Skilled employees will be granted open work permits, allowing those holding Quebec Selection Certificates to work while waiting for final decisions on their permanent immigration.
In Quebec, under an enlarged International Mobility Program (IMP+), up to 7,000 talented workers will be granted open work permits by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and will be able to begin working sooner while their applications for permanent residency are being processed.
Quebec hopes that the IMP+ will assist it in meeting the growing challenge of acute labour shortages in several areas while also growing the provincial economy. The decision to support skilled workers while they await final decisions on their permanent residency applications comes as Quebec prepares to exempt many employers from performing Labour Market Impact Assessments in order to hire temporary foreign workers under a more flexible temporary foreign worker programme.
Employers in Quebec will also be required to pay for plane tickets, medical insurance, and sufficient housing for any workers hired via the new, simplified method beginning May 24.
“These measures are the result of an agreement reached on Aug. 4 last year between Ottawa and Quebec to speed up the arrival of workers to help businesses facing recruitment challenges,”
said provincial Immigration Minister Jean Boulet in French.
“Thanks to these initiatives, we are can more quickly welcome these foreign workers who will bring their skills with them. They will be a breath of fresh air, given the current labour shortage, for employers trying to respond to the economic needs of Quebec.”
The IMP+ targets both:
- workers with experience in a high-priority economic sector or a profession facing a labour shortage in Quebec, and;
- those workers who already have a job offer with a Quebec employer where the job offer has been approved by Quebec’s Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration (MIFI).
Under the International Mobility Program, which is part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Canadian firms can hire foreign workers with a Canadian work permit without having to conduct a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).
In November of last year, Quebec declared that it would make it simpler for firms to hire abroad applicants in a variety of high-demand vocations through the TFWP, and it issued a list of jobs that it had submitted to the federal government to qualify for:
Work permit processing has been simplified, as have exemptions from posting and recruitment activities, as well as a doubling of the TFW thresholds per workplace. Retail commerce, lodging and catering, as well as food processing, are important sectors covered by the new restrictions, as labour shortages are acute.
“The negotiated flexibilities will allow several companies to obtain labor reinforcement while respecting workers’ rights,”
said the provincial immigration department.
Legal Disclaimer: This article is provided for information purposes only.
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