How Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program offers professional opportunities for Mexico’s skilled laborers, business people, and students abroad.
While Mexico’s breathtaking scenery and rich culture may make the Latin American nation seem like a paradise from the outside looking in, the nation’s sky-high unemployment rate has made it more difficult than ever for Mexican citizens to reach the quality of life they so wish to achieve. With more than 5 million unemployed adults across the country (or approximately 6 percent of the adult population), many of Mexican citizens’ best employment opportunities actually lie outside the country’s borders.
For those Mexicans able to find employment in their native country, potential earnings can be slim; Mexico’s federally mandated minimum wage sits at 172 pesos per day, setting up Mexican citizens in these common roles to earn just 62,780 pesos – or $4,326 CAD – per year.
Meanwhile, the once abundant opportunities to earn higher wages from private investment in Mexico grow scarcer with every passing day, as recently implemented government policies and the nation’s continued security issues have discouraged foreign companies from investing in Mexico.
That’s not to say Mexicans can’t still benefit from foreign employment – they may just need to leave Mexico soil to do so. The Canada-Mexico High-Level Economic Dialogue (DEAN) has recently highlighted bountiful economic opportunities between Canada and Mexico. With a whopping one million positions currently open for the taking across the Great White North, Canada is one of the most auspicious choices for Mexico’s skilled workers and business people alike to maximize their unique professional potential.
There are a variety of avenues in which Mexicans can legally immigrate for work opportunities in Canada under the country’s temporary foreign worker programs. Some require employers to obtain a labor market impact assessment (LMIA) demonstrating that the vacant job could not be filled by a Canadian. Other work permits are LMIA-exempt and allow for faster access to the Canadian market. An important LMIA-exempt work permit is the C-12 work permit for intra-company transfers. This allows Mexicans who are employed in a multinational company to obtain a temporary work permit to Canada through an intra-company transfer, so long as they are currently employed by a company outside of Canada that is affiliated with or has branches or subsidiaries located within Canadian borders. Roughly 80 work permit categories are available to Canadian employers wishing to hire overseas.
Once granted temporary residency, there are additional viable immigration routes for Mexicans to turn their short-term work stay into a permanent Canadian residency, including the Canadian Experience Class, which offers a direct avenue for Mexican workers with at least one year of full-time skilled work employment in Canada to become legal permanent residents. Canada’s Express Entry platform also allows eligible Mexican skilled workers to become permanent residents under the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades programs, while there are likewise various paths to both obtain Canadian Experience Class for international students or Express Entry for foreign students in Canada under Canadian immigration law. Some programs also allow fast track processes if a candidate is individually selected by a province under one of the country’s Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP’s).
Interested in making the most of Canada’s fruitful work opportunities for Mexicans and foreigners? When tackling Canada’s complex immigration procedures, a little bit of professional advice can go a long way in turning the Canadian professional role of your dreams into a reality.
