Temporary foreign workers PR approval on the rise in Canada

Canada saw a 50 percent rise in the number of candidates transitioning from temporary to permanent residence between 2016 and 2019. A growing number of immigrants who come to Canada as temporary foreign workers are staying longer and obtaining permanent residence, a new report by Statistics Canada shows.

Entitled “Just how temporary are temporary foreign workers?”, the report looks at data for four cohorts of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) aged 18 to 64 who received a work permit between 1990 and 2009. Together, the cohorts represented more than 1.3 million work permit holders.

New figures show nearly 75,000 people became permanent residents in 2019, up from under 50,000 three years before.

It shows that temporary residents – particularly those in Canada through the International Mobility Program (IMP) – are an important source of new immigrants.

Since 2016, Canada has seen consistent annual rises in the number of candidates transitioning from temporary to permanent status.

The numbers for 2019 are 11 and 26 percent up on 2018 and 2017 respectively.

This shows that as the federal government has pursued its policy of managed immigration increases, the number of candidates making the transition from temporary residence has increased accordingly.

While the study’s findings suggest that the majority of TFWs left within two years of obtaining their first work permit, it also notes that “the tendency to stay longer has increased among more recent arrivals.”

However, the study also concludes that the duration of stays remains strictly regulated, despite what it says is “a common misconception that host countries often do not have sufficient control over how long TFWs reside in the country.”

“The duration and type of stay of TFWs in Canada are strongly restricted by the regulations governing their work permit terms,” it reads.