22 March 2007
The Canadian government has recently announced some more changes to its Temporary Foreign Worker Programme (TFWP)
These changes could further speed up processing times for work permit applications.
Following on from the introduction of Regional Occupations Under Pressure lists for Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia earlier this year - designed to speed up applications for work permits for positions included on these lists - the Canadian government has now said that from the beginning of April employers will be able to submit applications for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) online. A positive LMO is needed from Service Canada before Citizenship and Immigration Canada will approve a work permit application.
It is hoped that by granting employers more power to get the work permit application in motion sooner, processing times could be expedited by around three weeks.
Another key change made to the TFWP is the government's decision to extend the length of time a work permit holder may stay employed in Canada. Previously, temporary foreign workers would have had to leave Canada after 12 months for four months, and then re-apply to go back and work in the country. It will now be possible for a work permit holder to stay for up to 24 months without the need to request an extension.
"Employers who have exhausted their search for Canadian workers often need to hire temporary workers to work for a period longer than a year," explained immigration minister Monty Solberg upon announcing the changes. "Today's announcement will allow this to happen," he added.
It seems, then, that as far as work permits are concerned the Canadian government is doing its utmost to avoid the kind of backlogs that can currently be witnessed through the Skilled Worker category.
(From emigrate2.co.uk)Full disclosure: Mr. O's translation job isn't on the list - but his LMO slid right on through. The bottleneck is at the CIC, where four weeks becomes six weeks becomes...any minute now...
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