Whistler Immigration Ltd. has assisted many local businesses to meet their labour market needs by offering professional services to help them navigate the complicated Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) in the face of an ongoing labour shortage.
Employers may be aware that a job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) was highly advantageous to foreign workers applying for permanent residency through the Express Entry system. In this system, applicants for permanent residency must be invited to apply. Invitations are issued to candidates on the basis of a ranking system whereby only the top ranked applicants receive invitations to apply (ITA). Candidates with a job offer supported by a LMIA (known as a qualifying offer of employment) received a substantial number of points, essentially guaranteeing they would be invited to apply for permanent residency.
On November 12, 2016, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced the implementation of changes to the Express Entry system. Among these changes was a reduction in the points granted to applicants in possession of a qualifying offer of employment. These applicants will now only receive 50 or 200 points (depending on the occupation) down significantly from 600 points. The changes took effect on November 19, 2016.
Given the significant drop in the number of points awarded for qualifying offers of employment, businesses will be carefully considering when to use the TFWP bearing in mind the significant amount of work involved in applying for an LMIA. The importance of other immigration programs employers can leverage to meet their labour market demands and retain staff long-term, such as international agreements and provincial nominee programs, will rise in the wake of these changes.
Whistler Immigration is supporting local businesses by offering innovative and customized strategies to help employers choose the most appropriate immigration programs to suit their labour market needs.
“Whistler Immigration has assisted us in a number of ways to retain key staff through different immigration programs. Their support and wealth of knowledge has been fundamental to our business growth and success,” says Kerri Jones, co-owner of Peaked Pies.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s press release and backgrounder can be viewed on the following websites:
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1153429
http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?nid=1153419
Book a consultation with Whistler Immigration today so we can help your business leverage immigration programs to benefit your long term recruitment and human resource strategy.
