A new report is shedding light on the obstacles faced by migrant workers transitioning from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to permanent residency in Prince Edward Island.
This report, the fourth in a series by the Migrant Workers in the Canadian Maritimes partnership, draws on desk research and qualitative interviews with 29 individuals, including migrant workers, service providers, government employees, and employers.
The interviews, conducted between October 2022 and July 2023, revealed a consistent theme: while employers rely on migrant workers for operational stability, these workers face significant hurdles due to closed work permits and limited access to support services.
Key findings
Labour market challenges
Employers in Prince Edward Island (PEI) reported difficulties in finding reliable local workers, turning to migrant workers as a solution.
However, they encountered challenges in providing adequate housing and understanding the immigration process.
“The labour force has always been a challenge,” one employer noted, highlighting the operational stability migrant workers bring despite the complexities involved in hiring them.
Temporary existence with closed work permits
Migrant workers often rely on personal connections rather than costly recruitment agencies to come to Canada. Once in PEI, they face issues such as restrictive policies and short-term work contracts that heighten their insecurity.
The report indicates that these policies sometimes do more harm than good, exacerbating the precarious nature of their employment.
Limited support services
The report criticizes the limited scope of IRCC-funded settlement services, which are primarily available only to permanent residents and select other groups.
Service providers, often constrained by temporary funding, must make difficult decisions about who receives support, despite the growing number of migrant workers in need.
Barriers to permanent residency
Despite a strong desire among many migrant workers to obtain permanent residency, only 55 of the 3,615 individuals who received permanent residency in PEI in 2023 had prior experience in the TFWP. Major barriers include the requirement for a full-time, non-seasonal job and passing a language test. Workers also reported difficulties in securing employer support for their applications, further complicating the process.
Struggles with the permanent residency process
Migrant workers faced numerous challenges during the permanent residency process, including navigating paperwork in a non-native language, dealing with inaccurate information from government portals, and incurring significant debt. Many workers paid thousands to unlicensed immigration consultants and feared job loss, which would jeopardize their applications.
Post-residency realities
Those who achieved permanent residency described a mix of jubilation and immediate financial strain. “I said to myself, I am rich,” one worker recalled. However, the excitement was often tempered by large debts and poor credit scores accumulated during the wait. Additionally, workers continued to experience racism, irrespective of their immigration status.
Recommendations
The report, titled “Permanent Jobs, Temporary People: Temporary Foreign Workers’ Struggle for Permanent Residency in Prince Edward Island,” offers several recommendations to the federal and provincial governments to improve the situation for migrant workers:
For the Government of Canada:
- Grant permanent residency to all migrant workers upon arrival.
- End employer-specific work permits and issue open work permits.
- Remove language requirements for permanent residency applicants.
- Eliminate the requirement for a full-time, non-seasonal job contract.
- Ensure a minimum number of paid hours per week for migrant workers.
- Ensure timely and accurate processing of immigration applications.
- Provide consistent funding for organizations supporting temporary foreign workers.
- Conduct frequent, unannounced workplace inspections.
- Grant permanent residency to workers whose employers violate TFWP regulations.
- Ensure full access to Employment Insurance benefits for migrant workers.
- Provide bridging open work permits for workers awaiting permanent residency.
For the Government of PEI:
- Ensure all migrant workers have access to full provincial health coverage.
- Implement the proposed Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act with stringent enforcement.
- Extend full coverage of the Employment Standards Act to farm workers and adjust the standard workweek for seafood processing workers.
See the full report here: https://tfwmaritimes.ca/pdf/Permanent_Jobs-Temporary_People-TFWMARITIMES-PEI-2024.pdf
