As Canadian elections are fast-approaching, with the Canadian housing market being under extreme pressure, we have seen a series of announcements being made at several government levels across Canada.
Although these changes may impact several Temporary Workers and Residents in Canada, they should have very limited impact towards most Corporate clients.
In the following sections, we are outlining the most important ones and assessing the impact for most of our Corporate clients using our color-coded levels here.
Little to No Impact on Corporate clients
Small possible impact
Moderate potential impact
High expected impact on Corporate clients – Immediate
attention required
Specific to the Province of Québec:
Effective since September 3rd 2024, all applications requiring a Labor Market test (LMIA) in order to apply for a Work Permit in the greater Montreal region are temporarily suspended for a period of 6 months, for all jobs offering a salary below the Province's median wage ($27.47/hour at the time of publication);
Exemptions will however be possible for professions in demand, including those in the field of: agriculture, construction, food processing, education, as well as health and social services.
(This will have little to No Impact as it only concerns low-wages positions)
Canada-Wide: Labor Market Tests (LMIA), effective September 26, 2024:
- A 10% employer cap will be imposed on temporary foreign workers applications under the Low-wage Stream (below the Median wage in each region). An exception will be made for employers seeking to fill labour shortages in the healthcare, construction, and food processing sectors, which will be permitted to keep a 20% cap;
- Low-Wage Stream applications will be approved for only one year at the time (down from the usual 2 years), and possibly shorter durations for seasonal Agricultural workers;
- Low-Wage Stream applications for jobs in Metropolitan Areas with an unemployment rate of over 6% will not be processed. An exception will be made for employers seeking to fill labour shortages in the healthcare, construction, and food processing sectors;
(All the above will have little to No Impact as it only concerns low-wages positions)
Canada-Wide: Work Permits and Study Permits changes:
- Reducing the 2025 cap on Study Permits issued from 485,000 to 437,000; (This will have little to No Impact as it only concerns students applications and dependents of WP holders in Canada will most-likely remain eligible to obtaining Study Permits despite the cap reduction)
- Removing the 'Covid Era' special permission allowing Visitors already in Canada to apply for a Work Permit from inside the Country (the previous exception for U.S. Nationals should be maintained); (This will have a small, but rare, possible impact when hiring a new employee already in Canada under a visitor status)
- Starting November 1st, Colleges Graduates will remain eligible for a Post-Graduation Work Permit (of up to three years), only if they graduate from a field of study linked to occupations in long-term shortage in Canada. Other students like Bachelor, Master, and PHD graduates from accredited Universities do not seem to be impacted by this change; (This may have a moderate impact but of limited scope as only College students will be impacted. Still worth monitoring and keeping in mind for your recruitment strategies)
- After that date, all Post-Graduation Work Permit applicants will be required to demonstrate a minimum language proficiency in French or English. i.e. a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7 for university graduates, and CLB 5 for college graduates; (This may have a moderate impact, adding an extra step and possible delays for those applying for a PGWP).
- Open Work Permit authorization for spouses of Master's program students, will be limited to only those registered to a 16 months program or more, for applications received on or after November 1st, 2024; (This will have a very limited to no impact as it is only targeting the spouses of students in a short Master's program)
- Also anticipated for November 1st, 2024 is a limitation on all Spousal open Work Permit applications to only accept those for spouses of foreign workers working in management, professional occupations, or in sectors with labour shortages; (This will only have a small impact considering most Foreign Workers within corporate client organizations are in Managerial or Professional occupations. Still worth monitoring. But it is basically a simple reversal to what the Spousal open WP program originally was).
Conclusion and important remarks:
As Canada is looking to tighten its immigration regime, including reducing their Permanent Immigration targets and lowering the overall number of Temporary Residents from 6.5% to 5% of the population during the 2025-2027 immigration level plan, other important changes are also expected.
These will include reforming the International Student Program, tightening eligibility requirements for temporary foreign workers, enforcing employer compliance more strictly, and making labour market impact assessments more rigorous to mitigate fraud.
As such, presenting strong and rigorous applications for Canada, as well as a robust compliance regime, will be of the utmost importance.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
