Open Work Permit for Immigrants with Quebec Selection Certificates

Starting in a few weeks, skilled workers from foreign countries with Quebec Selection Certificates will be able to get open work permits so they can work while waiting for final decisions from Ottawa on permanent residence.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will give up to 7,000 skilled workers in Quebec open work permits under an expanded International Mobility Program, dubbed IMP+, allowing them to work sooner while their permanent residence applications are being processed.

Immigration could solve the labour shortage in Quebec

A large number of sectors in Quebec are currently suffering from severe labour shortages and the province is hoping that the IMP+ will assist in dealing with this challenge.

The move to accept skilled workers as they await for final decisions on their permanent residency applications comes as Quebec is set to start exempting many employers from having to perform Labour Market Impact Assessments to hire temporary workers under a more flexible temporary foreign worker program.

Starting May 24, employers in Quebec will also be required to cover the cost of plane tickets, medical insurance, and adequate housing for workers who are hired under the new, simplified process.

“These measures are the result of an agreement reached on Aug. 4 last year between Ottawa and Quebec to speed up the arrival of workers to help businesses facing recruitment challenges,” said provincial Immigration Minister Jean Boulet in French.

The IMP+ targets:

• Those with experience in a high-priority economic sector or profession facing a labour shortage in Quebec;
• workers who have a job offer with a Quebec employer that has been approved by the MIFI (Ministry of Immigration, Francisation, and Integration) of Quebec.

The International Mobility Program, which is a part of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, allows employers in Canada to hire foreign workers without the need of conducting a labour market impact assessment.

Last November, Quebec also announced it would simplify the hiring of overseas workers into a wide variety of high-demand occupations, through the TFWP. The province published a list of jobs that it submitted to the federal government to qualify for:

• simplified work permit processing;
• exemptions from posting and recruitment efforts, and;
• a doubling of the thresholds of TFWs per workplace.

Retail trade, accommodation and catering, and food processing, where labor is most scarce, are among the industries covered by the new rules.