Monthly Archives: August 2011

Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement Enacted

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The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which was signed on November 21 2008 was enacted on August 15th 2011. Similar to other FTAs currently in effect (e.g, NAFTA, Peru, Chile), this program includes provisions for the reciprocal admission of business visitors and foreign workers. Nationals of Colombia are therefore newly eligible to seek work permits with exemptions from the requirement of a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) if they are considered Professionals, Traders, or Investors. Although this FTA also includes provisions for intra-company transferees and spouses, these are essentially mirrored in existing categories under Significant Benefit to Canada.

Until the program is further elaborated, the Canada-Peru Free Trade provisions are being used as a template for assessment of candidates. This includes the lists of excluded and included Professionals, Technologists, and Technicians. The Colombia FTA is the first to include provisions specific to spouses, whereby spouses of foreign workers admitted under the program can seek admission under a newly coded LMO exemption.

British Columbia Pilot Project Facilitates Open Work Permits

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The province of British Columbia and Citizenship and Immigration Canada have announced a program which expands the availability of open work permits to family members of foreign workers in that province. Under the newly announced Pilot Project, in effect from August 15 2011 to February 15 2013 and with a cap of 1800 open work permits, the spouses, common-law partners, and working-age dependants of holders of most classes of occupation-specific work permits.

In all provinces at present, the spouses and common-law partners of highly skilled work permit holders, those classified as doing work in NOC 0, A, or B categories, are eligible for such open work permits without any caps. The Pilot project therefore expands this to include most NOC C and D classified occupations (exceptions are Live-In-Caregivers, Seasonal Agricultural Workers, and International Experience Class youth program workers), and to allow dependent children of working age to participate.