Alberta to review its Temporary Foreign Worker Program

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Updated: Fri Sep. 03 2010 15:49:44

ctvcalgary.ca

The province is extending an $850,000 program that helps temporary foreign workers.
Even though the economy has not fully recovered from the recession, the province says investing in foreign workers now will help down the road.
"One doesn't need a crystal ball to come to the conclusion that Canada, and most Western countries, will be facing a severe and acute labour shortage in several decades to come," says Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta's minister of employment and immigration.
On Friday, the province announced their financial commitment will go towards groups who help foreign workers transition from their home country to Alberta.
"While our focus will always be jobs for Albertans and Canadians first, it is important that we recognize the contributions of temporary foreign workers to our province - making them feel welcome and included in our communities is simply the right thing to do," says Lukaszuk.
"We need that kind of support. We need the government to be involved, to recognize our efforts, our conditions as temporary foreign workers," says Magno Daria.
Daria came to Alberta three years ago as a temporary worker. Today he works for the Calgary Catholic Immigration Society.
Along with the financial commitment, the province says it will review the impact of the arrival of these workers on Alberta's workforce, its communities, and its people to identify future programming options.
"With the changing economy of Alberta, I believe this is the right time for us to take stock, to take a look at what has worked well, and what needs improvement," says Teresa Woo-Paw, the MLA for Calgary Mackay.
"When you have a program that you know will ramp up again, why not use the time of a temporary slow down to step back, reflect on it," says Lukaszuk.
The findings and recommendations from the review will be presented by spring 2011.
More than 60,000 temporary foreign workers live and work in Alberta.

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Country List for Immigration Medical Exams Updated

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OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 1, 2010) - Most long-term visitors from Mexico, Croatia, the Bahamas and 42 other countries and territories can now enter Canada without a medical exam, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) announced today. In addition, medical exams will no longer be required for agricultural workers from those 45 countries and territories.

The medical examination requirement remains in place for all temporary residents who will be working in an occupation in which the protection of public health is essential. This includes workers in the health sciences field and those working with children.

This announcement does not affect permanent immigrants or refugees, who will continue to be required to undergo a medical examination before entering Canada. Temporary residents planning to stay longer than six months may also need an exam, depending on CIC's periodic assessments of the health situation in their countries of origin.

"We are committed to ensuring there is a balance between welcoming visitors and newcomers to Canada while protecting the health and security of Canadians. CIC uses an objective threshold to determine whether a country or territory should be added or removed from the designated country/territory list," said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Today's changes follow a regular review of the three-year average tuberculosis incidence rates of all countries and territories. A threshold of 15 cases per 100,000 is used to determine whether a country or territory should be included on CIC's designated country/territory list, which is then used to determine whether a temporary resident applicant requires an immigration medical examination. 

Mexicans applying to be temporary residents in Canada should account for about 40 per cent of those who will benefit from today's announcement. In 2009, had Mexico not been considered a designated country, about 6,000 fewer Mexican applicants would have required medical exams. The cost for medical exams is based on local rates, with fees routinely costing up to $200, while the processing time for medical exams is generally between 2 weeks and 2 months. 

"Today's changes will improve the free movement of people to Canada, while at the same time maintaining the integrity and fairness of our immigration system," continued Minister Kenney.

Four countries/territories have also been added to the designated country/territory list as a result of this review, including Wallis and Futuna.

For the full list of countries and territories affected by the review of the designated country list, please see the Backgrounder. For a list of countries or territories where medical exams are still required, please see the complete designated country/territory list.

For more information on medical examination requirements for temporary foreign workers, foreign students and visitors to Canada, please visit CIC's website.

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CitImmCanada 

For more information, please contact
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
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Media Relations
613-952-1650 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              613-952-1650      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca

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Canada further strengthens its Temporary Foreign Worker Program to better protect live-in caregivers

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This month, the Government of Canada announced it is implementing stricter regulations with the aim of further improving the working conditions for temporary workers and live-in caregivers in Canada. According to the federal government, consultations held over the past two years revealed that employers were exploiting some live-in caregivers because the system made them vulnerable.
“Temporary foreign workers come to Canada in a very vulnerable position because they are dependent upon their employer,” said Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants (CSIC) Chair Nigel Thomson. “These new rules will help ensure that employers play by the rules.”
To address this, the federal government is tightening the regulations affecting live-in caregivers and temporary foreign workers, as well as the people who hire them. “The government is taking action to protect temporary foreign workers, including live-in caregivers, from potential abuse and exploitation,” explained Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
New regulations came into effect in April 2010 that required employers to provide contracts that specify wages, benefits, accommodation, duties, hours of work, and holiday and sick leave entitlements.
Starting in April 2011, new rules will apply a more rigorous assessment to jobs for live-in caregivers and temporary foreign workers before the employers are given the authorization to hire. The assessment will address whether the employer has followed the rules in the past and has honoured their commitments to workers with respect to wages, working conditions and occupation. Failure to meet the commitments will result in a two-year prohibition on hiring foreign workers.
Other countries that host foreign temporary workers and live-in caregivers, including Hong Kong, Germany, Israel and other nations in Europe and the Middle East, do not allow these types of workers to become citizens. They are meant to stay in those host countries for years as temporary guest workers and any of their children born there are not considered as having rights to citizenship.
Under Canada’s innovative program, foreign live-in caregivers may become citizens of Canada. They are “fast-tracked” and can apply for permanent-resident status after completing 24 months of employment. Under the new Citizenship and Immigration Canada regulations, live-in-caregivers have four years, instead of three, to complete the required 24 months of full-time work. There will also be more flexibility with respect to the amount of time given to meet the requirements needed for permanent residence status. Any overtime worked may now be used to apply for permanent residency more quickly. Under the law, it will be possible for a person who works a lot of overtime to apply earlier, or the deadline may be extended if the person works less than full-time hours or needs time off due to illness, for example.
“We owe it to them, their employers and all Canadians to ensure that the program is fair and equitable. After all, they are an essential element of Canada’s economic success,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program helps address temporary labour shortages by allowing employers to hire foreign workers when sufficient numbers of Canadian workers are not readily available. Without access to temporary foreign labour, many small businesses in Canada would not be able to function and would be forced into insolvency.
These new regulations are seen as important because it demonstrates Canada’s position that temporary foreign workers and live-in caregivers should be encouraged to apply for permanent resident status and that they may become citizens in a timely fashion and move on to other forms of employment if they choose.

Source:http://www.cicnews.com/2010/08/canada-strengthens-temporary-foreign-worker-program-protect-livein-caregivers-08796.html 

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