US and Canadian Immigration lawyer Andy Semotiuk: I see that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) is back in the news:
Applications for temporary foreign workers have dropped by three-quarters following the new rules introduced by the federal government in June, says Employment Minister Jason Kenney.
“We announced a fundamental sweep of reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program earlier this year to ensure that it is used as a last and limited resort and that Canadians always come first in the workforce.
“Since those reforms were announced we’ve seen a 75 per cent reduction in the number of applications in temporary foreign workers on the part of employers,” Kenney said during question period on Tuesday.
Alexis Conrad, the director general for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, says the reforms are proving to be successful.
“The number of applications received in July and August 2014 is approximately 74 per cent lower than those received over the same time period in 2012,” said Conrad in an email to CBC News.
This need not involve a massive blizzard of paperwork which eventually chokes the program to death. But that was probably the point of the policy change all along, wasn’t it?
Andy Semotiuk is a Canadian and US immigration lawyer with immigration law firm Pace Immigration. You can learn more about Andy at My Work Visa.