When it comes to the approval of people’s rights and demands, Canada is always among the first. Recently, Canada extends her benevolence to immigrant workers on employer-specific work permits by offering Open Work Permits. Temporary foreign workers generally need to obtain a new work permit to change their job. It’s a complicated and time-consuming process.
As these temporary workers can’t get a suitable job, they had to go into a secret agreement with the employers. Employers exploit these migrants workers’ vulnerability. In most cases, they force them to do overtime and give them abysmal salaries. As a matter of fact, they may lack workplace safety. Comparing to the general workers, the risk of workplace abuse is very high for temporary migrant workers.
To protect the immigrant worker, the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) gives Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) the jurisdiction to issue Open Work Permits for the vulnerable immigrant workers.
Don’t know what the Open Work Permits are and how these would help? Don’t worry; we’re here to explain! So, without further ado, let’s get straight into what open work permits are!
Open Work Permits: What Are These?
Open Work Permits are the legal documents permitting immigrant workers to work in different workplaces all across Canada. Immigrant workers in Canada don’t have to tie to a specific employer or location.
Open Work Permits are certainly going to improve the condition of temporary foreign workers in Canada – but, this is also going to have an impact on business in Canada. Now, there are many reasons to believe why Open Work Permits will improve Canadian businesses as a whole –
- Open Work Permit will increase worker numbers.
- Less stress ensures more productivity.
- The multicultural workplace will attract more consumers.
- Open Work Permits mean lower wages.
How Open Work Permit Helps
Open Work Permit will increase the number of workers
There are many foreign students in Canada that are looking for jobs for extra cash. But they don’t get any opportunities. Besides, there are many immigrant spouses. Many of these families only have one earning family member.
Open Work Permit will allow these potential workers to contribute to the business in Canada. Generally, most Open Work Permit workers may not as skillful as regular workers. But they are young, fresh and energetic. So in the end, this policy is certainly going to cover up a great deal of Canada’s workforce shortage.
Less stress ensures more productivity
Temporary foreign workers on specific work permits are vulnerable to more stress at work. In fact, statistics show that work stress is one of the critical reasons for mental illness. Canada has already great policies on stress leave. Stress Leave in Alberta is a prevailing situation, and the province of Alberta does a lot to accommodate stressed workers in general.
The multicultural workplace will attract more consumers.
Open Work Permits will increase the diversity in the Canadian workplace as it allows more immigrants to find jobs more manageable. Workplace diversity brings more creativity and variation to the business.
Open Work Permits mean lower wages
Open Work Permits will generally ensure that labor costs don’t rise as much as they usually would. Immigrant workers are generally much more accepting of lower wages compared to native workers. This allows employers to hire more laborers, grow more profit, and expand their business.
The Bottom Line
Want to know more about Open Work Permits? Here are some pros and cons to help you;
- Even with an Open Work Permit, an immigrant employee is not allowed to accept a job from some specific employers.
- If the employers offer erotic services, then foreign workers are not allowed even if they have Open Work Permits.
- There are two types of Open Work Permits- Unrestricted and Restricted. Unrestricted Open Work Permits allow the immigrant workers to work in any location and any occupation whereas Restricted Open Work Permits limit the workers in a certain location and occupation.
As always, we are here to help you understand your rights and take pride in fighting for them. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for any of your immigration law in Calgary needs.
