Canada | More foreign workers transition to permanent residency

(Ottawa) Statistics Canada says temporary foreign workers have been transitioning to permanent residence at higher rates in recent years.

A new report from the federal agency shows that between 2016 and 2020, just over 23% of foreign workers became permanent residents two years after obtaining their first temporary work permit in Canada.

This is an increase of almost double from around 12% between 2011 and 2015.

These numbers suggest that temporary residency for work has become a more important pathway to permanent residency in Canada.

Temporary residents include asylum seekers and people with work or study permits. Permanent residents, on the other hand, can work and live in Canada indefinitely, as long as they maintain their status.

The number of foreign workers and international students has increased significantly in recent years, causing strong population growth that experts say has worsened housing affordability.

The Liberal government is largely responsible for this growth, which has prompted it to take new measures aimed at curbing temporary migration.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced in March that over the next three years, the government planned to reduce the proportion of temporary residents in Canada to 5% of the population.

Au 1^is As of April, there were 2.8 million temporary residents in Canada, or 6.8% of the population.

At a meeting with his provincial counterparts in May, Mr. Miller suggested that one way to reduce the number of temporary residents in the country would be to offer them permanent residency.

“The fact that people are already there, their impact on affordability has already been taken into account, so it’s smart,” he said.

“But that doesn’t mean by extension that everyone has the right to stay here or to be here in Canada.”