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Canada aims to admit up to 230,000 temporary foreign workers through its key programs by 2026, according to the federal government's annual immigration levels plan. The country expects to admit 60,000 workers via the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and 170,000 through the International Mobility Program (IMP) in the current year.

Canada is also introducing new rules that could enable some employers with multiple small work locations to hire more low-wage temporary foreign workers. Previously, employers were restricted to hiring low-wage workers that constituted no more than 10% of their workforce through the TFWP, with a 20% cap for certain sectors like healthcare, construction, and food production.

Under the new rules, employers can now hire one low-wage temporary foreign worker at a work location with fewer than 10 employees, and up to two workers per qualifying small location in specified in-demand sectors. These changes could benefit businesses operating multiple small sites, as they can calculate the alternative cap based on the workforce at each individual location rather than their overall workforce.

The calculation includes full-time and part-time employees, temporary foreign workers with approved Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) who have not started working, and vacant positions for which the employer has submitted an LMIA application. Part-time employees working fewer than 30 hours per week are counted as half an employee for the calculation.

However, employers must still obtain a positive or neutral Labour Market Impact Assessment before hiring temporary foreign workers through the TFWP. The federal government has also maintained other restrictions on low-wage TFWP hiring, such as not processing low-wage LMIA applications for positions in urban areas with unemployment above 6% as of September 2024.

Employers hiring workers through the low-wage stream must also meet additional requirements, including paying transportation costs and providing suitable housing and private health insurance to the worker if they are not covered by a provincial or territorial health plan.