Migrants may come to Canada in a number of circumstances for the purposes of employment. If seeking permanent residence status, under section 12(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2001), migrant workers must fulfil certain criteria. They must either come within the skilled worker class or business class of migrant workers.

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Migrants may come to Canada in a number of circumstances for the purposes of employment. If seeking permanent residence status, under section 12(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2001), migrant workers must fulfil certain criteria. They must either come within the skilled worker class or business class of migrant workers. Applicants must submit their application in compliance with Rules in force, the relevant rules are published on the Canadian Immigration and Citizenship website (CIC) (1). To travel to Canada as skilled workers, individuals must have at least one year’s experience, obtained within the previous ten years, in a designated category of work. An extensive number of occupations are included in the designated categories and include: administrative workers, carpenters, chefs, dentists, graphic designers, journalists and judges. Certain occupations are restricted and such type of experience cannot be used to make an application for entry as a skilled worker, at the time of writing there were no restricted occupations. Applicants must have sufficient language skills in one of the official Canadian languages (English and French) and have sufficient funds, which must be proven, to support themselves and their family for six months after entry. However if the applicant has arranged employment prior to entry they do not have to prove that they have sufficient funds to support themselves.

Business class migrant workers are persons who can invest in, or start businesses in Canada and are expected to support the development of the Canadian economy. A Business Immigration Program seeks to attract people experienced in business to Canada. These persons are selected on their ability to become economically established in Canada, they may fall into three categories, investors, entrepreneurs and self-employed persons. A considerable minimum net investment applies to the two first categories.

Migrant workers may also enter Canada for the purposes of temporary work. Such workers must have valid work permits. In order to obtain permits an employer must first offer them a job. The Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) must normally provide a labour market opinion or 'confirmation' of the job offer after which the worker may apply to the CIC for a work permit. Certain types of work are exempt from the process of HRDC confirmation, these include certain types of entrepreneurs, people taking part in Company transfers, judges and referees and emergency service providers.

Regular migrant workers are entitled to the same work conditions as citizens of Canada. Provisions of the Labour Code of Canada refer to ‘employees’ and are not restricted to Canadian citizens. Section 160 for example provides that the standard hours of work of an employee shall not exceed eight hours in a day and forty hours in a week; and that no employer shall cause or permit an employee to exceed these working hours. Section 178 provides that employers must pay employees not less than the minimum wage set under the Act or the province in which the employee works.

Analysis provided by: Anisa Niaz LLM (Public Law), United Kingdom.

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