Please forward this to ONE Canadian immigrant today and tell them to subscribe here.

TL;DR

Nova Scotia business owners are urging Ottawa to overhaul immigration rules after skilled foreign workers lost work authorization or left Canada while waiting for permanent residence.

The complaints come as the federal government reduces immigration targets and concentrates economic selection on specific occupations. Employers say those changes offer little certainty to workers who have spent years building careers in Canada but now face expiring permits.

A CBC News report published July 25 detailed cases involving Halifax-area companies in video production, communications, and food service. The employers described the loss of trained staff and the personal costs of prolonged immigration uncertainty.

Dave Culligan, the owner of Threesixfive Media, said video content specialist Zen Sun worked for him for three years. Before going back to China, Sun had spent seven years living in Canada and had studied at NSCAD.

Culligan said Sun stood out during a competitive hiring process and became one of the company’s best employees. Before Sun left, the two produced a video about foreign workers and local employers affected by immigration policy changes.

Sun said in the video that he believed if he “contributed, stayed patient and followed the rules, there would be a future for us here.”

Culligan said the departure hurt a small company that had invested in Sun’s development. “It feels like there's a lack of communication, a lack of clarity and just a lot of confusion in the system,” he said.

Mike Mills, president and chief executive officer of Cabco Communications Group, described a similar problem involving two employees. Both had lived in Canada for about five years and were waiting for permanent-residence decisions as their permits approached expiry.

Mills expected their work authorization to be renewed while the applications remained in progress. Instead, he said, both employees were effectively given 90 days to leave Canada in April.

“We invest in these employees,” Mills said. “There's training involved. It takes a while for employees to ramp up and become kind of a core part of your business and when they lose their work permits, you're basically starting over.”

The federal government’s 2025–2027 Immigration Levels Plan reduced planned permanent-resident admissions to 395,000 in 2025 and 380,000 in 2026. The target falls again to 365,000 in 2027. The previous plan had aimed for 500,000 admissions annually.

Ottawa also set targets for new temporary-resident arrivals for the first time. The 2026 target is 516,600, and the government wants temporary residents to make up five per cent of Canada’s population by the close of 2026.

The government said lower immigration levels would ease pressure on housing and public services. It also said more than 40 per cent of permanent residents admitted in 2025 were expected to be people already living in Canada as workers or students.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has also redirected Express Entry toward selected labour needs. Categories announced in February 2026 cover foreign doctors with Canadian experience, researchers, senior managers, and transport workers. Separate invitation rounds continue for strong French speakers and workers in health care or skilled trades.

Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said the categories would support provincial priorities and direct newcomers toward skills that communities need. Mills argued that Ottawa should also give clearer priority to people already working in Canada. IRCC did not respond to CBC’s interview request before its July 25 report was published.

Sarah McInnes, an immigration lawyer at McInnes Cooper, said employers and clients have reported indefinite waits for permanent-residence decisions. She said a minor administrative error can produce a refusal, requiring the worker to stop working immediately.

“The smallest administrative error on an application can lead to a refusal,” McInnes said. She proposed giving applicants an opportunity to correct mistakes and continue working while submitting the corrected information.

IRCC’s processing-time guidance says published estimates are neither guarantees nor maximum waiting periods. Timelines can change with application volumes, staffing, complexity, security screening, and requests for additional information.

Luca Ferrante, owner of Sapori Italian Street Food on the Halifax waterfront, also faced uncertainty over his status. Originally from Italy, he employs four permanent workers and 15 part-time workers during the summer.

His permanent-residence process had lasted almost seven years by the time of CBC’s report. Ferrante was on his fourth work permit, which expires in October 2026. A previous permit application was refused, prompting him to leave Canada so he could complete the process and return to work sooner.

McInnes expects Ferrante will need another permit because his permanent-residence application is unlikely to be completed before October. She said the anticipated application could leave him on maintained status for four to five months, allowing him to work but making travel risky because leaving Canada could affect that status.

Ferrante said he would have to sell the restaurant and return to Italy if he could not remain in Canada.

Restaurant owners elsewhere in Halifax have reported similar staffing pressure. In a separate May report, owners said provincial selection had prioritized temporary foreign workers in health care and construction since 2025, reducing permanent-residence prospects for restaurant employees in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

If your work permit expires while another application is being processed, do not assume that a permanent-residence application automatically extends your right to work. Maintained status depends on the application filed, its timing, and whether you remain in Canada.

Before your permit expires, confirm the conditions attached to your current status and keep proof that a complete extension application was submitted on time. Get qualified advice before travelling outside Canada, changing employers, or responding to a refusal. IRCC processing estimates can help with planning, but they do not guarantee a decision date.