New Measures Introduced for Temporary Foreign Worker Program

After the pandemic, Canada is still trying to meet the labor market shortages prevailing in the economy. For this, they have not only increased the application processing timelines but have also introduced new measures to aid the skilled workers planning to immigrate to Canada. Announced on 4th April 2022 by the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion the new changes in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will be partially effective immediately and remaining from 30th April 2022. These changes were put into effect because Canada is currently experiencing a high number of job vacancies which the current citizens are not eligible for. The growing economy is an opportunity for immigrants to settle in the country indefinitely. 

Some measures being effective immediately:

• Labor Market Impact Assessment that was originally valid for only 6 months before covid-19 was increased on its validity to 9 months. With the new measures in place, now the LMIA’s will carry a validity of 18 months.
• To cope with seasonal peaks, there'll not be a restriction to the variety of low-salary positions that employers in seasonal industries, which includes fish and seafood processing, can fill through the TFW Program. This makes everlasting the Seasonal Cap Exemption that has been in the region in the view since 2015. In addition, most period of those positions could be accelerated from a hundred and eighty days to 270 days in line with the year.
• Most period of employment for High-Wage and Global Talent Streams people may be prolonged from years to a few years. This extension will assist people to get entry to pathways to qualify for everlasting residency, permitting them to make contributions to our team of workers for the long term.

Some measures being effective from 30th April:

• For seven sectors with proven labor shortages, including Accommodation and Food Services, employers can be allowed to lease as much as 30% of their team of workers through the TFW Program for low-salary positions for one year. All remaining employers can be allowed to lease as much as 20% of their team of workers through the TFW Program for low-salary positions till further notice, an boom from the previous 10% for plenty of employers.
• The Government will stop the modern-day coverage that routinely refuses LMIA packages for low-salary occupations withinside the Accommodation and Food Services and Retail Trade sectors in areas with an unemployment price of 6% or higher.