NAFTA Work Permit Provisions to Carry over to United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA)

On September 30 2018, the governments of Canada, the USA, and Mexico announced agreement in principle on the provisions of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, or USMCA. While the USMCA is not yet implemented and the provisions of NAFTA currently remain in place, the expectation is that USMCA will replace NAFTA once the agreement is signed […]

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Changes to Medical Examination Requirements

Work permit applicants who have resided in designated countries are required to undergo immigration medical examinations (IME) when seeking admission for greater than six months or in cases in which the work is in direct contact with the Canadian public (e.g., teachers, nurses, etc.). The government of Canada has recently revised the list of designated […]

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The Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement

The Government of Canada has implemented new cross-border employment provisions under the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA. Under CETA, new provisions for work in Canada are enacted for the following categories: 1. Business Visitors; 2. Business Visitors for Investment Purposes; 3. Investors; 4. Independent Professionals; 5. Contractual Service Providers; 6. Intra-Corporate […]

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Changes to Labour Market Impact Assessment Recruiting Requirements (UPDATED)

Employment and Social Development Canada has announced a number of changes the requirements for Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications submitted on or after August 28th, 2017. As Such recruiting efforts must generally run for four weeks, any new recruiting effort should consider these requirements. The changes are as follows: 1. Mandatory Use of National […]

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Work Permit Exemptions and Facilitation under the Global Skills Strategy

The Government of Canada has announced the details of the newly implemented Global Skills Strategy (GSS). The GSS is an effort involving two departments that work separately on the admission of foreign nationals to work in Canada, Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). IRCC is offering work permit […]

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Labour Market Impact Assessment Wage Classification Changes

The Government of Canada has announced changes to the regional (province or territory) median wages that will be used to determine application classifications as of April 29 2017. Work in Canada at or above the median wage are subject to applications through the High-Wage Stream, whereas occupations below that figure are subject to the Low-Wage […]

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Global Skills Strategy Program

The Government of Canada has announced that it anticipates launching its Global Skills Strategy program to facilitate the admission of high-skill foreign workers on June 12 2017. The program, which targets quickly-growing Canadian companies in need of global talent to accelerate progress and investment, and for foreign companies making significant financial investment into Canada, relocating […]

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Clarification of Provisions for Fishing Guides on Border Lakes

Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada has published clarification concerning admissibility and work permit issuance for fishing guides on border lakes between Canada and the USA. Such guides do not fall under the NAFTA Treaty, but are instead categorized under provisions allowing for the creation and maintenance of reciprocal employment opportunities for Canadians. Based on the […]

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New LMIA Advertising Requirements

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has modified the advertising requirements needed to demonstrate a satisfactory recruiting effort for Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications. Newly added requirements are the inclusion of the language needed to do the work and the inclusion of incremental raises, performance pay or bonuses in the wages offered for the […]

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Elimination of Four Year Work Permit Limit

The Government of Canada has today announced that the four year cumulative duration limitation to certain classes of work permit has been eliminated. These provisions of cumulative duration would previously preclude the extension of most NOC B, C, and D (those occupations other than Senior Management and Professionals) to a maximum total stay of four […]

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