Question Period Note: TEMPORARY WORKER FACILITATION

Processing and facilitation measures for temporary workers

• Temporary foreign workers are essential to Canada’s labour force, as they fill short term labour and skills gaps. They help drive the economy forward by building homes, developing cutting-edge technologies and supplying food to Canadians.

• Both the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP) support Canadian employers so they can access talent and labour when facing critical shortages. Efforts continue to ensure these programs are prudent and even more closely aligned to current and emerging labour market needs.

• We continue to prioritize applications in essential sectors such as agriculture, food processing, and health care.

If pressed:
• The government of Canada is currently looking at developing a new foreign labour stream for agriculture and fish processing which aims to address persistent and chronic labour shortages in farming and the seasonal fish, seafood and primary fruit and vegetable processing sectors. The new stream is expected to be implemented as early as 2027.

• Last year, IRCC also introduced targeted measures to facilitate the hiring of qualified workers to help employers fill labour and skills gaps. These include:
o open work permits for holders of an American H 1B visa and their family members;
o expanded eligibility under the Francophone Mobility stream, and;
o access to open work permits for the spouses and dependents of many temporary workers entering Canada.

• The demand for work permits continues to increase. In 2023, roughly 7% of Canada’s labour force held work permits.

• Temporary foreign workers coming under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP) play an important role in many sectors of the Canadian economy. The TFWP, administered by ESDC and IRCC, requires a positive or neutral Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and helps employers fill critical labour shortages. The IMP, administered solely by IRCC, exempts the LMIA in support of Canada’s broader economic, social and cultural objectives.

Temporary Resident Volumes

• The demand for foreign workers under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP) have grown significantly in recent years. The TFWP increased by 88% between 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2023. Similarly, the IMP increased by 126% between 2019 and 2023. Taken together, these two programs accounted for close to 1.58 million work permit holders in 2023, equal to roughly 7% of Canada’s labour force of 22 million people.

• The rising volumes of temporary workers is coming at a time when labour market tightness appears to be easing. There is also a broader concern regarding the growing pressures on Canada’s housing supply and social services. These considerations are key drivers behind the Government’s recent and ongoing efforts to recalibrate temporary worker programs and volumes.

• On March 21, 2024, the Department announced that the volume of temporary residents would be integrated in Canada’s immigration levels plan starting this year and signalled the government’s intention to reduce existing temporary resident volumes to 5% over the next 3 years, which was reiterated in Budget 2024.

• This target will be finalized in the fall, following consultations with provincial and territorial governments and as part of annual levels planning. However, IRCC remains committed to supporting employers who are facing labour shortages in Canada.

Facilitative Measures

Open Work Permits for H-1B Visa Holders

• On July 16th, IRCC launched the open work permit for H-1B Specialty Occupations visa holders, with additional work and study permit options for eligible family members. IRCC reached the program’s intake cap of 10,000 applications submitted within 2 days.

• Under this measure applicants receive an open work permit of up to three years in duration, which means they are able to work for almost any employer, anywhere in Canada.

Expansion of the Francophone Mobility Stream

• In June 2023, IRCC expanded the IMP Francophone Mobility stream to include French-speaking foreign nationals applying to work in lower-skilled positions (TEER 4 and 5) with the exception of Primary Agriculture, and lowered the language threshold from Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) 7 in all four tests: Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing, to a CLB 5 in Speaking and Listening only, thus removing the Reading and Writing requirement for an initial period of two years. This initiative helps address labour market shortages while supporting IRCC efforts to facilitate Francophone migration to promote the vitality of Francophone minority communities.

Phase 1 of the Family Member Initiative

• In January 2023, Canada announced the expansion of work permit eligibility for the spouses and dependents of workers entering Canada under the IMP and the High-Wage Stream of the TFWP. This will increase the number of workers available to fill acute labour shortages, while supporting family reunification.

Innovation Stream of the International Mobility Program

• On March 22nd, IRCC launched a new two-year pilot that will allow the issuance of employer-specific work permits exempt from the Labour Market Impact Assessment for up to five years to workers hired by one of the eight companies chosen to benefit from Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s Global Hypergrowth Project (GHP).

Global Skills Strategy

• The Global Skills Strategy (GSS), provides access to global talent by bringing in highly skilled workers faster. Between its launch in 2017 and March 31, 2024, over 126,000 work permits work permits were approved for highly skilled workers in occupations such as computer programming, information system analysis and software engineering.

• Spouses and dependents of these workers may also apply for a visitor visa, work permit or study permit, and receive expedited processing to accompany the principal applicant to Canada.

• By the end of December 2023, approximately 20,850 former GSS work permit holders became permanent residents (principal applicants only).

Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers (OWP-V)

• The Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers was launched in 2019 and enables temporary foreign workers in Canada on valid employer-specific work permits who are experiencing or at risk of experiencing abuse in the context of their employment in Canada the ability to apply for an open work. This enables them to exit abusive situations quickly and work for almost any employer in Canada.

• The OWP-V is temporary and generally non-renewable. It is typically issued for 1 year and is intended to give workers enough time to find a new job and apply for another work permit before the OWP-V expires.

• The program is meant to be facilitative and expedient. It has a lower burden of proof compared to most immigration programs, recognizing that abuse is often difficult to substantiate. The OWP-V is also available to family members of the foreign worker in Canada.

• The program is aligned with other worker protection tools. As such, after a worker is approved for an OWP-V, an inspection is typically conducted to verify the employer’s compliance with program conditions.

• Volumes: From the launch of the program in 2019 to March 31, 2024, IRCC issued 5,054 OWP-Vs.

Quebec flexibility under the TFWP

• The Government of Canada expressed an intention to provide Quebec with more flexibility under the IMP and the TFWP. This includes:

o Expanding the Traitment simplifié to include Quebec-destined workers in Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) 4 occupations. This provides additional flexibility for Quebec employers under the TFWP to address their labour needs. This measure has been extended until December 31, 2024.

o On January 1, 2024, Quebec launched the Quebec Investor program with support from IRCC. Through this program, foreign nationals in possession of a Notice of Intent to Select issued by the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Intégration (MIFI) are eligible to apply for an open work permit, valid for up to 3 years, under which the foreign national will be able to come and settle in the province before applying for permanent residence. IRCC will continue to work with the province of Quebec to meet their immigration and labour needs.

Post-Graduation Work Permits (PGWP)

• Facilitative measures on distance learning will continue to be in place for students who begin a study program until the end of August 2024. International students who begin their program on or after September 1, 2024, will not be eligible for the measures, which have allowed international students to retain eligibility and accumulate time towards a future PGWP while pursuing a study program via distance learning, from inside or outside Canada.

IF PRESSED:

Temporary Foreign Workers and Housing

• We must be cautious to not over-inflate the role of immigrants in the causes or solutions to Canada’s housing and homelessness challenges; infrastructure demand has outpaced investments for several decades.

• The housing crisis was not caused by immigration, though it must be acknowledged that the rapid population growth of the last few years is a contributor to the demand for housing.

• IRCC has a supporting role to play in the creation of new housing supply by facilitating entry of newcomers with critical skills, and helping them integrate into the labour market to address shortages in sectors such as construction. We are working with federal partners to develop a whole-of-government approach to immigration, including by taking into account Canada’s infrastructure and housing capacity.

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