Holders of a Canadian work permit can now study for longer than six months

Canada’s temporary foreign workers can now receive training and education in programs lasting more than six months without having to worry about getting a study permit.

Immigration Secretary Sean Fraser on Tuesday announced a temporary measure that will be in effect for three years to help foreign workers expand their future job prospects and increase their chances of transitioning to permanent residency.

Until now, temporary foreign workers could only study while working in programs of six months or less and had to apply for a separate study permit for the longer programmes.

“Temporary foreign workers are incredibly important to the Canadian economy and many have aspirations far beyond the work that initially brought them to Canada,” said Fraser.

“With this policy, we hope to enable foreigners to improve their skills to achieve their career goals and fulfill their dreams, while providing a future potential source of talent for our job market.”

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The Minister of Immigration hopes that by removing barriers to skills development, Canada will further open the door to foreign-trained doctors and nurses and support our healthcare system.

“We also provide a path for construction workers to become tradespeople, strengthen our communities and build new homes,” said Fraser. “This immigration measure helps employers, workers and our economy by addressing critical labor shortages.”

The need for a study permit to enroll in longer programs has apparently been a barrier to those seeking to improve their education and receive more training, including those who need to upskill or validate their foreign credentials through certain programs.

This new measure allows foreign workers to study full-time or part-time while their work permit is valid or until the end of the policy, with no restrictions on the length of the program. The measure applies to those who are in possession of a valid work permit on 27 June 2023 or who have a pending decision on the extension of their work permit.

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Canadian work experience gained during a period of full-time study does not count towards eligibility for the Canadian experience class (CEC), nor can students earn Fast entry Extensive classification system (CRS) points for it.

But this temporary public policy could help more foreigners increase their chances of receiving an invitation to apply for permanent residency through Express Entry.

Candidates may be able to increase their CRS score by obtaining a higher level of education or by gaining qualifying work experience during part-time studies. Further studies can also help candidates increase their CRS points by improving their French or English language skills or by gaining experience in higher skilled employment as a result of improved skills acquired through studies.

The extra help for temporary foreign workers comes as immigration experts argue for more ways to a permanent residence permit for temporary foreign workers.

Expert calls for more ways to permanent residence

“If there are certain professions that are really needed and we have become dependent on temporary foreign workers. We should include them in a permanent system,” said Naomi Alboim, a senior policy officer at Toronto Metropolitan University and former deputy secretary of immigration. Canadian production.

“Ultimately, the demographics of Canada’s workforce mean we have to work internationally.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data shows that there were 465,350 foreign nationals in the country who had obtained work permits through the International Mobility Program (IMP) last year.

Based on the first four months of this year, the IMP can be expected to end the year with an even higher number, as there were 249,060 such foreign workers through the program at the end of April.

That puts the IMP, which allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers on a Canadian work permit without a Impact assessment of the labor market (LMIA), on track to end the year with 747,180 foreign workers coming to Canada through that program if the trend continues.

There were also 135,760 foreigners working in Canada through the Temporary program for foreign workers (TFWP) in 2022, a number that may be surpassed this year, as 72,030 such workers had already come to Canada through the TFWP by the end of April 2023.

If that trend continues, 216,090 temporary foreign workers would go through that program by the end of this year.

The IMP and TFWP together resulted in 601,110 temporary foreign workers in Canada last year.

Once a foreigner has gained work experience in Canada, he or she can apply for permanent residency under the Express Entry System‘s Canada Experience Class Program (CEC) at the federal level or, if he or she is in Quebec, the Program de l’Expérience Québécoise (PEQ) or Quebec Experience Class immigration program.