Sean Fraser, Canada’s Immigration minister announced on Dec 2nd, 2022 that Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) will expand the eligibility of Open Work Permits (OWP) to the spouses and working-age children of the people who are currently under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) i.e. are in Canada on a Work Permit.
OWP holders are legally allowed to work in Canada for any employer and in any job. This step by IRCC is to incentivize skilled foreign nationals to immigrate to Canada. Immigrants have been a major source of talent for the growing job market and provide strength to the Canadian economy.
This policy will benefit more than 200,000 new work permit applications from families of existing work permit holders. The program is expected to be implemented at the start of 2023, in three phases:
Phase 1: High-wage stream—For spouses of higher paid workers
Phase 2: Provinces and territories stream—For spouses of lower wage workers
Phase 3: Families of agriculture workers