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.
Joly announced Canada's intent in Geneva Tuesday after she and other Western officials walked out in the middle of the address by their Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
In a Twitter post Sunday night, the department said Aeroflot flight 111 violated the prohibition that was imposed earlier in the day in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this month, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said a lack of supply caused January home sales to slow from a record-setting pace last year, nonetheless pushing the benchmark price up 18.5 per cent from last January, to about $1.2 million.
The Kelowna RCMP say in a news release Monday that the 24-year-old woman who was allegedly assaulted Saturday morning while working on campus succumbed to her injuries.
Municipal Affairs Minister Nathan Cullen said the new program responds to municipalities that have asked for more flexible and consistent funding to implement projects that support the province's climate plans and their own goals.
The panel found climate change costs in Canada have risen to about $1.9 billion from about $400 million in 1983. Just fighting wildfires, a threat exacerbated by climate change, could reach $1 billion a year — a figure already reached in six of the last 10 years.
