Employers seeking to hire through Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program will face stricter rules as the federal government raises the wage threshold for the high-wage stream by 20%, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault announced.
Effective Nov. 8, the starting hourly wage for workers entering Canada through the high-wage stream will increase to 20% above the current median wage in the applicable province or territory. This change represents an increase of between $5 and $8 per hour, depending on the region.
“As a result, a greater number of jobs will be subject to the stricter rules of the low-wage stream,” Boissonnault said. “This change reinforces our commitment to protecting temporary foreign workers while prioritizing the Canadian workers available to join the labour force.”
Under the low-wage stream, employers must meet additional requirements, including providing suitable accommodation, return transportation to the worker’s country of origin and conducting more extensive recruitment efforts within Canada.
The reforms aim to prioritize the hiring of domestic workers by tapping into under-represented groups such as youth, Indigenous persons, women and persons with disabilities. “Canadian employers have access to untapped pools of talent in Canada, including youth, among whom the unemployment rate is more than double the annual average,” Boissonnault noted in a speech at the 21st Century Workforce Summit on Oct. 17.
Starting Oct. 28, employers will no longer be able to use attestations from professional accountants or lawyers to prove their business legitimacy. The TFW Program will enhance data sharing with provincial and territorial partners to ensure that only genuine and legitimate job offers are approved.
These changes are expected to result in 34,000 positions moving from the high-wage stream to the more stringent low-wage stream. Combined with other policies effective Sept. 26, up to 20,000 fewer positions may be approved through the TFW Program.
While the majority of employers use the TFW Program as intended, the government is closely monitoring for misuse and fraud. “Further adjustments will be made, if needed, to help ensure that only compliant employers with demonstrable labour needs can access the TFW Program,” Boissonnault said.
Quick facts
- Employers must apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and receive a positive assessment before hiring temporary foreign workers.
- The low-wage stream requires employers to provide additional supports and limits the number of temporary foreign workers to 10% of their workforce at any worksite, with some exceptions for high-demand sectors.
- The TFW Program will not process LMIA applications for positions in Census Metropolitan Areas where the unemployment rate is 6% or higher, unless exceptions apply.
- In September 2024, the youth unemployment rate was 13.5%, compared to the national average of 6.5%.
- Indigenous people had higher unemployment rates in 2023 (7.7%) than the non-Indigenous population aged 25 to 54 (4.5%).
- In 2022, the employment rate among those aged 16 to 64 with disabilities (65.1%) was 15 percentage points lower than for those without disabilities (80.1%).
