Canada - Changes cause headaches for foreign work application. Employer's application to Temporary Foreign Worker Program denied after interpretations of the 2014 changes made its application incomplete.

By Sergio Karas

​An Article under the above title, written by Sergio Karas,  was published in "Canadian Employment law Today" on 27th May 2016.

Recent changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program ( TFWP) have caused considerable difficulties to employers looking to hire temporary foreign workers. June 2014, the federal government implemented significant modifications to the program and replaced Labour Market Opinions ( IMOs) with a more complex regime of Labour Markey Impact Assessments ( LMIAs). The changes include a strict interpretation of advertising and compliance guidelines that employers must follow in order to avail themselves of the TFWP, increased scrutiny on reasonable efforts to hire Canadians, monitoring of wages and working conditions and a consideration of proposed transition plans to eventually replace foreign workers with Canadians or permanent residents. The new TFWP regime has been the subject of recent litigation dealing with the interpretation of these guidelines.

​The Article examines recent decisions and their implications.