New measure to address labour shortage: Family Work Permits

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, the Honorable Sean Fraser and Minister of Tourism
and Finance Randy Boissonnault announced on December 2 nd , 2022 that Canada would be extending
work permits to family members of Temporary Foreign Workers. This measure will help Canadian
employers in finding workers that they need and support foreign workers working in Canada.

Prior to this, spouses of foreign workers were only eligible to get a work permit if the principal applicant
worked in high skill occupation. However, starting January 2023, Canada is going to introduce two-year
temporary measure that will expand the eligibility to work in Canada to spouses and working aged
children for workers at all levels. It is estimated that family members of more than 200,000 foreign
workers would be able to work in Canada.

This will be a phased approach that will be implemented in three phases:
Phase 1 will enable family members of workers in Canada working in high-wage stream of the TFWP or
the International Mobility Program.
Phase 2 will be expand the measure to the family members of workers from low-wage stream of the
TFWP.
Phase 3 will include consultation with agricultural partners and stakeholders to assess operational
feasibility for expanding the measure to family members of agricultural workers.
It is expected that this measure will help filing labour gaps for Canadian employers as well as will help
reuniting families of foreign workers in Canada.