Spouses With Open Work Permits Will Soon Be Able To Work In Canada

Family members of temporary foreign employees will now be eligible for work permits in Canada, starting in 2023.

According to a statement from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the regulation is being implemented as a temporary solution for two years.

Canada intends to alleviate the labor shortages it is experiencing by supporting employers in filling open positions by extending the eligibility for work permits to family members who are traveling with the primary applicant.

Right now, a spouse can only get a work permit if the main applicant is employed in a high-skill job.

Foreign people with open work permits are able to lawfully work in Canada for any employer and in any position.

Starting in January 2023, Canada will phase in the expansion of wives and children of working age who are eligible to work there for all skill levels through a temporary 2-year measure.

This would include, for instance, the families of employees in the hospitality, trades, and healthcare sectors. According to estimates, more than 200,000 foreign workers’ families could start working in Canada as a result of this new strategy, providing more opportunities for both foreign workers looking for employment there and for companies trying to fill their labor shortages.

To ensure the interim measure’s successful implementation, it will be carried out in three stages:

• Phase 1: Family members of workers entering Canada via the high-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or the International Mobility Program will be permitted to apply for an open work permit during Phase 1.
• Phase 2: Following consultations, Phase 2 will try to extend the measure to relatives of workers from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program’s low-wage stream.
• Phase 3: In order to determine if extending the policy to the families of agricultural workers is operationally feasible, phase three will involve dialogue with agricultural partners and stakeholders.

In addition to filling the holes in the Canadian labor market, the move, according to Fraser, will also make the immigration system more compassionate.

The policy will be implemented gradually, starting with the high-wage stream of the International Mobility Program and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Between January and October 2022, Canada issued approximately 645,000 work permits, more than four times the 163,000 issued during the same time in 2021.

According to the most recent data on job openings, Canada had 958 500 open positions in August and one million unemployed people.

Canada unveiled its ambitious immigration plan last month to accept 500,000 immigrants annually by 2025 in order to address the severe labor shortage.

The country of North America raised its immigration targets for 2023 and 2024 by 4% and 7.5%, respectively, to 465,000 and 485,000, respectively.

News Mania Desk