On August 7^th, the federal government announced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFW) which includes a processing fee of $275 per position and a new advertising requirement to ensure adequate notice is provided to potential Canadian applicants.

The new fee is intended to recover the costs associated with processing Labour Market Opinions and to ensure that Canadian taxpayers no longer cover the costs of processing temporary foreign worker applications. As well, employers will be required to demonstrate that the use of temporary foreign workers is not used to outsource Canadian jobs.

The announced changes are welcome news given our sector’s chronic labour shortage challenges and the government’s preference to discontinue this embattled program.  Following the highly publicized and controversial reports of abuses within the banking sector, efforts by TIAC and industry partners such as Tony Pollard of the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) proved effective in convincing the government of the importance of the TFW program to Canada’s travel and tourism sector.  

While the announced changes add to the program’s administrative burden, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program remains a valuable tool in addressing the chronic labour shortage challenges faced by our sector in every region of the country.  For more information on the recent changes to the Temporary Foreign worker program, please see the link below to the program website.        

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/foreign_workers/changes.shtml