Experience with the Development of Legislation and Regulations of

Temporary Labour Migration Programs

2nd RCM Workshop on Temporary Migrant Workers ProgramsSanto Domingo, República Dominicana, April 28-29, 2011

Key Components in Legislation and Regulation

Labour market tests and requirements on employers

Employment authorizations

Worker protections

Enforcement and follow-up capacity

Labour Market Tests and Requirements on Employers

Case-by-case:• Comparable wages in the occupation• Efforts to hire domestic workers• Assesment of labour market information• Fees and additional costs on employers (e.g., transportation and

recruitment)

Open permits:• Positive labour market conditions or other reasons (e.g. International

agreements, etc.)

• Low-risk occupations/situations

• Employer registries

• Follow-up capacity

Employment Authorizations

Is it necessary that an employer be approved to hire a migrant worker, or is it possible for the worker to initiate the process?

Employer-specific or occupation-specific employment authorizations

“Open” employment authorizations

Positive labour market conditions or other reasons (e.g. International agreements, etc.)

Low-risk occupations/situations

Authorizations for a defined period of time

Follow-up capacity

Protection mechanisms for migrant workers

Same labour protections that domestic workers

Legal requirement for employers to meet the initial conditions related to the hiring of migrant workers

Regulation of recruiters and third-party representatives of migrant workers

Access to protection mechanisms in practice Important to note that migrant workers need to initiate a number of

processes related to their own protection

Enforcement

Important that enforcement legislation consider possible breaches by employers, migrant workers, or third parties

Design of penalties Fines Prohibition from future hiring of migrant workers (employers/third

parties) or loss of migratory status (migrant workers) Imprisonment in critical cases (e.g. human trafficking)

IT systems and capacity to share information

Resources that will allow for the enforcement and follow-up in the event of breaches

Managed jointly by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) and Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) under authority of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA)

Employer-driven. Employers can hire Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) from any country in any legal occupation provided that IRPA requirements are met. No caps

Labour Market Test (LMT) upfront to ensure efforts to hire Canadian workers, genuineness of offer, and similar wages/working conditions offered to TFWs as to Canadian workers. Exemptions exist from LMT

TFWs protected under same labour legislation as Canadians, noting that in Canada, labour standard legislation and protections fall largely under provincial/territorial (PT) jurisdiction

Ability to refuse access to employers who fail to provide wages/working conditions to TFWs as those outlined in original job offers (introduced April 2011)

Annex: Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Additional requirements for employers of TFWs in lower-skilled occupations (e.g. employer-employee contracts, two-way transportation, all recruitment costs, etc.)

New federal legislation on regulation of immigration consultants, and efforts to regulate labour recruiters by some PTs

Pathways for permanent residence for TFWs in all managerial, professional, and technical occupations, and some lower-skilled occupations (primarily under PT permanent residence programs)

Out of the 182,322 TFWs that entered Canada in 2010, 68,006 or 37% entered in professional, managerial, and technical/trade occupations (NOC O, A, and B); 50,663 or 28% entered in lower-skilled occupations (NOC C and D); and 63,653 or 35% entered

Annex: Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (cont’d)