The Liberal government is putting a stop to an immigration exemption that allows visitors to apply for work permits from within Canada.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) introduced the policy during the pandemic for visitors who couldn’t leave Canada due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions.
IRCC said that the exemption was eliminated Aug. 28 as part of the federal government’s efforts to cut down on the number of temporary residents in order to “preserve the integrity of the immigration system.”
The Liberal government said “bad actors” had been using the exemption to trick foreign nationals into working in Canada without authorization.
Applications submitted before Aug. 28 will continue to be processed, IRCC said in a statement.
IRCC said that while the temporary policy was set to expire on Feb. 28, 2025, it was ending the program early.
“Responding to a racist outcry linking migrants to the affordability crisis, the federal Liberals are making knee-jerk changes to the immigration system to show that they are in control,” Syed Hussan, executive director of Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, told CBC News.
Hussan said as a result of the change, migrants without permanent residency are losing even more rights.
“This program was not being used by tourists to become workers,” he said. “It was being used by migrant workers to transition in and out of work permits because existing rules make it so hard for workers to find jobs and employers.”
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he is reducing the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada as a part of his government’s efforts to reduce the number of temporary residents.
The rules around the temporary foreign worker program (TFW) were relaxed during a severe post-COVID labour shortage — a decision that led to a spike in the number of low-wage workers in the country.
That historic surge in temporary foreign workers has been identified by some experts as a cause for fuelling unemployment among immigrants and young people.
On Monday, Trudeau said employers in high unemployment areas — places where the unemployment rate is six per cent or higher — will not be able to hire low-wage TFWs, with limited exceptions.
Those exceptions include “food security sectors” like agriculture and food and fish processing as well as construction and health care where acute staffing shortages still exist.
Under the changes, employers will no longer be allowed to hire more than 10 per cent of their total workforce through the TFW program and low-wage TFWs will also be limited to one-year contracts, down from the current two.
“We need Canadian businesses to invest in training and technology, not increasing their reliance on low-cost foreign labour,” Trudeau said.
“It’s not fair to Canadians struggling to find a good job, and it’s not fair to those temporary foreign workers, some of whom are being mistreated and exploited.”
Trudeau also said the government is considering a reduction to the number of permanent residents Canada accepts each year — a potentially major policy change after years of increasing immigration levels on the Liberal government’s watch.
