New tougher Canada visa rules for temporary foreign workers

Canada, 20th August: Canadian government has introduced new stricter Canada visa rules for protection of nannies and other temporary foreign workers in Canada.

Employers seeking to hire immigrants for temporary work will be required to reveal their past history, stated the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. 

Anyone found to have violated the payment and working conditions will not be permitted to hire foreign help and his/her application is likely to be rejected.

Any employers with a bad track record could face a bar of two-year on hiring foreign temporary workers in Canada.

Also, a limit of four-years will be fixed for the time any foreign worker can work in Canada, and as soon as this limit is reached, the concerned immigrant workers in Canada will have to go back to their native countries and wait for another four years time before getting employed in Canada again.

The latest move by the Canadian government is aimed to ensure protection of immigrants wanting to work in Canada as temporary workers including live-in-caregivers/nannies from exploitation at the hands of their employers. Canada Temporary Foreign Workers program needs to be fair and equitable, Canada immigration minister Jason Kenney asserted.

Apart from ensuring best working conditions for temporary immigrant workers in Canada, the new Canada visa rules will also provide an opportunity for all such workers who work overtime to apply for Canada PR (permanent residence) even before the stipulated period of two years of full-time work in Canada.

Also, if the foreign caregiver in Canada works less than regular full-time hours or requires time off due to factors including illness, then the time frame to apply for permanent residence in Canada can be extended.

The limit of working for a maximum of four-year period in Canada will not affect eligibility for Canada permanent residence.

The changes in Canada visa rules for foreign workers and caregivers in Canada are the result of a series of consultations in the last two years which revealed that several employers in Canada were abusing caregivers and nannies in Canada and the law made such foreign workers even vulnerable, the Canadian government revealed.

The new Canada visa rules for temporary foreign workers in Canada will come into effect on April 1, 2011 onwards.