Canada work permit delays: What's happening to thousands of migrants?

Thousands of migrant workers in Canada, including Indian nationals, are stuck in a legal vacuum after losing their work permits due to growing delays in the paperwork renewal process. Without valid permits, they are unable to work or access healthcare, despite paying taxes and having arrived in the country legally.

 

One of them is Devi Acharya, who moved from India to British Columbia in October 2022 with her husband and son. She was employed in housekeeping at Prince Rupert’s Highliner Hotel, a job she said she enjoyed. The family recently bought a house.

 

But after applying for a new labour market impact assessment (LMIA) in September, they received no response. As a result, their work permits expired. They now live in Canada without work authorisation and no access to provincial health insurance.

 

 

In March, Acharya suffered a miscarriage. She did not go to the hospital because she couldn’t afford another medical bill.

 

“If I got medical attention on time, maybe we could have saved the baby,” she told Reuters.

 

Her son Navdev, now five, is also unable to attend school.

 

“Two years before we were dreaming of making Canada home,” she said. “And now it’s shattering.”

 

Her case is just one among many.

 

What is driving the crisis?

 

The delays stem from both stricter immigration rules and growing political pressure to reduce the number of temporary residents, said Ravi Jain, a Canada-based immigration attorney and member of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (CILA).

 

“The government brought in much stricter rules to stem the number of temporary residents in general. About 10 years ago, there were 300,000 temporary residents and today there are over 3 million,” Jain told Business Standard. “This fairly dramatic increase has led to a public backlash which political parties are responding to leading up to the federal action taking place shortly.”

 

Darshan Maharaja, a Canada-based immigration analyst, told Business Standard that visa processing has not kept up with demand.

 

“At one point, it was reported that there were 2.4 million pending applications. As of December last year, LMIA applications received in March were being processed,” he said.

 

“A lot of political pressure has built up on the immigration policy, which required the government to cut down the numbers in different kinds of visa policies such as international students and foreign workers. In some cases, existing work permits are not being renewed.”

 

Why are the backlogs growing?

 

According to Jain, backlogs are largely due to volume.

 

“We see significant numbers of foreign nationals who wish to stay in Canada. Many were duped by non-lawyer immigration consultants who promised a guaranteed pathway from study permits to work permits to permanent residence.”

 

He warned migrants against relying on unauthorised consultants.

 

“If migrants are at risk of losing their legal status, they should consult a proper lawyer. All members of our association, including myself, must be a lawyer. Be wary of consultants who refer to themselves as lawyers but are not.”

 

Maharaja added, “??If there is a risk of losing legal status, migrants would be well advised to take recourse to legal means only to extend their stay in Canada, as otherwise they may be unable to secure a visa in the future.”

 

With elections underway in Canada, Maharaja said there has been no announcement of any temporary relief or solution.

 

Impact on employers

 

Employers are also affected by the uncertainty, according to Jain.

 

“Employers are quite concerned about keeping employees they have come to rely on and this is very difficult for them,” he said.