As of August 28, foreign nationals who enter Canada as visitors may no longer lodge an application to remain in Canada as workers without exiting the country. Initially, this regulation came into force in August 2020 to help support visitors who, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, could not return home and allowed them to apply for a work permit from within Canada. Also, individuals who had a work permit in the last 12 months but became visitors could work legally in Canada as their new work permit application was in process.
This rule was originally supposed to expire on February 28, 2025. However, IRCC decided to end it earlier as part of its effort to manage intake volume of temporary residents in Canada, and in maintaining the integrity of the immigration system. Applications received prior to August 28 under this policy will still be processed.
Ending Misuse of the Policy
IRCC has cited, among the reasons for the policy’s early termination, its abuse by some. It identified the “bad actors” who misled foreign nationals to work in Canada without proper authorization.
The decision is also complementary to IRCC’s strategy to combat immigration fraud and inventory management for temporary residents. For instance, alone in the previous year, 700 students from India were found to be in Canada based on fake acceptance letters of designated schools. Of the said number, many were not even aware that their letters were forged.
Because of this, IRCC has begun requiring schools to verify the receipt of acceptance letters within 10 days of accepting an international student’s application. Canada has also established a limit on how many international students it will accept over the next two years.
Changes in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
The elimination of the policy for visitor visa holders applying for work permits comes in a week of major reforms to pare down the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada.
The government announced on 26 August that it will stop processing by 26 September 2024 some LMIA applications for certain applicants in the Low-Wage stream of the TFWP in areas whose unemployment rate is 6% or higher.
In a further move, IRCC declared that the employers in Canada would have the discretion to hire foreign workers under the TFWP program for no more than 10% of the total workforce. The maximum work term likewise has been shortened to one year, from the current two years for the Low-Wage stream.
These changes are similar to today’s announcement, where much of the pandemic-era immigration policies put in place by the Canadian government to meet labor supply have been rolled back. For example, during the pandemic IRCC and ESDC allowed employers to hire up to 30% of their staff through the Low-Wage stream of the TFWP and extended LMIA validity from nine months to 12 months.
IRCC and ESDC began last May to roll back many of the pandemic-era policies after a rare joint press conference between Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault and Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
The press conference would also see Minister Miller make a second historic announcement, revealing that-for the first time in the history of Canadian immigration-temporary resident levels would be included in the annual Immigration Levels Plan.
Immigration has become a serious hot topic in Canada. There have been many announcements this year regarding the management and reduction of temporary residents. Recently, Minister Miller took notice that he wants to take a look at possible changes in permanent residence levels in Canada over the coming years.
