Up to 33,000 temporary foreign workers who live in rural and remote communities are now eligible for an accelerated transition to permanent residency.
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, these new residents are already filling labour shortages in key economic sectors, including in small and rural communities with gaps such as the Peace Region.
“This initiative is designed to promote economic growth and address labour shortages in key sectors where they are most needed — in smaller Canadian communities,” Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said in a news release. “By transitioning temporary residents who are already living and contributing to their communities to permanent residence, we’re providing the certainty and the stability needed to maintain and grow vibrant local economies.”
Up to 33,000 foreign workers will see their permanent residency applications fast-tracked between 2026 and 2027 under the one-time initiative. According to the immigration department, 20,000 workers will be transitioned to permanent residency in 2026, with the remainder in 2027.
B.C. Premier David Eby has been critical of the Temporary Foreign Program in the past. When the federal government announced changes to the program in March, he said Ottawa should instead focus on improving the pathway to permanent residency.
First mentioned in the November budget, the “In-Canada Workers Initiative” was formally unveiled on Monday. Ottawa says 3,600 workers have already been granted permanent residency under the initiative so far this year.
The In-Canada Workers Initiative is not a new permanent residency pathway. Instead, it is designed to automatically fast-track eligible applications as they are filed. To be eligible, foreign workers must have spent at least two years living in a smaller Canadian community and be part of an established immigration program such as the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, community immigration pilots, caregiver pilots or the AgriFood Pilot.
The federal government says the initiative supports efforts to reduce the number of temporary residents to five per cent of Canada’s population by the end of 2027.
‘The messaging created false hope’
In an online statement, the Migrant Rights Network advocacy group criticized Diab and the Liberal government, saying many migrants were previously led to believe that Ottawa was creating a new permanent residency program.
“The Minister’s misleading and irresponsible statements created false hope for tens of thousands of migrants who hoped this program would be their chance at a future in Canada,” the group said. “Prime Minister Carney’s government prefers to win good press through fake promises and selling old policies as new ones.”
In a statement to CTV News, an immigration department spokesperson acknowledged that this is not a new program that people can apply for.
“The initiative focuses on individuals already in Canada who have established strong roots in their communities and are contributing to the economy,” the immigration spokesperson explained. “While eligible applicants won’t be formally notified to say that they qualify, their applications will be processed faster while they continue to contribute to smaller communities across Canada.”
Al Parsai, a Toronto-based immigration practitioner and adjunct professor at Queen’s University’s law faculty, says immigration officials could have done a better job communicating their intentions in the 2025 Budget, which simply said that Ottawa would create a “measure to accelerate the transition of up to 33,000 work permit holders to permanent residents over the next two years.”
“Many temporary residents heard ‘33,000 workers’ and ‘permanent residence’ and reasonably thought a new pathway was coming,” Parsai told CTVNews.ca. “I would not say Ottawa necessarily misled people intentionally, but the messaging created false hope.”
Toronto-based immigration consultant Kubeir Kamal says initial messaging in the 2025 budget was broader than the narrowly-focused “processing reprioritization” that was unveiled this week.
“Calling it an ‘initiative’ and attaching a ministerial announcement to it is a communications choice, not a policy innovation,” Kamal told CTVNews.ca. “For many workers who heard 33,000 and thought they might qualify, the eligibility criteria is going to be a hard landing.”
With Files from CTV’s Daniel Otis.