The Canadian Refugee System

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Working in Canada

Working Temporarily in Canada
The Live-In Caregiver Program
Facilitated Processing for Information Technology Workers
International Youth Exchange Programs
 

Working Temporarily in Canada
Every year over 90,000 foreign workers enter Canada working temporarily to help Canadian employers address skill shortages in Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) ensure that these workers will support economic growth in Canada and create more opportunities for all Canadian job seekers.

In almost all cases you must have a valid work permit to work in Canada.

These steps must be followed before you start :

• An employer must first offer you a job.

• HRDC must normally provide a labor market opinion or 'confirmation' of your job offer. However, some types of work are exempt from this process.

• After HRDC confirms that a foreign national may fill the job, you apply to CIC for your work permit.

You cannot immigrate with a work permit. If you want to come and live in Canada as a permanent resident based on your work skills or experience.

Foreign workers may do some jobs in Canada without a permit. Contact us to know if you can do so.

The Worker's Role Temporary workers must also meet the requirements that apply to all temporary residents in order to come to Canada. Find out what you must do before working in Canada by contacting us.

The Employer's Role Before a foreign national may work in Canada, you, as an employer, must check with HRDC to confirm the job offer you have made to the foreign worker. Find out what you must do before you can hire a foreign national by contact us..

HRDC's role is to provide advice to CIC regarding the impact on the Canadian labour market that the entry of a foreign worker will have.

The Live-In Caregiver Program
A live-in caregiver is someone who provides care to children, the elderly or the disabled in a private household. After working two years as a live-in caregiver you can apply to be a permanent resident in Canada. Learn how you can apply CLICK HERE contact us and see our live-in caregiver program page

There are some other special programs like 'Facilitated Processing for Information Technology Workers'

In response to the need of employers to fill critical shortages in the software industry, CIC collaborated with Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC), Industry Canada and the Software Human Resource Council (SHRC) on the development of a pilot project to streamline the entry of those workers whose skills are in high demand in the software industry and whose entry into the Canadian labor market would have no negative impact on Canadian job seekers and workers. Under normal circumstances, a foreign worker who wishes to work in Canada requires an employment authorization from CIC and a validated job offer from a local HRDC office. If the HRDC office decides that there are no Canadian citizens or permanent residents available to fill the position, the job offer to the foreign worker is validated and the worker may then apply for an employment authorization for admission to Canada.

Under the pilot project, the job-specific validation was replaced by a national validation letter, which states, among other things, that Canadian citizens or permanent residents cannot fill certain software positions. The national validation letter removed the delay associated with the job-specific validation process.

An evaluation of the software development worker pilot project completed by Ekos Research found:

• That the pilot project play great roll to solve the skills shortage problem;
• No evidence that Canadian workers were being displaced;
• No downward pressure on wages paid to Canadian workers in the same industry;
• Evidence of skill transfer from foreign workers to existing staff.

The expedited processing will continue while the redesign of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is finalized. The redesign process looks at several different approaches to make the admission of temporary foreign workers more efficient. The aim is to develop a model that will allow us to extend the benefits of the positive elements of the software pilot project to other sectors experiencing shortages. The facilitative process remains strictly targeted at workers entering the software sector on a temporary basis. It does not apply to individuals seeking permanent resident status in Canada.


International Youth Exchange Programs
The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade encourages the introduction of new, reciprocal exchange activities to its international cultural relations programs; it also promotes these programs in order to enable young Canadians to obtain new skills and exposure to the cultures of host countries.

The embassies or consular posts of the host countries, as they are called, manage some of these International Youth Exchange Programs,, while others are managed by Canadian organizations.