{"id":153996,"date":"2018-02-23T06:28:01","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T11:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=153996"},"modified":"2018-02-23T06:28:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T11:28:01","slug":"temporary-foreign-workers-gaining-permanent-residence-in-canada-on-the-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/02\/23\/temporary-foreign-workers-gaining-permanent-residence-in-canada-on-the-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"Temporary foreign workers gaining permanent residence in Canada on the rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"workers\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A growing number of immigrants who come to Canada as temporary foreign workers are staying longer and obtaining permanent residence, a new report by Statistics Canada shows.<\/p>\n

Entitled \u201cJust how temporary are temporary foreign workers?\u201d, the report looks at data for four cohorts of\u00a0temporary foreign workers<\/a>\u00a0(TFWs) aged 18 to 64 who received a work permit between 1990 and 2009. Together, the cohorts represented more than 1.3 million work permit holders.<\/p>\n

While the study\u2019s findings suggest that the majority of of TFWs left within two years of obtaining their first work permit, it also notes that \u201cthe tendency to stay longer has increased among more recent arrivals.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the study also concludes that the duration of stays remains strictly regulated, despite what it says is \u201ca common misconception\u00a0that host countries often do not have sufficient control over how long TFWs reside in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe duration and type of stay of TFWs in Canada are strongly restricted by the regulations governing their work permit terms,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In order to work in Canada as a TFW, a job offer is required. However, obtaining permanent residence is possible without a job offer, principally through Canada\u2019s\u00a0Express Entry system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To find out if you are eligible to enter the Express Entry pool, fill out a FREE assessment form today.<\/a><\/p>\n

Policies helping TFWs transition to PR<\/b><\/h3>\n

The report studied TFWs who came to Canada through programs now grouped under the\u00a0Temporary Foreign Worker Program<\/a>\u00a0(TFWP) and the\u00a0International Mobility Program (IMP)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Examples of programs under the TFWP include the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, the Live-in Caregiver Program and the Low-Skill Pilot. Other TFWP participants are high-skilled professionals hired on short-term contracts.<\/p>\n

The IMP is also composed of several different programs that mostly cover high-skilled professionals, including professionals working in Canada under international agreements like the\u00a0North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)<\/a>, on\u00a0intra-company transfers<\/a>\u00a0and as research-and-studies-related work permit holders such as foreign medical interns.<\/p>\n

The study considered four variables to see what, if any, impact they had on length of stay among TFWs in these two groups. These variables were \u00a0individual demographic characteristics (age, sex), source-country economic and social conditions, host-country institutional factors, such as government regulations, and local and regional socio-economic conditions.<\/p>\n

Host-country policies and regulations were found to be critical to the length and type of stay of TFWs, with the study noting that the lengthening stays among new arrivals beginning in the late 1990s was \u201cconsistent with Canada\u2019s increased reliance on TFWs and the expanded pathways to permanent residence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pathways to permanent residence<\/b><\/h3>\n

Yet not all TFW programs are alike when it comes to pathways to permanent residence. The study notes that such pathways tend to be more numerous for high-skilled temporary workers.<\/p>\n

The study says this reflects the fact \u201cCanada\u2019s immigration selection system rewards candidates for human capital assets such as education, Canadian work experience and official language abilities.\u201d\u00a0To this end, certain work experience gained as a TFW in Canada can be counted toward a candidate\u2019s eligibility under the\u00a0Canadian Experience Class<\/a>\u00a0as well as towards their federal Express Entry\u00a0Comprehensive Ranking System<\/a>\u00a0score. Such work experience is also favoured by a number of\u00a0Provincial Nominee Programs<\/a>, which allow Canada\u2019s provinces and territories to nominate a set quota of immigrants each year.<\/p>\n

Among TFWP streams, Live-in Caregiver Program participants have been able to apply for permanent residence after two years of full-time work in Canada, but the same option is not available for seasonal agricultural workers, who must leave the country after eight months. \u00a0While the majority of LCP participants became permanent residents by their fifth year in Canada, only two per cent of SAWP participants had done so by their tenth year in Canada.<\/p>\n

The study notes that the primary pathways to permanent residence for low-skilled workers are through provincial or territorial nomination programs, or PNPs, that respond to local labour needs.<\/p>\n

Country of origin<\/b><\/h3>\n

Country of origin also plays a key role in determining how long TFWs stay in Canada, with those originating from countries with \u201clower levels of economic development and social stability\u201d staying longer in Canada as temporary residents or becoming permanent residents than those from more prosperous, stable countries.<\/p>\n

The study found that by the fifth year after their first work permit, 42.8 per cent of TFWs from countries with low Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita acquired permanent residence. By contrast, only 7.4 per cent of TFWs from countries with a high GDP per capita transitioned to permanent residence in Canada. Social stability also played a role in length of stay, with 37.9 per cent of TFWs from countries with low social stability gaining permanent resident status by their fifth year in Canada.<\/p>\n

However, the study concluded that many source country differences were explained by the fact citizens of less developed and less stable countries were the main recipients of TFWs in the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP), Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SIWP), and the Low-Skill Pilot (LSP).<\/p>\n

\u201cTFWs in all these programs had a high tendency to stay longer or come back after leaving for a few months,\u201d the study says.<\/p>\n

Individual characteristics, regional socio-economic conditions were found to have a \u201crelatively weak\u201d association with length of stay. That said, TFWs who arrived \u201cat the prime working age (25 to 44)\u201d had a higher tendency to stay as temporary or permanent residents than those on the younger or older end of the age spectrum.<\/p>\n

The study found the share of TFWs who transitioned to permanent residence was highest between the second and fifth year after obtaining their first work permit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the fifth year, the share of TFWs who became permanent residents surpassed the share of TFWs who remained temporary residents, in most cases,\u201d the study observes. \u201cBy the 10th year, the remaining TFWs overwhelmingly comprised permanent residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on temporary work permits,\u00a0please consult this page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Have a Canadian job offer?<\/strong>\u00a0If you have a job offer and would like assistance with the work permit process, please send CanadaVisa an email with a copy of your job offer to\u00a0wp@canadavisa.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Looking for a job in Canada?<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re looking for work in Canada, Canadavisa.com\u2019s free\u00a0Job Search Tool<\/a>\u00a0pulls together current job postings and employer contact information from numerous Canadian government and private sector job search engines.<\/p>\n

Find out if you are eligible for Canadian immigration by filling out our FREE online assessment form.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2018 CICNews All Rights Reserved<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A growing number of immigrants who come to Canada as temporary foreign workers are staying longer and obtaining permanent residence, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":153997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[398,42754,2584],"class_list":["post-153996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","tag-canada","tag-permanent-residence","tag-temporary-foreign-workers","mauthors-stephen-smith","mauthors-cic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}