New requirements for employers hiring foreign workers

Many would-be immigrants feel that some Canadian employers treat foreign workers less favourably than local workers. This manifests itself in the fact that workers are paid little, cheated and violate the contract concluded with them. To make sure this does not happen, the Canadian government is going to change the labour laws so that foreigners will work under normal conditions.

It is very important to look for a job to immigrate to Canada, due to the fact that after working for some time on a work visa, a huge number of suitable immigration programs will open up for you.

When you come to Canada on a work visa, you become a temporary foreign worker. If you are lucky with your employer, you won't have a problem: you will work there for a year, and then you will apply for permanent residency. But, unfortunately, not everyone is lucky. For example, recently in Ottawa there was a protest of immigrant workers who were not satisfied with the working conditions. In order to avoid such precedents, things have to change for the better.

Let's talk about the problems faced by foreign workers. To begin with, it is worth noting that workers themselves are often unaware of their rights. Employers can successfully take advantage of this: cheating, paying less than promised, not issuing a work contract, creating a tense environment at the workplace. And out of ignorance, employees keep silent and do not complain to any authority, because they are afraid they will simply be fired and have to go back to their home countries. Please don't think that all Canadian employers are like this. No, it is just that, like everywhere else, there are honest people and there are not so many.

Let's look at employers who charge money for employment. Let's say you find a suitable vacancy, you are called for an interview and told: "You should pay 1000 dollars to have your documents drawn up, and then we will hire you".

The other day our licensed immigration consultant Ivanna Pavlenko advised a trucker who paid an unscrupulous company an upfront fee of $2,500 out of $6,000 for a work visa. Unfortunately, he did not receive it and there is every chance that he never will.

Note that a Canadian employer may not charge you any money for your employment. Similarly, you cannot be paid for an LMIA — it has to be done by the employer. Don't accept such dubious offers — they are always illegal.

The next problem is that not all workers are covered by health insurance. In Canada, medicine is only free for citizens and residents. If you come on a work visa, you often have to buy paid insurance, otherwise any treatment will cost you a lot of money. Paying for insurance out of your own pocket is expensive, because you are unlikely to start earning a lot right away, and if the job is also low-skilled, it hardly makes sense to go to work in Canada with poor conditions and put your health at risk.

In general, because of all the above-mentioned problems, Canada has decided to increase protection for foreign workers and tighten requirements for employers.

In order for a company to be allowed to hire foreigners, it will have to prove that it is committed to creating a positive workplace environment and complying with all federal and provincial laws. If during the inspections it is noticed that the rights of workers are violated, the company may be prohibited from hiring foreigners in the future at all. By the way, the employer will not be entitled to fire or punish the employee who has filed a complaint against him/her.

In addition, employers will be required to provide the employee with a document listing their rights. They will also have to give you a contract of employment and send it to the government to make sure that all the conditions correspond to what was promised in the job offer. Penalties for those who demand money for employment will also be increased.

In addition to this, the company will be obliged to pay for your medical insurance, which covers at least emergency care. It will also speed up the processing time of all documents for the admission of foreigners, due to the fact that now, when a company sends an application to the regulatory authorities, it may not be approved immediately, but request some additional information. The employer must respond within 30 days, but this period will be halved to 15 days.

In general, conditions for foreign workers will improve. However, the question may arise: why should employers look for people from abroad at all, if things are complicated for them? In fact, companies are not just looking for workers abroad, but because Canadians simply do not want to work.

One category of Canadians is looking for high-paying jobs, the other is living solely on benefits. Employers will have more obligations to foreign employees, but Canadians won't want to work anyway. So it's safe to say that Canadian companies will still continue to hire foreigners.