InnFocus Summer 2023

Positive Immigration Changes
for Hiring Foreign Workers
by Rena Dhir
In recent years, the hospitality industry in BC has experienced
significant growth, and this has led to a need for new immigration
policies that can support the industry’s workforce needs. The
hospitality industry is a major contributor to BC’s economy, and
it is expected to continue growing in the coming years. Along
with this growth, the hospitality industry has seen extreme labour
shortages. What this means is that Canada needs to look for
workers outside of Canada to fill these positions, and there
are many benefits to hiring foreign workers. One of the main
benefits is that employers can retain employees for a longer
period of time, resulting in less turnover costs. Why is there less
turnover? The foreign worker can only work for the employer
named on their work permit and work permits are up to two
years in duration with the possibility of renewal.
In Canada, there are several immigration programs available
for foreign nationals who wish to work in the hospitality industry.
The most popular is the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
(TFWP). This program allows Canadian employers to hire foreign
workers to fill temporary labour and skill shortages, when
qualified Canadians are not available, through the Labour Market
Impact Assessment (LMIA) process. The low-wage stream and
the high-wage stream may be applicable to most jobs in the
hospitality industry.
To assist employers in the hospitality industry to hire more
foreign workers, Service Canada made changes to the LMIA
and increased the cap rate from 10% to 30% for the hospitality
industry effective until October 30, 2023. This means employers
in this industry can hire foreign workers that amount to 30% of
their current labour force. For an employer with 10 employees,
they can hire three foreign workers in the low-skilled category.
There is no cap rate for high-wage LMIAs where the hourly rate
is $26.44 or more. Furthermore, Service Canada has increased
the timeframe for the LMIAs’ validity date from six months to 18
months, so the employer now has 18 months to hire a foreign
worker using the approved LMIA. Finally, Service Canada has
prioritized ‘light-duty cleaners’, so these positions are likely to
be approved faster. Given these recent changes, it is advisable
for employers to apply for these LMIAs before October 30,
2023. The employers will then have 18 months from the date of
approval to use these approved LMIAs to hire foreign workers.
Another change made by Immigration, Refugees and
Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to support the labour shortage in
Canada is to allow visitors to apply for work permits from inside
Canada, which is effective until February 28, 2025. Prior to this,
visitors had to apply outside Canada which resulted in longer
processing times. Now, visitors have the choice of going to the
border and obtaining a work permit with their approved LMIA
immediately or applying online from within Canada for a faster
processing time.
Many of these measures are temporary, so it is advisable for
employers to take advantage of these programs now, rather than
later, to ensure that they have the staff they need for the future.
Rena Dhir is a Regulated Immigration Consultant with Radar
Immigration Inc. providing Immigration and Recruitment
services.
InnFocus 19