Are you seeking employment in Canada from another country? Then this is the best news for you! The Canadian administration has presented a new program called the Recognized Employer Pilot (REP) program. This program was declared in August 2023, which implies that employers can now employ without stress, leading to quicker access to employment prospects and obtaining Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) with ease.
In September 2023, phase 1 of the application to the program was carried out. Phase 2 is intended to begin in January 2024 and is available to specialists seeking employment in Canada. This is a chance for every individual seeking to relocate to Canada to acquire their dream employment and an opportunity to step into a future of development, adaptability, and diversity within the Canadian workforce.
Are you prepared to dig into the information and investigate the ways the Recognized Employer Pilot can be your route to intriguing employment opportunities? This article will guide you through. Hence, to obtain your resume and application records prepared, improve your prospects of acquiring this chance, and place yourself in the top 1% as you take this vital step toward a motivating profession in Canada.
Table of Contents
Qualifications
When you apply for the Recognized Employer Pilot program, Service Canada will perform a robust and upfront evaluation concerning your LMIA request to specify your qualification for the Recognized Employer Pilot program. You can be qualified for the Recognized Employer Pilot program if you obtained favorable Labor Market Impact Assessments for roles on the Recognized Employer Pilot occupation list such as:
- You have obtained a minimum of three approving Labor Market Impact Assessment conclusions in the past 5 five years to employ temporary foreign employees or,
- You did not present a Labor Market Impact Assessment application between 2020 and 2021 due to Covid 19 constraints, however:
- You obtained a minimum of approving Labor Marker Impact Assessment judgments in 2022 or 2023,
- You obtained two additional approvals for Labor Market Impact Assessment conclusions in 2016.
- You fulfill the highest measures for working requirements, living requirements, and employee safety as indicated via your records with the Temporary Foreign Worker program.
- You accept the observation of the common Temporary Foreign Worker conditions.
You are only required to present a Labor Market Impact Assessment application to make an application for the Recognized Employer Pilot. When you submit your Labor Market Impact Assessment, you will have the choice to make an application for the Recognized Employer Pilot at the same time; no extra data is needed. According to your Temporary Foreign Worker Program records, they will determine your eligibility. It would help if you were qualified for the Recognized Employer Pilot to obtain a Labor Market Impact Assessment judgment.
Most Labor Market Impact Assessment requests can not be regarded for the Recognized Employer Pilot, which includes any Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program transfer. Identified employers can gain from extended validity durations of three years for Labor Market Impact Assessment requests that obtain an approving judgment. Also, they can access a more accessible Labor Market Impact Assessment request when employing extra employees.
Phase One
If you seek to occupy the roles on the phase 1 occupation list, you can make an application beginning in September 2023. To qualify, you must have obtained at least three approving Labor Market Impact Assessment judgments since 2018.
Phase Two
If you seek to occupy the phase 2 occupational list roles, you can begin making applications in January 2024. To be qualified, you must have obtained at least one of the Labor Market Impact Assessment conclusions since 2019.
The Duration for Recognized Employer Pilot
Service Canada will cease approving Recognized Employer Pilot requests in September 2024. Hence, employers registered in the Recognized Employer Pilot program can present applications for roles on the Recognized Employer Pilot professions list using a streamlined LMIA. The Recognized Employer Pilot program is expected to be finalized in fall 2026.
Unqualified Employers
If you satisfy the qualification measures mentioned above, you may still be discovered unqualified for the Recognized Employer Pilot program if:
- You have obtained disapproving Labor Market Impact Assessment judgments.
- You have been discovered non-obedient
- Major and reasonable accusations have been made against you for placing the health and protection of temporary foreign workers at stake.
- You have flunked to satisfy the prerequisite linked with assessment check-ins.
- An alteration in the labor market affects the role you are attempting to occupy.
NOTE: Employers who have not hired temporary foreign workers in the last five years before presenting a new Labor Market Impact Assessment request must be qualified to participate in the Recognized Employer Pilot program.
Furthermore, suppose you are an associate of an employer not qualified for the Temporary Foreign Workers program or in bankruptcy of any sum payable regarding an administrative financial penalty. In that case, you must be qualified to participate in the Recognized Employer Pilot program. An associate has to do with an employer that is regulated by another employer, such as:
- Two employers under general regulation
- Employers that are not conducted at arm’s length
Obligations
Qualified identified employers are required to also devote to the following:
- Partake in unexpected Recognized Employer Pilot program check-ins.
- Embark on yearly income reviews on 1st January of every year to ensure that temporary foreign workers obtain the present succeeding income for the profession and work location where they are hired, notwithstanding the income on the positive Labor Market Impact Assessment.
- Proceed to carry out plausible employment endeavors to employ Canadian citizens or PR until every role is occupied. This includes satisfying the least recruitment prerequisites for the stream for which you presented your request.
- Where relevant, satisfying the accommodation assessment conditions of the stream you presented your request.
Prerequisites For Employers
You are required to fulfill temporary foreign worker’s program conditions and the ones for the Recognized Employer Pilot program. You are required to maintain the requirements and laws placed in the Immigration and Refugee Protection regulations and also the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act concerning employing a temporary foreign worker.
Processing Charges
You must pay $1,000 for every role demanded under the Recognized Employer Pilot program to protect the charges of processing your request.
- The processing charges payment can be carried out by:
- Bank draft, which is to be made payable to the receiver general for Canada
- MasterCard
- Funds order, which is to be made payable to the Receiver General for Canada
- Visa
- Licensed cheque, which is to be made payable to the Receiver General for Canada
- American Express
- The processing charges will not be returned if your request is removed at your request, withdrawn, or if your application obtains an unfavorable judgment. Refunds are provided only if a payment was acquired by mistake.
- The processing charge can not be reimbursed or acquired by temporary foreign workers.
- The Labor Market Impact Assessment processing charges do not involve jobs.
- Associated with primary agriculture
- Roles under the NOC codes 80020, 80021, 82030, 82031, 84120, 85100, 85101, and 85103.
Recruitment Charges
There can be so many charges and expenses acquired in the procedures of recruiting temporary foreign workers, which include, however not restricted to:
- The expense of making use of third-party delegates
- Charges reimbursed by an employer for support or recommendation in the employment of international citizens.
- Advertising charges
- Charges refunded by a global citizen for support with discovering or acquiring a job.
As an employer, you must verify and make sure that you or any individual recruiting on your behalf does not bill or recover any recruitment charges, directly or indirectly, from the Temporary foreign workers. Negligence to carry this out will lead to an unfavorable Labor Market Impact Assessment judgment.
Third-party Agents
If you decide to use the services of a third-party agent, whether reimbursed or not, you must conclude the third-party data parts of the request. You are not required to recover the charges for the services of a hired agent from the Temporary Foreign Workers. The third-party agent cannot request or regain the processing or other charges of recruiting temporary foreign workers.
You may be notified directly to confirm details offered on the application form from the third-party agents and any employer-particular obligations. They will neither negotiate a conflict between you and a third-party agent nor convey objection to a controlled entity on your behalf. There are methods to obtain assistance if you have an objection concerning your third-party agent.
Reimbursed Third-party Agents
You may ask a third-party agent to function on your behalf when looking for a way to use the temporary foreign worker program to employ a temporary foreign worker. A reimbursed agent must be endorsed to acquire a charge to obtain a fee or any other payment, which may be funds, goods, or services to operate on your behalf or recommend you in the request procedures. An endorsed third-party agent is:
- A member in a good position of a Canadian regional or territorial law community or students-at-law under their care, or the Chambre des notaries du Quebec
- A member in good position of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.
Unreimbursed Third-party Agents
An unreimbursed agent can also help you but is not endorsed to acquire charges or to obtain any other kind of compensation for providing services. An unreimbursed agent can be a:
- Religious institution
- Relative
- Not-for-profit group
- Friend
Recruiters
A recruiter or any individual for the employer is an individual who:
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- Discovers or attempts to find a person for a job with the employer or
- Help another individual in discovering or attempting to discover a person for a job with the employer,
- Suggests international citizens to another individual who discovers or attempts to discover a person for a job with the employer.
Some regions and territories possess specific prerequisites for recruiters and recruitment exercises. You must make sure you yield to these conditions. As an employer, you are also accountable for the efforts of any individual who recruits on your behalf.
Returning Employers
The employers who have hired temporary foreign workers in the five years before presenting a new Labor Market Impact Assessment request are required to make sure they have made plausible actions to offer a workplace that is free of misuse. A workplace that is free from misuse has to do with:
- Assertive actions carried out to stop workplace abuse
- Reactive standards acquired to end abuse
Business Legality
Every employer applying to the temporary foreign worker program must supply records together with their Labor Market Impact Assessment request to indicate that their business and employment offer are legal.
Recruitment and Publicity
Before applying for the Recognized Employer Pilot, employers must satisfy the least recruitment conditions of the stream where they present an application. You must take plausible actions to employ Canadians and PR before using a temporary foreign worker. You must proceed with your recruitment and publicity actions until your employment vacancies are occupied. As an aspect of your request, you will be asked to explain any recruitment actions performed.
To those who desire additional information on the recruitment and publicity conditions for a particular stream, go to:
- Application to assist with permanent residency
- SAWP
- Care Provider
- High – wage
- Agriculture
- Low – wage
Employers who desire to employ international employees in specific classifications are under various recruitment and publicity conditions.
Transition Strategy
A transition strategy is compulsory if you employ temporary foreign workers in high-income roles. It explains the exercises you accept to recruit, maintain, and educate Canadian citizens and PRs and lower your dependence on the temporary foreign worker program.
Restriction on Proportion of Low-income Positions (If Relevant)
Suppose you are employing temporary foreign workers in low-income roles. In that case, you can be subjected to a restriction on the proportion of temporary foreign workers that can be employed at a particular work location. The restriction ensures that Canadian citizens or PRs are first regarded for obtainable employment.
Health Insurance
In relevant regions and territories, you must acquire and make payment for private health insurance that also protects emergency medical supervision for the duration of the work permit; at the time, the relevant regional or territorial health insurance structure does not cover the temporary foreign worker. Hence, the agreement for a job in Canada for seasonal agriculture employees comprises private health insurance that protects emergency medical care for any duration when the relevant regional or territorial health insurance structure does not cover the Temporary Foreign Worker.
The coverage bought by the employer must align with the Temporary Foreign Worker’s first day of work in Canada, and the expense is not to be regained from the Temporary Foreign Worker. A Service Canada inspector will review the policy coverage during the employer assessment. They will ensure that it has not been returned to the employee and that it protects the least cost of fundamental emergency health supervision for impulsive sickness or wounds during the duration the regional or territorial health insurance does not cover the temporary foreign worker. Most private insurance firms provide additional explicit strategies; however, Service Canada will approve a fundamental plan to ensure that the Temporary Foreign Workers will not be required to pay for medical care if they get sick or injured while employed in Canada.
To indicate obedience, the employer must be able to show evidence of payment for beneficial private health insurance for every temporary foreign worker and also the conditions for the policy coverage, which may be the information of what is covered.
Workplace Protection
You must ensure that temporary foreign workers you desire to employ under the temporary foreign worker program are protected by the regional or territorial workplace security insurance giver, where needed by law. Where the regional or territorial legislation permits employers the adaptability to choose a private insurance plan, you are required to make sure that:
- The same provider protects every worker in the workplace
- Any personal plan selected offers adequate or the same level of payment as that provided by a region or territory
Contact the applicable regional or territorial worksites protection authority if you are asking about private insurance plan equivalency. The protection you bought must align with the first day the temporary foreign worker operates in Canada, and the expenses must not be recovered from the temporary foreign workers.
Chemical and Pesticide Usage
Employers making use of pesticides or other dangerous chemicals are required to observe regional or territorial laws. They are required to inform employees of pesticides and chemical use and offer employees with:
- Unrestricted safety tools
- Applicable formal and informal internship
- Maintenance where needed by law
Housing Assessments (If Relevant)
Before applying for the Recognized Employer Pilot, you must satisfy the lodging assessment conditions of the stream for which you are presenting a request. For additional details on the lodging assessment conditions for a specific stream, reach out to:
- Agriculture
- SAWP
Employment Consensus
Even though a copy of the job consensus is not needed during the period of the Labor Market Impact Assessment presentation, you are required to devote to giving a concluded and signed job agreement to every temporary foreign worker on or before the first day of resumption at your place of work with you. A job agreement is required to:
- Attach data for employment in the same profession, with the same earnings and working situations as those in the job offer.
- Be sketched in English or French as the temporary foreign worker selects.
- Be signed by the employer and the temporary foreign worker.
Employers can grow and use their job agreement as it comprises all the applicable data. The job agreement template for primary agriculture can also be used. Employers must retain a concluded job history that accounts for obedience to the job agreement throughout the job.
SAWP Consensus (If Relevant)
Regarding the SAWP stream of primary agriculture, employers must use measures of non-changed agreement. Hence, some Labor Market Impact Assessment requests can not be regarded for the Recognized Employer Pilot, including any SAWP transfer.
Language of Employment
In your request and employment advertisement, English or French are the only terminologies you can recognize as an employment condition. Hence, if another terminology is essential for the employment, you must offer a reason on the application.
Roles Without Language Requirement
There may be irregular situations whereby an employment offer does not need any language for the temporary foreign worker. For instance, job offers associated with employment in the primary agriculture sector which does not require the capacity to be conveyed in English or French.
For jobs that are not in the primary agriculture sector, if there is no language demanded for the employment, you are required to offer additional information on the request, which includes:
- The way the temporary foreign worker will execute employment responsibilities in an impacting and secure pattern without the capacity to convey in any language
- What plausible standards are in place to ensure the health and protection of every individual at the location of work? You must offer relevant and accurate records with your request to indicate this.
Instances of plausible standards include:
- Possessing translated worksite protection manuals and processes
- Offering worksite protection training to the temporary foreign workers’ recognized language
- Making use of foreign protection symbols that make use of signs such as images
- Possessing formal translators at the place of work
- Hiring other employees or managers who can speak with the temporary foreign workers in their recognized language.
Unionized Roles
If you are making an application to employ temporary foreign workers for roles protected under a joint consensus, you are required to:
- Publicize and provide the same income rates as the ones found under the joint consensus.
- Provide the temporary foreign workers the exact conditions as Canadian citizens and PR employees.
- Present a copy of the part of the joint bargaining consensus on the income format.
The employment of temporary foreign workers is not required to influence recent labor conflicts at the place of work. At the time of the Labor Market Impact Assessment evaluation, if it is specified that employing temporary foreign workers is possibly to badly influence the program or the result or settlement of any labor conflict, your Labor Market Impact Assessment application will be denied. We suggest you operate energetically with union delegates to recruit Canadian citizens and PRs.
Employer Submission
As an employer, you must obey all the temporary foreign worker program conditions for your desired role. Recognized Employer Pilot program employers will partake in the existing assessment rule and the unexpected Recognized Employer Pilot particular check-ins to evaluate that they satisfy temporary foreign worker program and Recognized Employer Pilot program laws.
Records Retention
You must maintain all the documents utilized to accompany your request for a minimum of 6 years, starting on the temporary foreign worker’s first resumption at their place of work. They may be requested to submit these documents to confirm their previous obedience to program requirements.
Check-ins
Employers will be chosen unexpectedly for Recognized Employer Pilot particular check-ins. These check-ins will confirm the Recognized Employer Pilot devotions, where employers will be needed to verify Recognized Employer Pilot obligations, for instance, succeeding income review, annual recruitment, working situations, concluded accommodation assessment accounts, and more are being satisfied.
