Hiring a temporary foreign worker can be a long and arduous process. Under normal circumstances, all Canadian work permits require a Labor Marketing Opinion (LMO). A LMO is a labour market verification process whereby Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) assesses the offer of employment to ensure that the foreign worker will not have a negative impact on the Canadian labour market.
Typically, foreign workers and employers must go through a two-step process in order to receive a Canadian work permit. Firstly, the applicant must submit an application to HRSDC for a Labour Market Opinion, followed by a second application to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for the actual work permit. The LMO is issued by HRSDC who, after considering numerous protective labour market factors, authorizes the Canadian employer to hire a foreign worker. The application for an LMO can take anywhere from 2 to 10 weeks, depending on the location of the job offer in Canada.
However, with an expedited process being implemented on February 24, 2013, it will be made much easier to hire a foreign worker in one of the 44 occupations where there are significant differences the between supply and the demand for labor. In these cases, an employer will not be required to advertise for a desired a position and can hire a foreign worker without searching for a Canadian candidate
Hiring a temporary foreign worker
In Quebec, many companies, public bodies and international organizations use foreign workers that they hire on a temporary basis. The arrival of these workers often stems from personnel changes, international agreements (e.g., CUSMA), and shortages of labor in some areas as well as the need to hire skilled workers to compete in the world economy.
In February 2012, the Government of Québec and the Government of Canada ratified an agreement to simplify the processing of job applications in 44 skilled occupations where there is a deficit for the supply of labor, yet a very high demand.
Check the list to see if the job you are offering is one of those professions. A new list will be in effect from February 24, 2013. However, a transitional period of 30 days after that date will be applied to allow for the examination of applications based on the following two lists.
• List of occupations eligible for streamlined processing, effective as of February 24, 2013
• List of occupations eligible for processing simplified for applications received before February 24, 2013
If the job you are offering is in the list, you do not need to display the position and you must follow the simplified approach
Note:
If the job you are offering does not match one of these professions, you must follow the general approach.
Recruitment of Skilled Workers – Simplified Process
Important: With the simplified approach, you deal only with the Government of Quebec. Do not send any documents to Service Canada. The Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities will handle it for you.
4 important steps
Here are the steps that you must perform to initiate the hiring process:
1) Check if the foreign worker is exempt from any additional requirements.
2) submit directly to the Minister of Immigration and Cultural Communities (MICC) the following documents:
– The Application for a labor market opinion
– A copy of the Self-declaration by the employer
– The Application for Certificate of Acceptance (CAQ)
3) Send the foreign worker you want to hire:
– A copy of the letter confirming the job offer
4) Contact us to help you facilitate this process and to make sure you have all required documents.
Also:
– See the procedure for determining the salary offer to the foreign worker.
– If you are dealing with a third party to help you in your efforts to recruit temporary foreign workers, you must necessary forms to the Service Canada Centre.
– You must be sure to submit all required documents to avoid delays in processing your request. If missing a document, your application will be returned without being processed, and stamped with “Request Incomplete.”
– Please refer to our webpage to find out what documents the foreign worker you want to hire must send to you.
– Insure all foreign documents are translated properly (ask FWCanada about the official translation guidelines).
FWCANADA’s lawyers offer the knowledge and expertise to ensure that this entire process runs as smoothly as possible. Please consult our website to see how we can help and get you the job you need.
