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Occupations Requiring Lower Levels of Formal Training

Every year, Canadian employers hire thousands of foreign workers to help address skill and labour shortages. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada/Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada help ensure that foreign workers support economic growth in Canada. This information sheet is part of a series that provides information on hiring foreign workers and explores the role of Human Resources and Skills Development/Service Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada in managing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Procedures and responsibilities may vary between provinces/territories. It is important to check with Temporary Foreign Worker Program representatives at the nearest Service Canada Centre.

What is the pilot project for occupations requiring lower levels of formal training?

The pilot project was established so that foreign workers could be hired for occupations that fall under skill type C or D in the National Occupational Classification (NOC). The NOC is the authoritative resource on occupational information in Canada and helps employers understand the jobs found in Canada’s labour market. Jobs that fall under NOC C or D normally require, at most, the equivalent of a high school diploma or two years of on-the-job experience.

Under this pilot project, employers who wish to hire temporary foreign workers for occupations that fall under skill type C or D in the NOC can seek a Labour Market Opinion for a maximum period of employment of up to two years.

What is the role of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada/Service Canada?

At the request of an employer, Service Canada prepares a Labour Market Opinion that assesses each request case by case to ensure employers offer prevailing wage rates and acceptable working conditions. It also ensures the employer has made adequate recruiting efforts in Canada before offering a job to a foreign worker. Service Canada assesses the potential impact of the worker on Canada’s labour market—in other words, how the offer of employment will affect Canadian jobs.

Through the Pilot Project, Service Canada ensures that employers who wish to hire for occupations NOC C or D meet the criteria and additional provisions listed below. These criteria and provisions were established to protect both the temporary foreign worker and the employment interests of Canadians with lower levels of skills and training, while helping employers meet their human resource needs.

What is the role of Citizenship and Immigration Canada?

Temporary foreign workers who have a job offer from a Canadian employer that falls under NOC C or D must apply to Citizenship and Immigration Canada for a work permit. The Department then determines who is eligible to receive a work permit. In most cases, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is the first point of contact for foreign workers, although in certain circumstances they may apply for a work permit at a port of entry.

What is the role of the Canada Border Services Agency?

Border Services officers screen foreign workers at Canadian border crossings and airports to ensure that they meet admissibility requirements before issuing work permits and allowing them to enter Canada. A Border Services officer has the final say on who may enter the country.

Human Resources and Social Development Canada/Service Canada works with employers who want to hire foreign workers. Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency work with foreign workers who want to works in Canada.

Who is responsible for labour standards?

The working conditions of temporary foreign workers are the responsibility of the department or ministry responsible for labour standards in each province or territory. Temporary foreign workers are covered by the same labour legislation and have the same rights as Canadian workers. Ninety percent of occupations are provincially/territorially regulated and employment and labour standards for those occupations are the responsibility of the provincial/territorial governments. The other 10 percent of occupations are federally regulated and the employment and labour standards fall under the Canada Labour Code. It is important to note that standards vary among provinces/territories. Please check with your ministry responsible for labour and employment standards.

What must employers do?

Employers request a Labour Market Opinion from Service Canada. In order to receive a positive opinion, employers must demonstrate that they meet all the criteria listed below. Employers are also responsible for informing the foreign worker of the results of the Labour Market Opinion.

What is required of foreign workers to work temporarily in Canada?

Foreign workers who wish to work in Canada must first obtain a job offer from a Canadian employer. Then they apply for a work permit from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Work permit applicants must provide a copy of the Service Canada letter confirming that their employer received a positive Labour Market Opinion.

What are the evaluation criteria?

An application for a Labour Market Opinion will be assessed against the following criteria. Is the employer:

making adequate, ongoing efforts to recruit Canadians, including youth, Aboriginal people, recent immigrants and Canadians in areas of high unemployment?
offering wages that meet the prevailing rate for the occupation and region or, if a position is unionized, offering the wage rate as established under the collective agreement?
providing working conditions that are equivalent to those that would be offered to Canadians in the same occupation?
considering unions as a potential source of workers?

Employers must also meet the following provisions of the Pilot Project:

Sign an employment contract outlining wages, duties, and conditions related to the transportation, accommodation, health and occupational safety of the foreign worker;
Cover all recruitment costs related to hiring the foreign worker;
Ensure that there is suitable and affordable accommodation for the worker;
Pay the foreign worker’s airfare to and from Canada;
Provide medical coverage until the worker is eligible for provincial health insurance coverage;
Register the worker under the appropriate provincial workers’ compensation and/or workplace safety insurance plans; and
Indicate on the contract, when an offer of employment is for longer than 12 months, that wages will be reviewed and adjusted, if necessary, at the end of a year to ensure prevailing wage rates are being respected.

How can employers apply?

Hiring steps can vary according to province, but generally follow this pattern:

Step 1: The employer submits a complete Foreign Worker Application to a Service Canada Centre that processes these applications, attaching the employment contract with the foreign worker identification.

Step 2: Service Canada reviews the application according to criteria noted above, and develops a Labour Market Opinion.

Step 3: Service Canada sends the results of the assessment to the employer (by regular mail or fax), and the employer then informs the foreign worker of the results.

Step 4: In the case of a positive opinion, the employer sends a copy of Service Canada’s confirmation letter to the foreign worker.

Step 5: The foreign worker applies to Citizenship and Immigration Canada for a work permit.

Employers must also apply for a Quebec Acceptance Certificate when they want to hire foreign workers to work in the province of Quebec. For further information, visit Immigration et Communautés culturelles.

Employers must have a Certificate of Registration from the Government of Manitoba before they apply for Labour Market Opinions to hire foreign workers for Manitoba. For further information, contact the Government of Manitoba’s Employment Standards Division at (204) 945-3352, by e-mail or visit their Website.

Employers who anticipate that their human resource needs will continue beyond the period covered by a work permit must apply for a new Labour Market Opinion. The application should be sent at least four months prior to the expiry of the work permit to ensure HRSDC/SC has sufficient time to process the new application and CIC to process the work permit extension.

Can a Labour Market Opinion be revoked?

A Labour Market opinion may be revoked prior to the issuance of a work permit if:

The application included false or misleading information;
New facts come to light subsequent to the issuance of the positive opinion that, had they been known, would have resulted in a negative opinion; or
The opinion was based on a mistake as to some material fact.

The revocation of a LMO decision is based on reliable documented evidence that confirms that the new information or altered circumstances would have had a negative impact on the assessment of the factors listed under section 203 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

For more information on the Government of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program and how to hire foreign workers, visit the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or Citizenship and Immigration Canada at Working temporarily in Canada.

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Date Modified:: 2011-08-26

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