Operational Bulletin 260-B - April 12, 2011

Revised Salaries for Information Technology Workers Under the Software Development Pilot Destined to British Columbia or Quebec

Update: Facilitated process for British Columbia is extended to September 30, 2011, whereas the facilitated process for Quebec will remain in place until further notice.

Issue

The purpose of this Operational Bulletin is to advise ports of entry (POEs), inland offices and missions overseas, as well as prospective employers and temporary foreign workers (TFWs) of a change in the salary ranges for seven information technology (IT) occupations destined to British Columbia or Quebec pursuant to the Software Development Pilot (SDP).

Background

On September 30, 2010, the simplified entry process for IT specialists came to an end. The simplified entry process allowed for a national Labour Market Opinion (LMO) exemption for TFWs destined to seven specified IT occupations.

The province of British Columbia requested from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) that the previous exemption be extended until September 30, 2011, in their province to allow them to consider other facilitative measures for IT workers under federal-provincial foreign worker agreements. Therefore, this facilitated process will remain in place for workers destined to British Columbia until September 30, 2011. The facilitated process for workers destined to Quebec will remain in place until further notice.

Current Status

In Quebec and British Columbia, processing for IT workers will continue as per standard operating procedures under SDP, which stipulates seven IT occupations eligible for an LMO exemption.

In British Columbia, employers interested in hiring TFWs in one of the seven IT occupations will be required to advise HRSDC/Service Canada and the Ministry of Regional Economic and Skills Development of their intention.

As part of the assessment process, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) staff working at inland offices and at missions abroad, Border Services Officers and prospective employers should ensure that the foreign worker meets the minimum requirements relating to education, language, experience and salary. It is particularly important that the salary/wages offered to the foreign worker fall within the acceptable ranges identified for the given occupation. Please note that HRSDC recently revised the salaries for the seven specific IT occupations under the SDP. The salary changes have been posted on CIC’s website and additional information on assessment criteria can be found at www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/itw-jobs.asp#jobs1.

Additional Instructions

For the purposes of processing, the change in salary criteria will come into effect on February 1, 2011. Applications under the SDP for TFWs in one of the seven IT occupations destined to British Columbia or Quebec and received at CIC offices, missions, processing centres or at POEs up until January 31, 2011, will be processed using the previous salary ranges.

For ease of reference, see the salary chart below.

The 1997 rates are applicable to applications received up to January 31, 2011. The 2010 rates (now available on the IT workers webpage referenced above) are applicable to applications received on and after February 1, 2011.

*Salary range increases are based on annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) increases from 1997-2009.

Source: Citizenship and Immigration Canada; Statistics Canada (v41690973) (2010)

A reminder that IT companies in other provinces/territories that require TFWs are encouraged to use the LMO process.