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.
British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix is hosting the country's health ministers for a second day of talks in Vancouver that are set to include discussions with federal minister Jean-Yves Duclos.
Sim and the new council were sworn in at an inauguration ceremony at the Orpheum theatre where he also called for help from the federal and provincial governments to address the opioid crisis.
On Saturday, at 1am, officials were called to a home at 3030 Trethewey Street and residents inside the home were evacuated safely. Via release, police say "As a result of the preliminary investigation, this fire is being treated as suspicious,".
Health Canada says that four pharmaceutical companies are experiencing shortages of drugs that contain amoxicillin, an antibiotic medication that’s commonly used to treat children with bronchitis, pneumonia and ear infections.
The meetings in Vancouver are the first time all of Canada's health ministers have gathered in person since 2018. The premiers met in July, when they asked the federal government to increase health transfers to 35 per cent, up from what they said was 22 per cent funding.
Strong winds continue to buffet parts of coastal B.C. and the central Interior, packing gusts of at least 110 kilometres per hour along the north and central coasts, pushing wind chill factors in Terrace and elsewhere to -20 or lower.
