Visitors can continue applying for work permits inside Canada
Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 Mar, 2023 11:50 AM
Toronto, March 2 (IANS) Foreign nationals who are in Canada as visitors and who receive a valid job offer will be able to apply for and receive a work permit without having to leave the country, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced.
The move, an extension of a Covid-era temporary public policy that was set to expire today, has now been extended by two years, until February 28, 2025.
Visitors applying under this public policy who held a work permit within the last 12 months will also continue to be able to request interim work authorization to begin working for their new employer more quickly.
Prior to this temporary policy change, those applying to work in Canada would typically need to apply for their initial work permit before they came to Canada.
If they were already in Canada with visitor status when they were approved for a work permit, they would need to leave the country to be issued their work permit.
With this policy in place, leaving Canada isn't necessary.
Those looking to benefit from this temporary public policy must have valid status in Canada as a visitor on the day they apply, and have a job offer that is supported by a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) or an LMIA-exempt offer of employment.
An LMIA is an application that an employer makes to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to evaluate if hiring foreign workers will have a positive, neutral or negative impact on the Canadian economy.
If ESDC deems the impact is negative, the employer will not be eligible to hire foreign nationals, according to CIC News.
Under the policy, applicants must also submit an application for an employer-specific work permit no later than February 28, 2025.
IRCC said that continuing this policy makes visitors an option for employers in Canada, many of whom are facing significant labour shortages during a period of economic expansion.
There was an overall decrease in the number of vacancies to 848,000 from over one million, according to Statistics Canada data from December 2022.
However, key sectors like healthcare, food and social assistance still need more employees to fill in-demand positions.
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While the investigation is still in the early stages, investigators confirm one person is in custody at this point. Although one person has been arrested, police continue to treat this investigation as active and ongoing to determine the circumstances, states Corporal Paige Kuz, Coquitlam RCMP Media Relations Officer.
VPD officers were called to Crab Park around 10.20 a.m. Saturday for reports of one man being assaulted. Andrew Wadden, a 45-year-old Vancouver resident, was found by police in the park with life-threatening injuries.
The B.C. government says in a statement the report's submission had previously been due May 20, but the extension is a result of several members of the Cullen Commission inquiry team contracting COVID-19.
The unemployment rate came in at 5.2 per cent for April compared with the previous record low of 5.3 per cent set in March. Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter said the moderate gain in employment is a sign of much more normal conditions, but also one where the supply of new workers may be beginning to be the binding constraint on growth.
The Public Health Agency of Canada and Statistics Canada have launched a survey to try to get a broad idea of how common it is for people to feel lingering effects after COVID-19 infection, which can be difficult to identify and even harder to track.
