Ottawa Makes 16 New Jobs Eligible for Permanent Residence

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 12, 2022. The Canadian Press/ Patrick Doyle

Canada is now allowing foreign workers in 16 new occupations to apply for permanent residence, a move the government says aims to address “acute labour shortages across the country.”

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Sean Fraser announced on Nov. 16 that the government will now allow permanent residents to hold 16 new occupations that were not previously eligible, such as nurse aides, hospital attendants, and public school teachers’ assistants.

The new occupations will now be available to foreign workers applying for permanent residency under the Express Entry system.

Other new jobs available to permanent residents included in the announcement were transport truck drivers, sheriffs and bailiffs, and by-law enforcement officers.

Fraser said the new job allowances will make it “easier for workers to come here to fill key gaps in the labour market,” adding that the federal government took advice from Statistics Canada (StatCan) about which sectors were suffering the most from labour shortages.

StatCan reported in June that the country’s “unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio has decreased in every province” since the first quarter of 2021.

“The unemployment-to-job vacancy ratio in Canada is at a historical low, amid a record tight labour market,” StatCan said in its “Labour shortage trends in Canada” report, last updated on June 24.

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) recently dropped its requirement that enlistees be Canadian citizens, meaning that permanent residents can now apply to be in the military.

The CAF changed its basic recruitment requirements on Nov. 5 to allow citizens or permanent residents aged 18 years or older to apply for military enlistment so long as they have completed schooling at least up to grade 10.