As of August 28, temporary residents in Canada holding visitor visas are no longer allowed to apply for work permits from within the country.
This policy was initially introduced in August 2020 to support visitors who were unable to leave Canada due to COVID-19-related border closures.
The policy allowed these visitors to apply for work permits without needing to exit Canada. Additionally, individuals who had held a work permit within the previous 12 months but had changed their status to “visitor” were permitted to work legally in Canada while awaiting a decision on their new work permit application.
Although this policy was originally set to expire on February 28, 2025, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has decided to end it early as part of broader efforts to manage the number of temporary residents in Canada and maintain the integrity of the immigration system.
The IRCC confirms that applications submitted before August 28 under this policy will still be processed.
Action against bad actors
The IRCC explains that the early rollback of the policy is partly due to concerns that “bad actors were exploiting the policy to deceive foreign nationals into working in Canada without proper authorization.”
This move aligns with the department’s ongoing efforts to crack down on widespread immigration fraud and manage the number of temporary residents in the country.
For instance, last year, 700 Indian international students were found to have entered Canada with fake letters of acceptance from Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs), many of whom were unaware that their letters were fraudulent.
In response, the IRCC now mandates that DLIs verify all letters of acceptance within 10 days of receiving an international student application. Additionally, the department has imposed a cap on the number of international students Canada will accept over the next two years.
Major adjustments to temporary foreign worker levels in Canada
The termination of the temporary policy allowing some visitors to apply for work permits comes during a week of significant changes aimed at lowering the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada.
On August 26th, the Department announced that it would suspend the processing of certain Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications for applicants under the Low-Wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) by September 26th, 2024. This suspension will affect applicants in Census Metropolitan Areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
The IRCC also introduced limits on the number of foreign workers that Canadian employers can hire through the TFWP, capping it at 10% of their total workforce. Additionally, the maximum employment term for workers in the Low-Wage stream will be reduced from two years to one.
These changes, like today’s announcement, represent a rollback of pandemic-era immigration policies that the Government of Canada introduced to address labor shortages at the time. For example, during the pandemic, the IRCC, in collaboration with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), implemented temporary measures allowing Canadian employers to hire up to 30% of their workforce through the Low-Wage stream of the TFWP and extended the validity period of an LMIA to 12 months.
In May, IRCC and ESDC began to reverse these pandemic-era policies following a joint press conference held by Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault and Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
During the same press conference, Minister Miller announced the historic inclusion of temporary resident levels in the annual Immigration Levels Plan, marking a first in Canadian immigration history.
Immigration has become a major focus in Canada, with this year seeing numerous announcements about managing and reducing the number of temporary residents in the country. This week, Minister Miller also revealed his intention to consider changes to permanent residence levels in Canada in the coming years.
