Hiring international foreign workers for your company can be an effective way to address labour shortages while also increasing diversity and building connections with global international markets.

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Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) must usually grant approval of an employer’s application to hire a foreign worker through a document called a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). The LMIA verifies that there is a need for a foreign worker and that his or her employment will not have adverse affects on the employment potential for Canadians or Permanent Residents of Canada.

 

Employers may hire qualified and eligible foreign workers from outside Canada or those who are already living in Canada. Eligible and qualified foreign workers already in Canada may include those who are close to completing a job contract with another employer or those who hold an open work permit that allows them to work for any employer in Canada. However, in order to begin work in Canada, a foreign worker must first obtain a work permit from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

 

Although the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is designed to permit employers to hire qualified foreign workers to fill temporary labour and skill shortages, many foreign workers may become eligible to apply for permanent residence after having worked for their employer for a certain period of time.

 

CCIC can not only help Canadian employers apply to recruit and hire foreign workers but can also help them keep their current foreign worker staff without them having to take away time and energy from their businesses.