Hiring Foreign Workers for Canadian Business

Immi Sikand

The need for foreign workers is growing and many business owners need to fill vacancies with foreign nationals in short periods of time to ensure their business is not affected. To address labour shortages, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced a new program to facilitate the processing of foreign worker applications for employers in Alberta and British Colombia. In addition to the Temporary Foreign Worker Units that were already in place in both Vancouver and Calgary, the initiative included the development of a “Regional Occupations under Pressure List” (which I’ll simply refer to as “List”) for different provinces or regions with identified labour shortages in specific occupations. In addition to a List for both Alberta and British Colombia, the Ontario region also has a List.

The purpose of the list is to assist employers who are having difficult filling vacant positions and to reduce the processing times for hiring a foreign worker. The application processing times for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) are often delayed in a standard application in circumstances where the employer must provide evidence of their recruitment efforts for a position in order to demonstrate that Canadians or permanent residents are not available to fill the vacancy. The development of Regional Lists means that employers will not be required to undertake lengthy or comprehensive recruitment efforts before being eligible to hire a foreign worker. Although advertising will still be necessary, the requirements for advertising are limited. Given that advertising requirements for employers are typically for at least four to six weeks, the List does provide some relief for some occupations from the requirement of advertising.

Although the Lists for Alberta and British Columbia are include well over 100 occupations each, in the Ontario region does include twenty-five (25) “Occupations under Pressure.” These include management occupations in the financial and health care industries; engineers, architects; health occupations including physicians, pharmacists and nurses; as well as trades, including automotive and refrigeration mechanics. It is anticipated that this list will be updated about once a year to address. Employers should keep in mind that the reduced advertising requirement only applies to positions on the Occupations Under Pressure List. Foreign Worker applications for other occupations may still require evidence of lengthy advertising.

The online Foreign Worker Applications to HRSDC / Service Canada as I mentioned in a previous article are now available on the HRSDC website.

Does your New Business require Foreign Workers? Some points for Start-Up Employers to keep in mind

Many new businesses need foreign workers to fill certain positions. Employers should be aware that HRSDC/ Service Canada will consider applications for new employers: there is no requirement that the start-up employer has been in business for one year, which is only required for HRSDC Arranged Employment applications. Employers, however, must demonstrate in their applications that there are employees in place at the time the application is filed and there will be a benefit to hiring a foreign national for the position.