As of August 28, temporary residents in Canada on visitor visas can no longer apply for work permits from within the country.
This policy, introduced in August 2020, was designed to help visitors who couldn’t return home due to COVID-19-related border closures. It allowed them to apply for work permits without leaving Canada. Additionally, those who had held a work permit within the previous 12 months and had since changed their status to “visitor” were eligible to work legally in Canada while awaiting a decision on their new work permit application.
Originally set to expire on February 28, 2025, the policy is now being terminated early by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) as part of its efforts to manage the number of temporary residents in Canada and maintain the integrity of the immigration system.
The IRCC will continue to process applications submitted under this policy before August 28.
The early termination is partly due to reports that “bad actors” were exploiting the policy to deceive foreign nationals into working in Canada without proper authorization. This move is aligned with IRCC’s broader efforts to tackle immigration fraud and reduce the number of temporary residents.
For instance, last year, 700 Indian international students were discovered to be in Canada due to fraudulent acceptance letters from Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs), many of whom were unaware of the deception. In response, IRCC now requires DLIs to verify all letters of acceptance within 10 days of receiving an international student application and has also capped the number of international students Canada will accept over the next two years.
Significant Changes to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Policies
The termination of the temporary policy allowing some visitors to apply for work permits comes amid a week of substantial changes aimed at lowering Canada’s temporary foreign worker levels.
On August 26, the Department announced it will suspend the processing of certain Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications under the Low-Wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) by September 26, 2024. This suspension will affect applicants in Census Metropolitan Areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
Additionally, IRCC has introduced new restrictions on the number of foreign workers employers can hire under the TFWP, limiting it to 10% of their total workforce. The maximum term of employment for workers in the Low-Wage stream will also be reduced from two years to one year.
These changes mirror today’s announcement as they both involve rollbacks of pandemic-era immigration policies. During the pandemic, IRCC, in collaboration with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), had temporarily allowed employers to hire up to 30% of their workforce through the Low-Wage stream of the TFWP and extended the validity period of an LMIA to 12 months.
IRCC and ESDC began phasing out these temporary measures last May, following a joint press conference with Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault and Immigration Minister Marc Miller. At that conference, Minister Miller also announced the unprecedented inclusion of temporary resident levels in the annual Immigration Levels Plan.
Immigration remains a key issue in Canada, with numerous announcements this year focused on managing and reducing temporary resident levels. This week, Minister Miller also indicated plans to consider adjustments to permanent residence levels in the coming years.
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