Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has proposed an amendment to the Immigration and Refugees Protection Act (IRPA) to create a new permanent economic immigration category for workers with experience and training at Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) levels 4 and 5.
The department states that this pathway would “support the modernization of the economic immigration system by broadening the selection of permanent residents to include candidates with a wider variety of skills and experience.”
According to IRCC, ministerial instructions providing more details about the new category and any pathways will be published this fall in the Canada Gazette.
Canada’s TEER system
Canada’s TEER system, introduced in 2022 as an update to the National Occupation Classification (NOC) system, categorizes occupations into “TEERs,” replacing the “Skill Levels” used in NOC 2016.
TEERs 0-3 cover occupations that typically require post-secondary education or specific-length apprenticeships. TEERs 4 and 5 encompass jobs that require only a high school education, on-the-job training, or, for TEER 5, no formal education but some short-term work demonstration.
Currently, TEERs 4 and 5 are generally ineligible for federal economic immigration programs like Express Entry, making it more difficult for newcomers in these occupations to become permanent residents, thus contributing to the number of temporary residents in Canada.
Many newcomers to Canada start as temporary residents, and due to the current labor market, some end up in what Statistics Canada defines as “low-skilled” positions. A study released earlier this year by Statistics Canada noted a shift in the employment of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) and international students toward low-skilled industrial sectors, such as accommodation and food services and retail trade.
The study indicated that these shifts could lead to a higher proportion of low-skilled TFWs among new immigrants. Consequently, TFWs and international students face low earnings and slow earnings growth, hindering their integration into Canada’s economy.
Temporary resident levels
The creation of new permanent resident pathways for TEER 4 and 5 newcomers exemplifies IRCC’s effort to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada. Earlier this year, the department announced its goal to stabilize these numbers, which peaked at over 2 million in 2023.
The department stated that these levels were unsustainable for Canada’s economy. Immigration Minister Marc Miller noted that Canada has recovered 138% of the jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Traditionally, temporary residents such as workers, students, and visitors have not been capped. However, this year, IRCC reversed this policy and introduced a hard cap on the number of international student applications it will process. Temporary resident levels will also be added to the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan, expected by November 1.
Another strategy to control the number of temporary residents is increasing the number of “domestic draws,” focusing on converting temporary residents already in Canada into permanent residents before bringing in more foreign nationals from abroad.
There has recently been an increase in the number of Express Entry draws for candidates with provincial nominations and those in the Canadian Experience Class, who are typically already living and working in Canada as temporary residents. In July alone, IRCC issued 14,575 invitations to apply to these candidates.
These measures help IRCC achieve its annual target for permanent residents and reduce the temporary resident population.
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