Temporary foreign workers visa program of Canada

Canada has taken some amazing initiatives to make it simpler for Canadian corporations to hire foreigners on a short-term basis.  To tackle labor shortfalls, Canada simplifies the regulations for the temporary foreign worker program.

Employers in the foodservice industry in Canada will be permitted to recruit up to 30% of their personnel through the TFWP. Moreover, there will be further modifications for temporary foreign workers.

Annually, between 50,000 and 60,000 foreign laborers arrive in Canada. These represent that more than 60% of all foreign workers are recruited under the TFWP.

The official declaration of these points took place on the 4th of April. The reason behind these measures is the worker’s deficit on a global scale. At the same time, Canada has a minimal unemployment ratio and a large number of job openings.

There seems one strategy to fix the unemployment rate, inviting temporary foreign workers to hold the job positions in which there are no Canadians available. According to an official press release, the modifications to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) are intended to assist Canada to develop its economy. 

There are five significant modifications to the TFWP which are as follows:

Extension in tenure of the job

Employees in the High-Wage and Global Talent Stream will have their average work period increased from two to three years. Workers will be able to qualify for more channels to legal residency as a result of this increase. This will make a significant contribution to the Canadian industry in the longer range.

Increase in the validity duration of Labor Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs)

The LMIAs are records that show the Canadian government that recruiting a foreign worker will not have an unfavorable impact on the workforce. LMIAs will now be legally valid for 18 months, up from nine months previously. LMIAs were only acceptable for six months before the pandemic.

The Seasonal Cap Exemption, on the way to becoming permanent

The Seasonal Cap Exemption, which has been in service since 2015, will be maintained permanently. Employers in temporary industries will no longer be restricted in the amount of low-wage posts. They can recruit through the TFWP. These jobs’ maximum period will be doubled from 180 to 270 days annually.

Then, as of April 30th,

Recruiting 30% of the workers:

The employers will be able to use the TFWP to hire up to 30% of their workers for low-wage positions for like a year. This condition will be applicable to those employers in industries with confirmed worker shortages. Until the next notification, all other companies will be able to hire up to 20% of their workforce under the TFW Program for low-wage professions, an increase compared to the previous 10% quota for many employers. 

The seven industries that are eligible are

• Hospitals,
• Nursing,
• Construction,
• Residential care facilities,
• Food manufacturing,
• Furniture manufacturing,
• and Accommodation.

Elimination of automatic rejection of LMIAs applications

Lastly, Canada will eliminate its existing rule of automatically rejecting LMIA applications for low-wage jobs in the housing and food services and retail trade industries in areas with a 6% or higher unemployment ratio.

The economic market in Canada is even tougher than it was before the pandemic. At the end of 2021, the employment availability rate reached an all-time high. Low-wage jobs represent a large percentage of the unfulfilled labor requirement.

According to Canadian Data, the below industries had the most job openings in November 2021:

Last year, the TFWP accepted 5,000 Global Talent Stream posts and 23,000 High-Wage Stream employment. Collectively, these projects account for nearly 21% of the LMIA jobs authorized for 2021.