Minister Mendicino announces opening of 2 new pathways to permanent residence for Hong Kong residents

June 8, 2021 – Ottawa – The ties that bind Canada and Hong Kong run deep. The first Hong Kongers arrived here over 150 years ago, and in the years since, Hong Kongers have made incredible contributions to this country. At this difficult moment, Canada continues to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Hong Kong. We are deeply concerned about China's imposition of the National Security Law and, more broadly, the deteriorating human rights situation in Hong Kong. 

Against this backdrop, in November 2020, the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced initiatives to help more Hong Kongers come to Canada. The first stream opened for applications in February 2021.

Minister Mendicino announced today that the other 2 streams are now open, offering a path to permanent residence for eligible Hong Kong residents in Canada who are workers or recent graduates. Eligible applicants must have valid temporary resident status and be in Canada both when they submit their application and when their permanent residence is granted. They must also meet the specified language, education, work and eligibility requirements, and they are subject to Canada's regular immigration application and screening processes and admissibility requirements.

 

Full details are as follows:

Reforming the Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Twitter Link: http://goo.gl/c0bfl

Today, the Harper Government announced reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

• The purpose of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is to help fill genuine and acute labour needs and our Government has been reviewing the program to ensure that goal is met and Canadian workers are never displaced.

• Canada is experiencing significant skills shortages in many sectors and regions, and Canadians must always have first crack at job opportunities when they become available.

• Stemming from the ongoing review of the TFW Program, and as announced in Canada’s Economic Action Plan 2013, the Government is introducing legislative, regulatory and administrative changes that will:   

·        effective immediately, require employers to pay temporary foreign workers at the prevailing wage by removing the existing wage flexibility;

·        effective immediately, temporarily suspend the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion process;

·        increase the Government’s authority to suspend and revoke Work Permits and Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) if the program is being misused;

·        add questions to employer LMO applications to ensure that the TFW Program is not used to facilitate the outsourcing of Canadian jobs;

·        ensure employers who rely on temporary foreign workers have a firm plan in place to transition to a Canadian workforce over time through the LMO process;

·        introduce fees for employers for the processing of Labour Market Opinions and increase the fees for work permits so that the taxpayers are no longer subsidizing the costs; and

·        restrict English and French as the only languages that can be identified as a job requirement.

• As part of the ongoing review of the TFW Program, the Harper Government will hold cross-Canada consultations over the coming months with businesses, industry and trade organizations, unions and others on additional changes to the Program. 

• These reforms will help ensure the TFW Program is only used as intended – to fill acute skills shortages on a temporary basis.

Background

The results of these changes will strengthen and improve the TFW Program to support our economic recovery and growth, and ensure that employers make greater efforts to hire Canadians before hiring temporary foreign workers.  These reforms will ensure that the TFW Program, which is an important program to deal with acute skills shortages on a temporary basis, is used only as a last resort.

Primary agricultural occupations will be subject to the reform that will increase the Government’s authority to suspend and revoke Work Permits and Labour Market Opinions if they are being misused. The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and the Agricultural Stream will be unaffected by the remaining reforms as there are proven acute labour shortages in this industry and the unfilled jobs are truly temporary.

 StarBuzzOnline.com

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