International grads in Manitoba get reprieve; work permits extended

About 6,700 international graduates who are working in Manitoba — and feared they’d be uprooted and forced to leave this year — got a special reprieve Tuesday from Canada’s immigration minister.

Marc Miller announced a plan to give open work permits to eligible temporary workers who have expressions of interest in the provincial nominee program.

“Within two years, we expect eligible candidates to receive an official nomination from Manitoba and become permanent residents,” Miller said in a social media post that included a letter he had sent to Malaya Marcelino, Manitoba’s immigration minister.

In February, Marcelino asked the federal immigration department to extend the work status of 6,700 temporary residents employed in Manitoba whose permits are set to expire this year. The extension was to give Manitoba time to work through a backlog of provincial nominee program applications.

“This is really great news for our province. This is really great news for about 6,700 workers, their families and for employers across the province who have been put into this desperate situation,” Marcelino told reporters.

In demonstrations at the legislature in recent months, international students and graduates called attention to their plight as the deadline loomed.

They said they decided to study in Manitoba because it promised a pathway to permanent resident status through the nominee program, but said they were excluded from any of its draws in recent months.

Marcelino blamed delays on a “huge backlog” of applications due, in part, to cuts made by the previous Tory administration, along with last year’s announcement by the federal government that it would no longer grant 18-month work permit extensions to foreign nationals.

Although she had asked Miller for a three-year work permit extension, she said it was her “pleasure” to let those who are waiting and worrying, know that they have another two years to work while their applications are processed.

“It’s really, really important to our business community. Our province requires it because we don’t have enough natural population growth.”– NDP Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino

“We’re here to champion them and welcome them in the province and work on our immigration system and our processes so that we can include them over the next two years as part of the draws,” Marcelino said.

“Immigration is really important to our communities across the province,” said the daughter of immigrants from the Philippines.

“It’s really, really important to our business community. Our province requires it because we don’t have enough natural population growth,” she said. “This is, in lots of ways, our bread and butter,” she said.

Miller acknowledged the difficulty of Manitoba losing 6,700 workers, in his letter to Marcelino.

“This situation is creating a challenge for Manitoba’s labour needs,” Miller wrote. He wrote that details of the policy, including “additional eligibility requirements as well as other conditions,” will be spelled out in a letter of intent in the near future.

Some international graduates said they are anxiously waiting to find out details about the eligibility requirements and conditions.

“We in the Chinese community are hotly debating what the details of this policy will be,” said the member of the Manitoba International Students Union, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.

They worry they may still be excluded from the nominee program draw.

Marcelino offered reassurances to them Tuesday.

“We have many of these folks here already and it makes perfect sense to have them included as part of our nominations that we draw.”

Progressive Conservative immigration critic Jodie Byram said the two-year work permit extension is the result of political pressure applied by international students and skilled workers who had the courage to demonstrate at the legislature.

While the federal minister’s announcement buys more time for international grads to stay and become nominees, it won’t increase the number of provincial nominee slots allocated for Manitoba.

Winnipeg Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux said Manitoba has an obligation to those who came to study and work here who understood they’d have a better shot at permanent resident status through the provincial nominee program.

The nominee program offers multiple pathways to immigration. The skilled worker stream is for internationally trained and experienced workers who have the skills needed in the local labour market. The international education stream offers a nomination fast-track to students who graduate in Manitoba and meet industry needs.

The program uses a point system, which is based on criteria that includes job and language skills, education, and family ties to the province, to determine who is eligible to apply for permanent resident status. Draws are held periodically to invite candidates in several different categories, who entered Canada on temporary work permits or to attend post-secondary institutions, to submit full applications for permanent residence status.

“We made a commitment collectively to a lot of people that came to Manitoba to study,” Lamoureux said. “We now have an opportunity to fulfil that commitment,” said the former MLA, who was a member of the legislature when the PCs started the nominee program more than 30 years ago.

“Manitoba is in a great position to meet the dreams of so many of those international students who are working in our community, in health care, construction or in our restaurants. They studied in Manitoba, worked in Manitoba. They should be entitled to live in Manitoba.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca