Province offering work-permit extension for temporary residents hoping to make Manitoba permanent home

Faced with “desperate” labour shortages, Manitoba announced a two-year work permit extension Tuesday for prospective provincial nominee program candidates.

“For those that want to continue staying here in Manitoba and working here in Manitoba and trying to make Manitoba their forever home, this is the program for you,” Labour and Immigration Minister Malaya Marcelino said in an interview.

Provincial nominee program candidates whose work permits expired in 2024 or expire in 2025 will be eligible to apply for the two-year extension specifically to work in Manitoba under temporary public policy, she said.

The extension will apply only to those who are employed in Manitoba and intend to establish themselves as permanent Manitoba residents.

“There will be attestations that folks will have to sign,” the minister said. “That’s very important, because this is for Manitoba, not just so people can get permanent residency and move on.

“Under the Tories (there was) a terrible retention rate, and we’re still dealing with that aftermath.”

Those who are eligible can apply for a support letter from the province by completing an online submission starting next Tuesday.

“We know that this kind of policy will help with retention, because the longer that folks stay in Manitoba… the deeper the roots that they grow, the longer they’re here,” Marcelino said.

The province is required to negotiate work-permit extensions with the federal government, which in December 2023 suddenly stopped allowing visitors to apply for work permits and extensions from within Canada, she said.

“It was quite drastic and fast and it was hard for folks to adjust, especially for employers,” said Marcelino.

In February last year, Marcelino negotiated with the federal Immigration Department to extend the work status of 6,700 temporary residents employed in Manitoba whose permits were set to expire in 2024.

“I’ve had a lot of employers come to us from across the province, especially those in… rural areas (saying) ‘Can you help us out with this, with making sure that we still have workers in our factories and in our small businesses?’” she said.

Dauphin employers, for example, expressed concerns this year that they could lose 78 people whose permits were to expire.

The province will also negotiate with the next federal government to increase Manitoba’s provincial nominee program allocation, which was cut to 4,750 in 2025 from 9,540 in 2024 as immigration levels across Canada were sharply reduced, Marcelino said.

“This is a very, very high priority for our government to make sure that we can increase our PNP federal allotment,” she said. “It’s certainly nowhere near enough of what we need for our province.”

The nominee program offers multiple pathways to immigration. The skilled worker stream is for internationally trained and experienced workers who are 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.

Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux said the two-year work permit extension should help international students who chose to study in Manitoba because their decision promised a pathway to permanent resident status through the provincial nominee program.

“For those who have work permits that are expiring but they have yet to hear back from the nominee program, this will help provide some confidence that they can stay here in Manitoba in the hopes of being chosen for provincial nominee program,” Lamoureux said.

PC immigration critic Konrad Narth asked if Tuesday’s announced work permit extension isn’t “just kicking the problem down the road,” rather than addressing a “desperate” skilled labour shortage in Manitoba.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca