e-2990 (Citizenship and immigration)

The Government has taken extraordinary measures to help workers affected by the disruption in services and travel due to the coronavirus outbreak, many of which are geared toward encouraging and facilitating workers’ and other foreign nationals’ ability to remain in status while in Canada.

The Government introduced the new Temporary Pathway to Permanent Residence, announced on April 14, 2021, in recognition of the contributions of essential workers and international graduates in Canada by providing a pathway to permanent residence. This pathway to permanent residence from within Canada will help retain the talent of those already here in support of economic recovery. Effective May 6, 2021, applications are being accepted under three streams for a period of six months, or until the cap of a stream is reached:

• 20,000 applications for temporary workers in health care;
• 30,000 applications for temporary workers in other selected essential occupations; and
• 40,000 applications for international students who graduated from a Canadian institution.

These three streams are also available on an uncapped basis to French-speaking and bilingual candidates who are able to demonstrate their language proficiency through the results of a designated French-language test.   This approach contributes to the Government’s objective of supporting and assisting the development of minority official languages communities in Canada.

In addition, since the introduction of travel restrictions in response the coronavirus outbreak, IRCC has leveraged its Express Entry application management system to target invitations to apply at Canadian Experience Class-eligible candidates. This included issuing over 27,000 invitations to Canadian Experience Class-eligible candidates on February 13, 2020, the largest Express Entry Invitation to Apply round ever. These candidates have at least one year of Canadian work experience, have proven that they can contribute to our economy, and the vast majority of them are already in living in Canada.

Immigration remains crucial to addressing Canada’s longstanding demographic challenges and labour market shortages, especially as the country recovers from the pandemic. The above measures help position Canada to address these challenges.

The Government of Canada has been increasing the rate of transitions to permanent residence through policy and program changes, recognizing the beneficial performance outcome of two-step immigration. Canadian work experience, labour market attachment, social and cultural integration are known to lead to positive immigrant outcomes.

While there has been a strong importance placed on the value of Canadian work experience, this emphasis does not detract from other human capital factors, which demonstrate an applicant’s ability to economically establish, both initially and over the long term. Economic pathways usually require minimum official language proficiency, recognizing that those with higher language proficiency face fewer barriers to finding employment and are generally more resilient to economic shifts and downturns.

The Government is cognizant that creating pathways to permanent residence for temporary workers based solely on their Canadian work experience could inadvertently increase vulnerability for new temporary workers, as the promise of permanent residence increases the employer/employee power imbalance and could lead to workers remaining in abusive situations for the promise of permanent status. In addition to the employment requirement, the new Temporary Pathway to Permanent Residence requires temporary workers to demonstrate a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 4 and international graduates to demonstrate a CLB 5.  While this level of language proficiency is lower than is typically required in economic programs, this approach ensures that the greatest number of temporary residents are captured while maintaining the economic criteria that has been shown to increase resilience and lead to improved economic outcomes. The safety of foreign workers is a key priority for our government and Canada has laws to protect workers from unsafe working conditions.

Everyone deserves a work environment where they are safe and their rights are respected. Labour laws and workplace safety rules are primarily established and enforced by provincial governments, who are also responsible for managing healthcare. Provinces and territories may offer workers’ compensation (medical or wage benefits) if workers are hurt on the job or if the job causes the worker to get sick.

The Government of Canada has taken multiple measures to ensure the health and safety of temporary foreign workers arriving in Canada by providing employers with funds to compensate for expenses relating to safe and proper quarantine for workers (led by Agriculture and Agri-Food) and implementing new employer compliance regime regulations designed to better protect vulnerable workers.

In addition to Canadians who have been laid off as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, temporary residents already in the country who may be unable to return home due to travel restrictions or other challenges could help fill labour market shortages resulting from the pandemic. The Government of Canada has taken steps to enable temporary foreign workers already in Canada to continue to work and to fill critical shortages faster.

The Government is aware that many essential services are tied to a foreign national maintaining temporary resident status and valid work authorization. While determining eligibility for these services often falls to provincial jurisdiction, the Government of Canada has taken steps to facilitate the maintenance of this status.

On July 14, 2020, IRCC implemented a new public policy to extend the amount of time a temporary resident (i.e., visitor, worker or student) has to restore their status. Former workers, students and visitors whose status expired between January 30, 2020 and May 31, 2021, and who remained in Canada have until August 31, 2021 instead of only 90 days, to apply to restore their status, provided they meet the requirements for the type of status and authorization they are applying to restore.

This public policy will help foreign nationals who are still in Canada and may not have been able to return home as a result of the pandemic to restore their immigration status. 

The Government has also taken measures to adjust immigration programming, understanding that job loss has been prevalent during the pandemic. Several public policies have been put in place to encourage applicants to maintain legal status in Canada. On May 6, 2020, a public policy was put in place that allows temporary foreign workers in Canada who have lost their job or are switching jobs, with a new job offer and accompanying Labour Market Impact Assessment (where required), to start work right away while their work permit application is processed.

In addition, public policies have been put into place to reduce the impact that job loss would have on potential applicants for permanent residence. On November 6, 2020, a temporary public policy was introduced to modify the eligibility requirement under the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot, which previously required applicants to acquire the one year of work experience in a continuous 12 month period. This public policy removes the barrier that applicants would have otherwise faced if they needed to have breaks in employment due to family responsibilities, lay-offs, or any other interruption. Similar gaps in employment were already permitted in the Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program.