Our Presence

Canada announces changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to better address labor market needs

Canada is a developed country in North America that has offered ample job opportunities for immigrants until recently. The Canada Foreign Worker Program has been lenient in this direction. However, there has been a change of strategies as of March 21, 2024, as per the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which is expected to be in effect by May 01, 2024.

Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is an initiative from IRCC to bridge the gaps in the Canadian job market. In this Canada Skilled Migration channel temporary workers from outside the country can be hired by Canadian institutions. There have been some relaxations on this scheme’s requirements as of 2022 the time of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The latest update is intended to take away such relaxations.

The Background: Tracing Reasons for Change in Policies

TFWP is designed to hire immigrant temporary workers in times of labor shortages within the Canadian job market. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this shortage was high. The gap between unemployment rates and job vacancies has been characterized by low unemployment and high vacancies. In this situation, the authorities took a strategic decision to hire more laborers from outside the country by relaxing the requirements of TFWP. Now that the job shortages have become relaxed and the unemployment rates within the country have hiked IRCC decided to withdraw relaxations.

Even though Canadian work experience is preferred under this scheme, there are alternate channels with overseas work experience. However, since meeting the Canadian skill shortage is the ultimate goal applicant should be eligible to contribute to the country’s economic growth.

Changes in TFWP

LMIA validity:

As per TFWP businesses who hire from outside the country have to conduct a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). This is to prove that they can’t find laborers who are eligible for this position among Canadian citizens or permanent residents. The validity of this assessment was fixed at 6 months. However, considering the labour demands during the pandemic it was relaxed to 12 months. Thus the flow of temporary immigrant labourers into the country was streamlined. However, the latest notification warrants the resetting of this validity to 6 months. This will be effective on May 01, 2024.

Cap on Low-Wage Temporary Workers:

As per the TFWP the total number of applicants for low-wage temporary labor in the country was restricted to 20 percent of its own working population. In the changes that followed the pandemic this Canada foreign worker program was changed to allow 30 percent into the country as temporary laborers. This change was limited to certain sectors. In the March 21st announcement it is decided to reinstate the old 20 percent scheme except for construction and healthcare sectors. The already existing exemptions on agriculture and fisheries are not subject to change.

Other Changes:

The temporary resident population in the country is on the rise these days. Hence the government has decided to reduce this population in the next three years to 5 percent.

Conclusion

As is evident the changes notified in this latest announcement by Marc Miller Minister of IRCC and Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, is a strategic action to address existing labour market needs. It is intended to ensure that the existing population is provided with sufficient job opportunities. From the sustainability perspective, this change was imminent due to the recent increase in the temporary resident population in Canada. This change in Canada’s Foreign Worker Program is not a surprising event considering the recent restrictions made on the student visa permits for Canadian immigration.

Trenity Consultants are much updated about such changing norms in international relocation destinations. So we can proudly present ourselves as reliable partners for efficient relocation processes into Canada and other popular destinations.