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GUEST COLUMNIST: New way to recruit from the global refugee population

A new visa pathway is open to Canadian employers that is simpler than many alternatives, and has a humanitarian impact. 

The visa pathway falls under Canada’s Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP), an immigration program that supports employers to recruit and relocate people to Canada who have needed skills and who are currently living in a refugee situation.

It’s a brilliant model because there are many thousands of people with competitive skills and experience who had to leave their home country for safety and are now part of the global refugee population. Take Afghanistan as an example: After the Taliban took power in August 2021, more than one million people crossed the border into Pakistan and others into Turkiye, Iran and beyond. Among them were nurses, electrical engineers, mechanics, and many other professionals. 

A tragedy of displacement is that often the countries where people seek safety don’t have the resources or the political will to welcome them. Despite their skills and potential, many people in refugee situations don’t have work rights and may be working in informal or unrelated jobs to make a living. They can’t advance their careers or plan their futures. The EMPP program makes it possible for Canadian employers to hire from this talent pool. Employers can extend a life-changing job opportunity, and support a new colleague and their family to leave refugee circumstances.

A simple, swift visa
First launched in 2018, the EMPP is the first program of its kind globally that is designed to overcome barriers that traditionally block people in refugee situations from successfully applying for a skilled visa, such as holding expired documents from their home country. The program has evolved over the years, getting increasingly easier to use. The latest visa pathway opened in the summer of 2023, and is slowly gaining awareness and momentum.

In brief, this visa is simple and swift. It’s open to employers in any location outside Quebec, and any job position at any skill level. There’s a single application to the federal government, and no Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) or other job-posting period. The processing time is six months, which is competitive with other alternatives like LMIA-backed work permits. It’s a permanent residence visa pathway meaning there is no downstream paperwork or renewals for employers, and the job candidate is able to bring their spouse and dependent children.

To get started, employers can reach out to an organization like TalentLift, a non-profit international recruitment agency dedicated to supporting Canadian employers to recruit and relocate talent from within refugee populations. Non-profit partners can find candidates and set up remote interviews, submit visa applications for successful candidates, and coordinate travel. Employers should be prepared to offer a full-time, non-seasonal job, and to share costs of relocation.

A promising talent pool
The global refugee population is a promising talent pool for Canada’s greenhouse sector. Many are from countries with widespread farming and manufacturing industries. In a sample of 21,000 candidates registered with TalentLift, there are nearly 2,000 whose skills fall in natural resources and agriculture, including 571 managers in agriculture and horticulture, and 132 nursery and greenhouse professionals. Other attractive skill sets are the 2,665 engineers, 2,372 machine operators and mechanics, 1,203 truck drivers, 773 software developers, and 781 data scientists. 

Get started meeting them. You’ll meet candidates like Najeeb, an electrical engineer from Afghanistan hired by a telecom company in London, Ont. Najeeb was living as a refugee with his spouse and their two young daughters when he had a Canadian job interview. The family has now settled into their new community. Najeeb shared: “it was a gift for me to be back to work in my field.”  

Dana Wagner is the Co-Founder and Managing Director with TalentLift, a non-profit international recruitment agency supporting Canadian employers to recruit and relocate talent from within refugee populations as a solution to skills shortages in Canada and displacement worldwide.