Except for Nanavut, the median hourly wages in all Canadian provinces and territories will increase post-May 31st.

Canada’s employers must satisfy the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) requirements to hire a foreign employee.

They use the provincial and territory median hourly wages to discover the conditions they have to meet for the TFWP program.

Whether the employers are required to apply for the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) under the high-wage or low-wage stream jobs is decided depending on the Job location and the wage being offered to the employee. Both high and low-wage streams have their own requirements.

A job is considered low wage if the employee is paid below the provincial and territorial median wage. Conversely, the job is considered high-wage if the employee is paid at or above the median wage.

An Overview of the TFWP in Canada

The TFWP or Temporary Foreign Worker Program permits Canada’s employers to employ international employees to address the labor shortages in the country.

Employers who desire to hire employees via the TFWP are required to pass Canada’s labor market exam, the LMIA or Labour Market Impact Assessment.

The Purpose of the LMIA is to make sure that if the employer hires an international employee, it will either positively or neutrally impact the Canadian labor market.

It’s noteworthy that before a foreign employee begins working for a Canadian employer via the TFWP, both LMIA and a temporary work permit are required.

If the employers are hiring a high-wage employee, they are required to submit a transition strategy with the LMIA to demonstrate that, as an employer, they are making efforts to minimize their dependency on foreign employees over time. This will confirm that qualified Canadians are preferred for the available job positions.

Contrarily, if the employers are hiring a low-wage employee, they are only required to submit the LMIA. A transition strategy is not required along with LMIA for a low-wage worker.

However, to cap access to TFWP, the Canadian government has limited the number of employees a business can hire under the low-wage stream.

Conditions for employers hiring employees in the low-wage stream.

Employers that are offering a wage less than the provincial and territorial median are required to follow the following.

• Employers must provide the travel expenses for the round trip of the temporary foreign employee;
• Employers must make sure that the temporary foreign employee is able to find an affordable place to live.
• Employers are required to pay for private health insurance until temporary foreign employees are qualified for provincial health coverage;
• Employers must enroll the temporary foreign employee with the provincial or territorial workplace safety board; and
• Employers must supply an employer-employee contract to the temporary foreign employee.

The TFWP applications are examined by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). They ensure no qualified Canadians are neglected in preference of an international employee or during the whole process of TFWP.