Ottawa Removes Foreign Worker Incentive to Curb Immigration Fraud

Immigration Minister Marc Miller delivers remarks at a press conference in Ottawa on Dec. 21, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

The federal government is removing an incentive for temporary foreign workers that has been used to boost applications for permanent residency. The incentive has also been used by some to exploit the immigration system, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said.

Miller said foreign workers seeking Canadian permanent residency will no longer receive additional points for use on immigration applications if they’ve received job offers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program’s Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process.

He made the announcement at a Dec. 17 press conference alongside then-Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

“This measure is expected to remove the incentive for candidates to purchase an LMIA, resulting in increased fairness and integrity in the Express Entry system and taking some of the value out of the fraud already being perpetrated in the LMIA system,” Miller said.

Prior to this change, the LMIA incentive allowed temporary workers to get 50 to 200 points if offered an LMIA job, thus boosting the score on their permanent residency application. However, reports have surfaced that some LMIA job offers are being sold to temporary workers.

LMIAs are issued by the federal government to employers to allow them to hire foreign workers if unable to find a citizen or permanent resident to take the job.

Eliminating the incentive was one of several changes announced by the ministers to crack down on immigration fraud. The changes are part of a $1.3 billion plan that the government announced on Dec. 17 to bolster border security and strengthen the immigration system.

Ottawa has announced several immigration changes throughout 2024, including capping the number of student visas, reducing the number of permanent residents Canada plans to admit, making work visas harder to get, and pausing most private refugee sponsorship applications.

Other changes include having temporary residents apply online to extend their stay. Miller said the move will end “flag-poling,” a practice where someone travels to the United States and then quickly returns to the U.S.-Canada border as a way of speeding up their application at a port of entry.

The Liberal government is also looking at introducing legislative amendments that would allow Canada to suspend or cancel immigration documents when deemed to be in the public interest, such as in the case of mass fraud. This would include visas.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the number of temporary foreign workers. The goal was initially to fill gaps in the labour market.

Ottawa has also tightened the permit approval process for employers, such as refusing low-wage applications in places where unemployment is over 6 percent.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.