Canada Expands Access to Low-Wage Jobs for Foreign Workers Under New Permit Rules
- Employment and Social Development Canada announced an update to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program on August 18, 2026
- The new rules calculate workforce hiring caps per individual business location rather than across an employer's total staff count
- Small work sites with fewer than 10 employees can now bring in at least one low-wage foreign worker under the revised policy
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Canada has overhauled a key aspect of its Temporary Foreign Worker Programme (TFWP), making it easier for businesses with several small branches to recruit international staff for lower-paid roles.
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced the policy change on August 18, 2026.
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The central shift moves away from calculating low-wage foreign worker caps based on an employer's entire workforce, applying them instead to each individual work location.
How Canada's new site-based hiring caps work
Under the standard TFWP framework, low-wage foreign workers cannot exceed 10% of a company's total workforce.
That ceiling rises to 20% for businesses in health care, construction, and food production, three sectors the government classifies as priorities.
The updated rules introduce a site-specific approach that benefits smaller branches. Any eligible work location with fewer than 10 employees may now hire one low-wage foreign worker.
Sites operating in one of the three priority sectors are permitted up to two foreign workers per location.
Part-time employees working fewer than 30 hours per week count as half a staff member when determining site headcounts.
What qualifies as low-wage position in Canada?
A role falls into the low-wage category when its pay is below 120% of the regional median hourly wage. In Ontario, that threshold currently sits at $36.92 per hour.
Employers hiring through the low-wage stream carry several obligations toward the workers they bring in.
They must cover the cost of return transportation and ensure that any housing provided or arranged does not exceed 30% of the worker's pre-tax income.
Where provincial health coverage is not yet available to a new arrival, the employer is also required to arrange private health insurance.
The revised rules are designed to give multi-site businesses, particularly those running numerous small outlets, a more practical framework for meeting staffing needs without falling foul of blanket workforce percentage limits.
Canada announces new open work permit
n a related development, YEN.com.gh reported that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada had extended the open work permit application deadline to December 31, 2026.
The relief targeted foreign nationals who had applied for permanent residence through the TR-to-PR pathway in 2021 and were still waiting for a decision.
IRCC outlined five key conditions applicants had to meet to qualify for the open work permit.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
