The Employer's Role

Hiring Foreign Workers: Facts for Canadian Employers

Canada's policy on foreign workers permits employers to recruit foreign workers needed for the Canadian labour market. At the same time, it ensures that employers have considered Canadian citizens and permanent residents and that the entry of foreign workers will not adversely affect employment or career opportunities for Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

In general, the offer of employment of a foreign worker requires validation by a Human Resource Canada Centre (HRCC). In order to determine whether to validate an offer of employment to a foreign worker, an HRCC officer will evaluate the potential effect that hiring the foreign worker may have on the Canadian labour market. The wages and working conditions, the employer's efforts to consider Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and the employers human resource planning in terms of training the domestic work force and the transfer of knowledge to Canadians, will all be examined.

Some foreign workers can be admitted to Canada to work without the employer having to go through the validation process. It is the responsibility of officials of Citizenship and Immigration Canada to determine whether a foreign worker falls under an exemption category. Unless the foreign worker is exempt through an international agreement (NAFTA, GATS or Canada-Chile FTA) or falls within one of the specific exemption categories (call our office to discuss) , employers require validation of their offers of employment to foreign workers.

People who are neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents of Canada require written permission from Citizenship and Immigration Canada before they begin working or continue working in Canada. This written permission is called an employment authorization. Once the employer has received a validation of an offer of employment, it is up the employee to apply for an employment authorization.

Before you recruit:

Check to see if qualified Canadian citizens or permanent residents are available or can be trained in a reasonable time to meet your human resource needs, and then  if you have not found Canadian citizens or permanent residents who can do the job then you may be able to hire foreign workers, get in touch with our office for advice and guidance.

We will assist you with the special requirements and procedures regarding your offer of employment.

Some important words to remember:

Human Resource Canada Centre (HRCC):
The local government office which assists Canadian employers in meeting their human resource needs by facilitating the entry of foreign workers. These are Canada employment centers.

Employment:
"Any activity for which a person receives or might reasonably be expected to receive valuable consideration" (as defined in the Immigration Act). Some activities might be considered to be work even if the person doing them is not being paid for his/her services. It depends on the kind of work and the circumstances under which it is performed.

Foreign worker:
A person working legally in Canada, who is neither a Canadian citizen nor a permanent resident of Canada.

Job offer validation:
The process by which the HRCC determines that the employment of a foreign worker would not adversely affect the Canadian labour market.

Employment authorization:
A legal document that entitles a foreign worker to work in Canada. Usually, it is valid only for the specified job and length of time.

HRDC Validation:

Generally speaking, before an immigration officer can issue an employment authorization, he or she needs a labour market opinion from HRDC as to whether this would have a positive or negative effect on the Canadian labour market and economy. To form this opinion, the Human Resources Canada Centre (HRCC) closest to the location where the work will take place will work with the employer to examine the specifics of the job offer, ensure that the wages and working conditions offered are acceptable within the context of the Canadian labour market, and consider whether the job might easily be filled from within the domestic workforce. Once satisfied, the HRCC foreign worker counsellor will communicate his or her opinion (called a "validation") to the CIC point of service where the worker is applying for the employment authorization.

There are some cases where the EA application is exempt from the need for the HRCC validation opinion. Details of these exemptions relate to the provisions found in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the General Agreement on Trades and Services (GATS), and other international agreements.

Employers or industrial sectors which have needs for significant numbers of temporary foreign workers can work with HRDC and CIC to enter into agreements that will in effect validate a number of foreign workers under a single set of negotiations. If you are interested in this possibility, contact your local Human Resources Canada Centre and ask to speak to the Temporary Foreign Worker consultant.

Employers are responsible to review the employment authorizations held by foreign workers under their employ to ensure that the employment being performed falls within the terms and conditions listed on the EA.