Visitors Can No Longer Apply For Work Permits Within Canada (X image @JOBCORNER247)
Temporary residents in Canada are no longer permitted to apply for a work permit from within Canada as of August 28, said a report. The work permit policy was introduced in August 2022, aiming to assist visitors in Canada, who were unable to return home due to the border closure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the policy, the visitors could apply for work permit without having to leave Canada. Anyone who had held a work permit within the preceding 12 months but had changed their immigrations status to “visitor” became eligible to “work legally in Canada while waiting for a decision on their new work permit application.”
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Though the policy was initially meant to expire on February 2025, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said it is ending the policy immediately as “part of our overall efforts to recalibrate the number of temporary residents in Canada and preserve the integrity of the immigration system”. It said that the applications submitted under the policy before August 28 will continue to be processed.
IRCC also said that the decision for early rollback of the policy was because it has been made aware that “bad actors were using the policy to mislead foreign nationals into working in Canada without authorization.”
The department is also trying to cut down the widespread immigration fraud, and reduce temporary resident levels.
Reportedly, 700 Indian international students were in Canada due to false acceptance letters from Designated Learning Institutions (DLISs). Several of them were not aware that the letters were not genuine.
As a response, the IRCC ordered DLIs to verify all the letters of acceptance within 10 days of receiving an international student application.
The end of temporary work policy came amidst a week of big changes in Ottawa, aimed at reducing the country’s temporary foreign worker levels.
On August 26, IRCC said announced that it would halt the processing of some Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications for applicants under the Low-Wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) by September 26, 2024. The move will impact applicants in Census Metropolitan Areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
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IRCC also announced restrictions on the number of foreign workers that employers in Canada can hire under the TFWP (10% of their total workforce), and that the maximum term of employment for workers in the Low-Wage stream would be reduced to one year from two.
IRCC, in collaboration with ESDC (Employment Social Development Canada) started to repeal the Covid pandemic policies last May, after a joint press conference held by the Employment Minister Randy Boissonault and Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
