobility Stream: IRCC announced a two-year pilot project on June 15, 2023, which exempts employers from the LMIA requirement when hiring workers in all Training, Education, Experiences, Responsibilities (TEER) occupations, except primary agriculture in TEER 4/5, who can provide proof they meet a moderate level of speaking and listening in French, equivalent to a Canadian language benchmarks (CLB) level 5.
  • Open Work Permit for H-1B Visa Holders (as part of the Tech Talent Strategy): IRCC launched a new facilitation measure on July 16, 2023, for Specialty Occupation H-1B visa holders. The program’s intake cap of 10,000 applications submitted was reached within 2 days, with approximately 9,000 applications being approved as of January 7, 2024. Approved applicants will receive an open work permit of up to three years in duration, allowing them to work for any employer anywhere in Canada. [Redacted]
  • Open Work Permits for Family Members of TFWs: In January 2023, Canada announced the expansion of work permit eligibility for the spouses and dependents of workers through a phased approach.
    • Phase 1 was implemented on January 30, 2023, and enables family members of workers under the IMP and the High-Wage Stream of the TFWP to be eligible for open work permits.
    • [Redacted]
    • [Redacted]
    • [Redacted].
  • Extension of the Visitor to Worker and Changing Employers Public Policies: These public policies allow visitors to apply for a work permit from within Canada, and workers to change employers more quickly. [Redacted]
  • Global Skills Strategy: Launched in June 2017, and provides companies with access to global talent by getting highly skilled workers into Canada faster. Two-week work permit processing is available for foreign nationals with a job offer in TEER categories 0 and 1 as well as those with an approved LMIA under the Global Talent Stream of the TFWP.

Recent Worker Protection Measures:

• Open work permit for vulnerable workers (OWP-V):
  • Launched in June 2019, TFWs with valid employer-specific work permits who are experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, employer abuse now have a means to quickly leave the abusive situation and look for new work with a different employer.
  • Budget 2021 announced $6.3M over three years for this program to support faster processing and improved service delivery for vulnerable workers. Budget 2022 committed additional funds for worker protections.
  • Specialized training is available to IRCC officers on trauma-informed approaches to assessing applications for workers claiming abuse in the workplace.
• Promoting Fair Recruitment:
  • The Government strengthened its regulation of immigration consultants with the establishment of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants, which opened in November 2021. This includes the creation of a Code of Professional Conduct for Immigration Consultants, which came into force in June 2022. The Code of Conduct includes a provision on recruitment activities that licensed consultants must follow if they provide recruitment services.
  • IRCC is collaborating with international partners, such as the International Organization for Migration, to support ethical recruitment projects around the world including supporting the development of the Global Policy Network on Recruitment, and strengthening recruitment practices in sending countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica.
• Worker Protection Regulations:
  • IRCC and ESDC amended regulations pertaining to the employer compliance regime to further enhance worker protections. The 13 new regulatory amendments include new employer conditions such as prohibiting employers from charging recruitment fees to workers and requiring employers to provide workers with information about their rights.
  • In September 2022, the new regulatory measures came into force, protecting TFWs and helping to prevent mistreatment and abuse.

Upcoming milestones

• In 2022, there was a recognition that IEC could be further expanded to diversify opportunities for Canadian youth; enhance bilateral relations; and, support Government of Canada priorities (e.g., labour market needs, Francophone migration, the Indo-Pacific Strategy, and the International Education Strategy). Exploratory discussions with the following 13 countries will begin in the coming months:
  • February 2024: United States, Brazil, Qatar, Vietnam, Thailand, Morocco, and Mauritius; and
  • April 2024: Uruguay, Dominican Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Africa and Ghana.
• In addition, IEC regulatory amendments aimed at giving the program flexibility in restricting duration of work per employer for inbound participants and updating the program’s authority to issue work permits are scheduled to reach Canada Gazette pre-publication stage by March-April 2024.