The government of Canada has banned Nigerians and other visitor visa holders from applying for a work permit within the country.
The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) who disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday, August 28, 204, said the direct is with immediate effect.
“While the temporary policy was set to expire on February 28, 2025, IRCC is ending the policy as part of our overall efforts to recalibrate the number of temporary residents in Canada and preserve the integrity of the immigration system,” the statement read.
“IRCC is also aware that some bad actors were using the policy to mislead foreign nationals into working in Canada without authorization. IRCC will continue to process applications submitted before August 28, 2024 under the policy.”
The policy was introduced in August 2020 to assist visitors in Canada who were unable to return home because of border closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under the policy, they could apply for a work permit without having to leave Canada. Also, anyone who had held a work permit within the preceding 12 months but had changed their immigrations status to “visitor” became eligible to “work legally in Canada while waiting for a decision on their new work permit application.”
The end of the temporary policy allowing some visitors to apply for a work permit comes amidst a week of big changes aimed at reducing Canada’s temporary foreign worker levels, says the CIC report.
On August 26th, the Department announced it would pause the processing of some Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications for some applicants under the Low-Wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) by September 26th, 2024.
This will impact applicants in Census Metropolitan Areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
Canada also announced restrictions on the number of foreign workers that employers in Canada can hire under the TFWP (10% of their total workforce), and that the maximum term of employment for workers in the Low-Wage stream would be reduced to one year from two.
