Canada Refines Details On Who Can Apply For Employer-specific Work Permits

More details released on who can apply for an employer-specific work permit without leaving Canada.

The Immigration, refugee, and citizenship Canada (IRCC) released more detailed information on who is qualified for a new policy that benefits temporary residents with job offers.

The new temporary policy, announced last month, allows eligible foreign citizens with valid status to apply for a job offer-supported work permits from inside Canada.

It also means that qualified foreign citizens will not be denied a work permit if they have not complied with some certain temporary residence conditions.

In addition, eligible former temporary workers may be allowed to work while a decision on their work permits are pending.

In order to be qualified to apply for an employer-specific work permit without leaving Canada, the foreign national must have legal visitor status in Canada. They may also be residing in Canada on implied status.

They must have physically been present in Canada on Aug. 24, 2020, and have not left the country since. They may only be lodging an application for an employer-specific work permit.

Canada’s immigration department’s officers are instructed to consider the expiry date of the period of authorized stay to be the decisions date on the submited application.

Who Can Apply For Employer-specific Work Permit

Temporary foreign workers who converted to “visitor” status are also legally allowed to work as long as they meet the following criteria:

• They must have valid temporary resident status as a visitor and were staying in Canada as of Aug 24, 2020.
• They must have also remained in Canada since.
• They have held a valid work permit in the past twelve (12) months preceding the date on which they lodged their application for a work permit under the new temporary policy, in spite of the fact that they are now in Canada on visitor status.
• They must demonstrate an intention to work for the employer and the occupation specified by the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or LMIA-exempt offer of employment included in their work permit application lodged under the new public policy.
• They must have applied to IRCC for the interim authorization to work through the IRCC webform.
• They must also have requested that the authorization to work be applicable.

Traveling to the border for Canada immigration services is considered “non-essential travel.” Before the coronavirus pandemic, foreign citizens may have to leave the country and come back in order to “activate” the visa. The practice was barred in an effort to stop the contain the spread of coronavirus.

Canada’s immigration minister, Marco Mendicino earlier said that the new temporary measure will help foreign workers and Canadian employers alike, by allowing them to skip this step while coronavirus travel restriction measures are still in force.