Question Period Note: TEMPORARY WORKER PROGRAM

Processing and measures for temporary workers

• Both the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and the International Mobility Program (IMP) support Canadian employers by helping them access talent and labour when needed. However, pressures on Canada’s ability to welcome newcomers are growing.

• For the first time, the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan includes targets for temporary residents as part of a more comprehensive approach to levels planning and to help us align immigration planning with community capacity. This is also in line with the Government’s commitment to reduce temporary resident volumes to 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2026.

• We are achieving this target, in part, by tightening eligibility requirements under worker programs.

• At the same time, we continue to support talent attraction though targeted facilitative measures, and by prioritizing applications in essential sectors such as agriculture, food processing, and health care.

• Efforts continue to ensure the TFWP and IMP are closely aligned with current and emerging labour market needs and community capacity.

Responsive (if pressed on expected volume reductions and 2025 targets)
• Existing and future temporary resident management measures, as well as permanent resident transitions, are expected to help us achieve the 5% target.
• The targets for the TFWP are 82,000 each year and prioritize primary agriculture workers in order to protect Canada’s food security and food supply chain.
• The IMP target is set at 285,750 entries into Canada in 2025, 128,700 for 2026 and 155,700 for 2027

Volume reduction measures:

• On August 28, 2024, IRCC ended a temporary public policy that allowed visitors to apply for and receive a work permit from within Canada.
• On September 18, 2024, the department further announced new restrictions to work permit programs, such as:
o updating the Post-Graduation Work Permit Program to better align with immigration goals and labour market needs;
o Further restricting work permit eligibility for spouses of international students; and
o limiting work permit eligibility to spouses of foreign workers in management and professional occupations, or jobs linked to shortage sectors.

• 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 employers and foreign workers from the LMIA requirement in support of broader economic, social and cultural objectives, and reciprocal opportunities for Canadians.

Temporary Resident Volumes

• Foreign worker volumes under the TFWP and 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 October 24, 2024, IRCC released the 2025 – 2027 Immigration Levels Plan, which for the first time ever, included controlled targets for temporary residents, specifically international students and foreign workers. This plan supports efforts to reduce temporary resident volumes to 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2026. Specifically, compared to each previous year, the plan outlined that Canada’s temporary population decline by:
o 445,901 in 2025, and
o 445,662 in 2026, and then
o a modest increase of 17,439 in 2027.

Reducing the number of workers

• Minister Boissonnault announced on Aug. 26th that the Government is taking further action to weed out TFW Program misuse and fraud.

• In response to the current employment environment, the following changes will be implemented, effective by September 26, 2024:
o The Government of Canada will refuse to process Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) in the Low-Wage stream, applicable in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher. Exceptions will be granted for seasonal and non-seasonal jobs in food security sectors (primary agriculture, food processing and fish processing), as well as construction and healthcare;
o Employers will be allowed to hire no more than 10% of their total workforce through the TFW Program. This maximum employment percentage will be applied to the Low-Wage stream and is a further reduction from the March 2024 reduction. Exceptions will be granted for seasonal and non-seasonal jobs in food security sectors (primary agriculture, food processing and fish processing), as well as healthcare and construction; and
o The maximum duration of employment for workers hired through the Low-Wage stream will be reduced to one year (from two years).

• Effective November 8, 2024, ESDC raised the starting hourly wage for workers coming into Canada through the high-wage stream of the TFW Program by 20%. As a result a greater number of jobs are expected to be subject to the stricter rules of the low-wage stream, including additional employer requirements related to housing, transportation and recruitment of workers already in Canada.

• Effective August 28, 2024, IRCC ended a temporary public policy that allowed visitors to apply for a work permit from within Canada. Under the policy, visitors in Canada could apply for a work permit without having to leave the country. Although the temporary policy was set to expire on February 28, 2025, IRCC ended the policy as part of the department’s overall efforts to recalibrate the number of temporary residents in Canada and preserve the integrity of the immigration system. IRCC is also aware that some bad actors were using the policy to mislead foreign nationals into working in Canada without authorization.

• IRCC has also made changes to the International Mobility Program, tightening the eligibility for work permits for the spouses of workers and students. Specifically, Minister Miller announced two changes on September 18, 2024:

o Eligibility for work permits for the spouses of temporary foreign workers would be limited to cases where the principal worker is in a high-skilled management or professional occupation (e.g., C-suite executives, scientists), in critical sectors like health care and construction, or in a job linked to government priorities (e.g., military);and,

o Eligibility for work permits for the spouses of international students will be further limited to the spouses of international students in master’s programs of 16 months or more in duration, doctoral programs, certain professional programs, and select pilot programs.

• IRCC has also introduced and announced additional reforms for the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) program:

o Since May 15, 2024, international students who begin a study program delivered by private colleges as part of a curriculum licensing arrangement are no longer be eligible for a PGWP.

o As of November 1, 2024, all new PGWP applicants will be required to demonstrate a minimum level of language proficiency (CLB 7 level for university graduates and CLB 5 level for college graduates) to increase their ability to transition to permanent residence.

o In addition to the language requirement, to be eligible for the PGWP, international students who apply for their study permit on or after November 1, 2024, from college and non-degree university programs, will need to graduate from a field of study linked to occupations in long-term shortage.

o Those graduates who submitted a study permit application prior to November 1, 2024, will continue to be eligible provided that they meet the language requirement.

Facilitative Measures

• Though IRCC is decreasing the number of temporary foreign workers overall, temporary work programs are important to labour mobility and attracting talent. A couple of targeted measures have been introduced to attract specific skill sets needed now and in the future, including:

Expansion of the Francophone Mobility Stream

• In June 2023, IRCC expanded the IMP Francophone Mobility Stream to help achieve broader linguistic objectives and facilitate Francophone migration to support French language communities outside of Quebec. This stream is now open to French-speaking foreign nationals applying to work in any Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) category, including lower-skilled positions in TEER 4 and 5, with the exception of positions in Primary Agriculture.
• IRCC also 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 change opens the door to more French-speaking immigrants by giving them the opportunity to gain Canadian work experience and potentially qualify for permanent residence, while contributing to the vitality and economy of Francophone minority communities throughout Canada.

New Innovation Stream under the International Mobility Program

• In March 2024, IRCC launched a tailored Innovation Stream under the IMP to enable Canadian employers selected by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada as part of the Global Hypergrowth Project (GHP) to hire individuals they need to expand and grow. The stream will be in place for 2 years, and facilitates LMIA exempt work permit access for foreign nationals with a job offer in a TEER 0-3 occupation from a GHP company. It is an example of an initiative that supports high growth companies across the full spectrum of their needs.

Measures to protect temporary foreign workers

Employer compliance regime

• The Employer Compliance Regimes under the TFWP and IMP seeks to ensure the protection of the rights of temporary foreign workers on employer specific work permits through a suite of conditions on employers identified in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.
• If an employer fails to meet program requirements or conditions or does not cooperate during an inspection, consequences can be severe, including administrative monetary penalties up to a maximum of $1 million and bans from the Program.
• A confidential tip line and online reporting tool permits temporary foreign workers and other parties to anonymously report situations of potential wrongdoing. All allegations are reviewed, and appropriate action is taken. If criminal activity is suspected, the information is forwarded to law enforcement agencies such as the RCMP and CBSA.

Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers

• The Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers (OWP-V) was launched in June 2019 and provides workers on valid employer-specific work permits experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, abuse in their job access to an open work permit.

• With an open work permit, workers are able 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.
• After a worker is approved for an open work permit for vulnerable workers, an inspection is conducted to verify the employer’s compliance with program conditions.
• We are trying to make the OWP-VW application process as simple as possible for those who need it, but officers need to have reasonable grounds to believe that abuse is occurring to issue the permit. Not every situation can be approved.

• It is important to note that many of the refusals for OWP-VW are due to individuals applying by mistake (for example, clicking on the wrong type of permit on their application), individuals submitting multiple applications, or individuals applying when they already have an open work permit.

• In November 2021, IRCC launched a trauma-informed training for immigration officers who process open work permit for vulnerable workers applications. This training helps streamline the assessment process, providing officers with tools to better support clients by using a trauma-informed lens, allowing officers to make informed decisions with limited evidence, and providing applicants with an improved client experience in the process.

• Employer-specific permits
• The government maintains oversight of temporary foreign workers and their impacts on our labour market by making certain work permits employer-specific.
• Employer-specific permits enable the government to conduct inspections to ensure employers comply with regulatory conditions and employment standards legislation, such as providing a workplace free of abuse, respecting a worker’s job description, and not engaging in reprisals against workers who raise concerns.
• Employers who break these rules can incur penalties ranging from warning letters to fines to bans on hiring temporary foreign workers.
• The Temporary Foreign Worker program further takes into account minimum working conditions and other aspects of collective agreements, including wage requirements, which are used to prevent wage suppression for foreign workers and Canadians alike. Certain streams of employer-specific work permit holders receive additional support through the TFW program.

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