Short-term labour shortages are a common occurrence in many sectors of Canada’s economy. They can affect workplaces that need employees with highly specialized skills, seasonal businesses such as tourism and agriculture, or entire regions during periods of rapid economic expansion, like the pre-Olympics construction boom in British Columbia or the development of the oil and gas sector in Alberta.

When employers look for workers, their first task is to find and hire Canadians or permanent residents for those positions. If they are unsuccessful at finding available workers in Canada to do the job, the Government of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) can help them manage their short-term labour needs.

The TFWP is jointly managed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). It gives employers from all types of businesses the opportunity to recruit foreign workers with the skills they need to address temporary shortages when they experience them.

Employers will usually need to get authorization from HRSDC first before they can hire a temporary foreign worker (TFW). This is known as a positive “Labour Market Opinion” (LMO). A positive LMO will show that there is a need for a foreign worker to fill the job and that no Canadian worker can do the job.

In most cases, TFWs need a permit to work in Canada and, depending on their country of residence, they may also need to obtain a temporary resident visa to enter Canada.

While in Canada, TFWs have the same rights as any other employee — for example, their pay must be consistent with the prevailing wages paid to Canadians in the same occupation in the same region, and working conditions for the occupation must meet the standards of the province in which they are employed.

For more information on the TFWP, please visit cic.gc.ca/work2.

February 15, 2013 — Effective February 15, 2013, CIC will no longer accept applications for open work permits (WPs) from spouses, common-law partners and working-age dependent children (aged 18–22) of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) destined for British Columbia in occupations requiring lower levels of formal training. That includes occupations defined in the National Occupation Classification (NOC) as type C, or those that usually require secondary school or job-specific training, or occupations generally requiring on-the-job training (NOC D).

The NOC is a list of all the occupations in the Canadian labour market. It describes each job according to skill type and skill level. The NOC is used to collect and organize job statistics and to provide labour market information. It is also used as a basis for certain immigration requirements.

These applications were accepted through a pilot project that was implemented under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program annex to the Canada-British Columbia Immigration Agreement. The pilot project was scheduled to run until February 15, 2013.

The pilot is being extended for working-age dependent children (aged 18–22) of high-skilled TFWs destined to British Columbia. High-skilled occupations are those classified as managerial (NOC 0), professional (NOC A) or skilled trades (NOC B). Eligible applicants can continue to apply for an open WP until February 14, 2014.

If you already submitted an application: Applications received under the pilot project before February 15, 2013, will continue to be processed to completion.

Spouses, common-law partners and working-age dependent children of TFWs, who were issued an open WP under the original pilot project, or who submitted an application under the pilot by February 15, 2013, are eligible to apply for a work permit extension. This only applies if the WP of their family member, the principal applicant, is extended. This option will be available until February 14, 2014, and the extension cannot exceed the duration of the TFW family member’s WP.

More information on eligibility criteria and on how to apply is available here.

Notice – Changes to the Federal Skilled Worker Program March 1, 2013 – With new criteria for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) set to take effect in May, many prospective immigrants may already be preparing to apply.

However, future FSWP applicants should be aware that CIC expects to announce three important elements of the FSWP in April that will have an impact on the application process, including:

• a cap on the number of applications that will be accepted in the first year;
• a new list of priority occupations; and
• the organizations that will be designated to conduct educational assessments.

Applicants who prepare their application before this information is announced do so at their own risk. Applications that do not meet the criteria that will be announced in April will not be processed.

On December 19, 2012, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced significant changes to the FSWP. In addition, the Minister announced that the new FSWP would be opened up for applications on May 4, 2013. A pause on applications, except for those from certain PhD students and those supported by a qualifying job offer, has been in place since July 1, 2012.