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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Bulgaria and Romania Visa-Exempt After December 01 2016

Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced that it intends to remove the passport-visa requirement for citizens of Bulgaria and Romania effective December 1st. This will mean that nationals of this country will be eligible to travel to Canada temporarily without first applying to a visa office. As with citizens of most other visa-exempt […]

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Mexican Passport Visa Requirement Lifted

Effective December 01 2016, citizens of Mexico will no longer require a passport visa in order to travel to a Canadian port of entry. After this date, an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) will be needed, as is the case for most passport-visa-exempt nationals. This means that Mexicans will not need to apply to a visa […]

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International Mobility Program Compliance Measures

In February of 2015, Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly Citizenship and Immigration Canada) introduced provisions for review of employer compliance with the terms and conditions of temporary work permits issued under the International Mobility Program (i.e., work permit exempt from the Labour Market Impact Assessment or LMIA). These measures are similar to provisions […]

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Problems with the Employer Portal and Compliance Applications

Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship (IRC, formerly Citizenship and Immigration Canada) is acknowledging on their web site that there are technical problems with the recently implemented Employer Portal. These issues are effectively preventing the submission of mandatory employer compliance filings; any attempt to log into the system is causing users to get kicked back out to […]

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