Immigration Canada

The ‘dos and don’ts’ of overseas recruitment: Canadian focus

Skilled worker (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY DANIEL HIRSCHKORN, REGULATED CANADIAN IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT (ICCRC- R506558) DIRECTOR, WESTERN CANADIAN IMMIGRATION SERVICES
Pipelines International — December 2012

Over the last decade, recruiting foreign workers has gained popularity due to the shortage of skilled workers in the Canadian oil and gas industry. Here, Western Canadian Immigration Services explains how best to go about hiring foreign employees.

What is a temporary foreign worker? A foreign national in Canada working is a ‘temporary foreign worker’.

A company interested in hiring a foreign worker would apply for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO). The Canadian Government Body Service Canada handles these applications and assesses the impact a foreign national would have on the local labour market. A positive or neutral determination would result in an approval for the company.

Part of this assessment is an examination of wages offered by the company to foreign workers. An approval, at the least, stipulates that the employer pays ‘equal or greater wages’ to what locals would be receiving in the same position and location.

A recent immigrant should not to be confused with a temporary foreign worker. Recent immigrants have the authorisation to remain in Canada permanently and at some point will presumably become a Canadian citizen.

The Social Insurance Number of a temporary foreign worker will always begin with a ‘9’. If companies are unsure about a new hire, this is one indicator that you can leverage to then legally ask “can I see your work permit please?”

How to determine the wage threshold

Approximately one year ago, the wage employers were required to pay foreign workers could be best described as the ‘average wage’, a calculation factoring in market research and based on the arithmetic mean. Recently this has changed – Service Canada is now requiring a company to match the median wage of the position. Some would argue that the median is more accurately indicative of the reality of the test group at hand, while others would point out that the median skews the reality, especially when comparing a workplace of hundreds of unionised workers to a workplace of six non-union workers.

Once that first step of applying through the LMO is approved (processing times vary by region from one month to four months), the selected foreign worker for employment must seek approval from Citizenship & Immigration Canada. This is done at the Canadian Embassy based in the workers’ country of residence. For example, a South African welder living in Hungary would apply through Vienna, Austria, for admission to Canada to work.

Bringing workers in

There is a list of countries whose citizens do not require visas to travel to Canada. Workers from these countries can apply at the port of entry for admission as a worker. While this may pose some risks, it is an option that companies should consider, but not without a good understanding of potential ramifications for the individual and the variations in assessment.

With some exceptions, officers representing Citizenship & Immigration Canada at offices abroad will be assessing the foreign applicant’s medical condition, work experience, criminal past (more appropriately, a lack thereof) and general background. Interviews are often a part of the process. Approval rates to work in Canada vary based on country, from a 10 per cent approval rate in Cambodia (2008 statistics) to a near perfect approval rate in Iceland. Timelines for assessment also vary, from less than one month in Rome to 12 months in the Philippines and 24 months in Singapore (as at the time of writing).

Looking deeper into consultants

Most provinces in Canada prohibit charging a fee for finding employment. Citizenship & Immigration Canada and Service Canada is well aware of this. If approached by a company providing workers for ‘free’, some questions need to be asked. For semi-skilled workers, the minimum responsibilities of the company are to cover airfare and recruitment fees. For skilled workers, airfare is not required, but covering recruitment fees often is.

Balancing provincial with federal law can be confusing in this area, but it is best to err on the side of caution.

The licence required to provide any sort of immigration services is highly regulated. One must hold an immigration consulting licence or be a lawyer in order to provide these services. In fact, the regulations have tightened to the point that Human Resource departments are not allowed to provide any immigration advice or services unless they hold a licence to do so. This law has been in existence for more than one year, but the education of the general public is still in process. A quick ‘Bill C-35’ search online will provide the appropriate information.

It is important for companies that are unsure of the requirements to seek advice. Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act of Canada, ignorance is no excuse. Foreign worker recruitment is a complicated process that can take several months from start to finish. It can involve as many as three layers of government over two countries, and it is important to remember that the decisions made can deeply affect the lives of the foreign workers to be employed.

Ottawa shifts immigration load onto private sector

Flag of United Nations Refugee Agency (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY STEPHANIE LEVITZ THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — The federal government is seeking to offload some of its international promises to refugees onto the private sector.

They’re asking community groups to sponsor 1,000 of the refugees the Canadian government has told the United Nations it will resettle over the next three years.

But at the same time, they are restricting the groups’ ability to sponsor refugees themselves by placing caps on private applications.

The decisions are raising concerns from not-for-profit groups that they are being forced to carry out the Immigration department’s objectives instead of their own.

“This minister … has found little ways to tweak it into being more able to name groups and curtail what formerly was much more open for private sponsors to name who they wish,” said Edwin Wiebe, national co-ordinator of refugee programs for the Mennonite Central Committee of Canada.

Refugee resettlement in Canada is a shared activity between the government and about 80 groups, which have formal agreements with the Ottawa to sponsor refugees.

Canada voluntarily accepts about 10 per cent of the world’s refugees. Last year, there were 7,365 government-assisted refugees and 5,585 privately sponsored ones, according to government statistics.

Between 2006-2011, the top five source countries for government-assisted refugees were Iraq, Colombia, Myanmar, Bhutan and Afghanistan, according to an analysis of statistics provided by Citizenship and Immigration.

Private groups also seek to resettle refugees identified by the United Nations, but often choose source countries or individuals with some connection to their religious or community organizations. Between 2006-2011, the top five source countries for privately-sponsored refugees were Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

But now there are caps on the number of applications private groups can submit, as well as other restrictions.

“We were not allocated any spot out of any African visa post. We received only 36 spots last year. How was I supposed to respond to hundreds of congregational requests to sponsor?” asked Khwaka Kukubo, an adviser to the refugee program at the United Church of Canada.

The government says the caps are in place so missions can work through the enormous backlog of applications, adding they don’t affect the number of privately-sponsored refugees who actually arrive in Canada each year.

But some say it reflects a change in government priorities.

“They are not willing to say, ‘OK, people want to sponsor out of Nairobi so we’ll have to find some way of putting more resources so those ones can come,’ ” said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

“Instead they say, ‘No, you can’t sponsor those ones. If you want to sponsor refugees, sponsor the ones that we will identify for you.’ ”

A spokesman for the Citizenship and Immigration department said the decision to ask private groups to help settle 1,000 government-assisted refugees was made because research shows refugees fare better when they are brought to Canada by private organizations.

“By providing up to six months of income support for (UN-referred) refugees supported by sponsors, we hope to help organizations new to refugee sponsorship and encourage existing civil society groups to sponsor refugees who have few or no pre-existing family or community links in Canada,” said Remi Lariviere in an e-mail.

About the Author

By STEPHANIE LEVITZ The Canadian Press

A bridge so close: international students crossing the employment divide

The Lester B. Pearson Building is the home of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BY DENISE DEVEAU, POSTMEDIA NEWS

Hamid Omran knows all about building bridges.

A PhD candidate at the University of Calgary, Iranian-born Omran is also working 20 hours a week at Stantec - a professional consulting services firm - as a structural engineer specializing in pedestrian bridge design.

"My plan is when I get my degree is to get my three-year work permit and apply for residency here," he says.

Omran is one of many international students employers are recruiting to address skills shortages. In fact, when Omran was looking for a job to support his studies, he received multiple offers. He decided Stantec had what he was looking for in a career. "The projects are pretty cool compared to what I have done over in Iran."

He's not the only international recruit on the Stantec team. "There are people here from everywhere like China, Germany and Pakistan." Despite the language differences, he says, "everybody here can communicate pretty well."

International student enrolment has grown considerably in recent years, says Karen Bennett, associate vice-president of student services at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)in Edmonton. Applications from international students have increased 10-fold over the last decade.

The attraction is easily explained, Bennett says. There are jobs to be had and opportunities to build a long-term career in Canada. "All the industries here are experiencing labour shortages. At the same time, CIC [Citizenship and Immigration Canada] is making it much easier for employers to hire graduates."

Rowan O'Grady, president of Hays Canada, an international recruitment specialist in Calgary, says when it comes to sourcing international talent, the greatest shortages are in the oil and gas sector. "At the next level is mining and resources companies, closely followed by construction."

With Canadian student enrolment in many of the engineering and technology programs declining, it comes as no surprise that employers in these sectors are sourcing talent hailing from other resource-rich countries such as the Middle East, South America and Australia.

CIC is helping their efforts with regulations that now allow international students to work off-campus up to 20 hours a week during regular academic sessions and full-time during scheduled breaks. In April 2008, CIC's Post-Graduation Work Permit Program was also improved to allow graduates to apply for open work permits for up to three years, depending on the length of time they have studied.

According to Philippe Couvrette, a CIC spokesperson in Ottawa, international students contribute significantly to social and cultural development as well as the economy. A report released by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada for example found international students contributed more than $8-billion to the Canadian economy in 2010.

He also reports that CIC's Canadian Experience Class (CEC) program launched in 2008 is the country's fastest growing immigration program. It offers foreign student graduates and others with skilled work experience in Canada the opportunity to apply to stay as permanent residents and eventually become Canadian citizens rather than having to return to their home country to do the paperwork.

"The goal of the CEC is to ensure that Canada retains talented and motivated people who have already shown that they can put their skills as well as their experience to work," Couvrette says.

Gerd Birkle, a senior associate with Stantec, says that universities are an important avenue for businesses to acquire international talent and changes in the immigration laws have helped streamline the process.

"The fact that students can work off-campus 20 hours a week has opened up a different recruitment strategy for us," he says. "It's a different way to get students to come to us from the Middle East and China, for example. I would say every single graduate student on the 20-hour program will get a [full-time] offer."

Birkle says that as a consulting firm, it can be tough to compete with other sectors fighting for the same talent. "While we can't always compete on salaries, we can offer students a flexible and communal working environment and some very interesting work."

Omran couldn't agree more. "I have just celebrated the completion of the first bridge I worked on," he says. "I can't even begin to describe that feeling."