MIGRATION 

Working in Canada during an Economic Downturn BY RALPH DZEGNIUK Barrister & Solicitor, Immigration & Refugee lawyer The information in this article is based on  the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act in Canada. It should not be considered as an inducement and encouragement by the writer or the publishers. - Publisher's Note

Finding and maintaining employment in Canada during the current economic downturn can be difficult. If you don’t already have friends or family members in Canada who can assist you with your job search, depending on your occupation, you may need to dedicate months to ongoing research of some of the main employment websites such as jobbank.ca, workopolis.ca or monster.ca in order to find a position that matches your work experience. However, as you will probably find out, this is not the most challenging part in applying for a Canadian Work Permit.

As many of you may already know, in order to apply for a Work Permit you must first seek the approval of Service Canada. If approved, Service Canada issues a document called a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) and it is on the basis of this LMO that you can subsequently apply for a Work Permit.

In order to obtain the LMO, you have to satisfy Service Canada of a number of things:

·        - First of all, you have to demonstrate that the employer and job offer are genuine;

·        - You must also show that the proposed salary is competitive in the Canadian marketplace (in other words, it is within the acceptable range for the occupation in question. Your prospective employer can’t offer a salary which is so low that no Canadian would accept it);

·        - You must prove that the employer has conducted recruitment efforts but was not able to find anyone within the Canadian marketplace (Canadian nationals or permanent residents) who would be able to fulfil the requirements of the position in question. These recruitment efforts must (most often) include an advertising campaign at one of the largest Canadian employment websites mentioned above, preferably jobbank.ca. These advertisements must also be posted for a reasonable period of time (minimum 3-4 weeks) in order to give Canadians a fair chance to apply for the position in question.

·        - In that context, you must also demonstrate that your educational background and/or previous work experience make you uniquely qualified for the offered position. In other words, you must prove that your skills are either very specific (therefore not easily obtainable) in the Canadian marketplace, or that they are in short supply (i.e. there’s a labour shortage associated with said position).

·        - Finally, as a result of all of the above factors, you have to satisfy the Officer that your employment in Canada would not have any negative impact on the Canadian marketplace, and, in fact, it would either result in: i) direct job creation or retention for Canadian citizens or permanent residents; ii) the creation or transfer of skills and knowledge for the benefit of Canadian citizens or permanent residents, or iii) fill a specific labour shortage.

It is only when you have satisfied a Service Canada Officer of all of the above assessment criteria that a Labour Market Opinion is issued and a Work Permit application can be filed. Moreover, in the current economic environment characterized by continuously rising unemployment rates amongst Canadians, convincing Service Canada that you are indeed the only or best person to fill a given position is indeed a tough sell. However, the more unique or specific your skills or the more specialized the position in question, the easier it becomes to make that argument.

Once an LMO has been issued you can proceed to the second stage of the process and apply for a Work Permit itself. Even though, generally speaking, this is the easier stage of the process, the Officer can still assess whether you are able to fulfil the requirements of the position (for example, your English language skills) and whether you are likely to leave Canada and return to your home country by the time your Work Permit expires (so if you have previously failed to comply with Canadian immigration rules and regulations by, for example, overstaying your temporary visitor visa, that could present additional challenges). Generally, however, if you have been issued an LMO, have reasonably strong economic and social ties with your home country and don’t have any prior history of non-compliance in Canada, then you should be able to secure a Work Permit.

Given all of the above and the fact that the success of your Work Permit application lies almost entirely in securing an LMO from Service Canada, it is absolutely crucial that your LMO application is as detailed and all-encompassing as possible, containing extensive supporting materials addressing all of the relevant assessment criteria. In the current economic environment, the LMO approval rates have dropped significantly and, therefore, it is strongly advised that these applications are prepared with the guidance of an experienced immigration lawyer who can ensure that your chances of approval are, at the very least, maximized.

Finally, there are also specific programs which exempt certain types of individuals from the LMO requirement such as the Pilot Project for Information Technology (IT) Workers or the Intra-Company Transfer provisions. However, these programs have strict eligibility criteria and should you have any questions or concerns in that regard, do not hesitate to contact me.

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Ralph Dzegniuk, B.A., L.L.B. can be reached by telephone at: (416) 548 9072 or via email at: Ralph@migrate-2-canada.com More information about Mr. Dzegniuk and his immigration & refugee law office can be found at http://www.migrate-2-canada.com