Temporary foreign workers: It’s the fault of Quebec

While Prime Minister François Legault demands more powers in immigration from Justin Trudeau, experts believe that it is Quebec that is lagging behind with more than 84% of temporary foreign worker applications pending.

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“I have a cheese maker whose file was closed by mistake by Quebec. They lost the original documents. The federal government tried to contact the provincial government to settle the file without success,” denounces Marc-André St-Laurent, immigration director of ISA Immigration and Recruitment.

Criticized for its wait times, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) countered that the vast majority of pending applications for the temporary foreign worker program (TFWP) as of October 2 were made at the provincial level.

“Of the 5,112 pending applications, 4,317 applications (or 84%) have already been analyzed by Service Canada and are now pending or being assessed by the Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration ( MIFI),” explained ESDC spokesperson Natalie Huneault.

Original documents

According to Marc-André St-Laurent, the Quebec machine is poorly oiled because it still requires original documents, whereas elsewhere we are able to process digitized files.

“We play with people’s lives and the files stretch. In Quebec, it is not uncommon to see eight months of waiting, while elsewhere it is four months, ”he said.

“We quickly receive Service Canada’s (EIMT) by e-mail and we always have to wait several days later for Quebec, which still uses fax and mail,” said lawyer Laurence Trempe, of EXEO Avocats.

“It’s a catastrophic figure, but it comes from the federal government so you have to be careful with these figures. You have to know why it takes so long in Quebec, ”reacted Stéphane Minson, lawyer specializing in immigration.

Bond the 41%

At ESDC, it was recalled that the TFWP is administered jointly with Quebec.

Since the beginning of the year, 12,592 requests have been received in Quebec and 12,416 requests have already been processed, it was pointed out.

“This is a 41% increase in the number of requests compared to the same period last year,” observed Ms. Huneault.

Legault’s cabinet defends itself

On Tuesday, Prime Minister François Legault’s office replied that “the federal government is in a bad position to give lessons in the handling of files”. He recalled that the demand exploded with the shortage.

“Between April and September, the number of requests in the TFWP increased from 9,323 in 2021-2022 to 20,538 in 2022-2023”, it was detailed, saying that it had added resources.

“The inventory of applications for temporary foreign workers is tending to decrease: while it was approximately 9,800 in April 2022, for all streams, it was 5,157 applications as of September 30, 2022”, a- we concluded.

• As of October 2, 2022, the TFWP has processed more than 50,000 files with an average LMIA processing time of 31.7 business days, according to ESDC.

The 5 steps of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP)

1. Application sent to Ottawa (employer) and Quebec (candidate)
2. Quebec Acceptance Certificate (Quebec)
3. Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) (Canada)
4. Application for a work permit (federal)
5. Obtaining a work permit (federal)