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Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Changes to the employment contract for temporary foreign workers working as exotic dancers in Canada

Questions and Answers

1. Why is Human Resources and Skills Development Canada/Service Canada making these changes?
2. What is different in the case of transportation costs?
3. What is different in the case of Health Care Coverage?
4. Are these amendments going to cost the employer more money?
5. When will these changes come into effect?
6. What does this mean when an employer applies for an Exotic Dancer Labour Market Opinion?
7. Will this cause delays?

1. Why is Human Resources and Skills Development/Service Canada making these changes?

These amendments are being implemented in order to better define the rights and obligations of employers regarding dancers’ transportation costs as well as to improve on dancers’ health care insurance coverage upon their arrival in Canada until provincial coverage starts.

2. What is different in the case of transportation costs?

1. The temporary foreign worker is currently outside of Canada: In this case, the employer is always responsible for paying the round trip transportation costs to bring a foreign exotic dancer to Canada and to the location of work. The employer must also pay for the worker's return to his/her country of permanent residence. These costs cannot be passed on to the temporary foreign worker and under no circumstances are transportation costs recoverable from a temporary foreign worker working as an exotic dancer in Canada.

2. The temporary foreign worker is currently in Canada: Under this scenario, the employer agrees to pay the costs of transporting the employee form his/her current Canadian address to the employer’s location of work in Canada and one-way transportation back to the employee’s country of permanent residence. To hire a temporary foreign worker who is already working in Canada as an exotic dancer, you must apply for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) and receive a letter from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada(HRSDC)/Service Canada confirming that your offer of employment is approved. The foreign worker must apply for a new work permit at Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

3. When a foreign dancer leaves his/her position and goes to work for a new employer, as the original employer, you are no longer responsible for paying the transportation costs provided the new employer has received a positive or neutral LMO from HRSDC/Service Canada. The new employer must pay the transportation costs to bring the worker to the new location of work as well as pay the return transportation to the country of permanent residence.

Notice for a Group of Employers: The process for a group of employers employing an exotic dancer in Canada has not changed. For further information, please refer to Section D.13 of the Employer Information Bulletin.

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3. What is different in the case of Health Care Coverage?

The employer must provide health care insurance at no cost to the foreign worker upon his/her arrival in Canada until he/she is eligible for provincial health care. If the foreign worker is not eligible for provincial health care, you must pay for health insurance coverage for the duration of the foreign worker’s employment contract.

4. Are these amendments going to cost the employer more money?

In regard to transportation costs, perhaps not, depending if the employer is requesting a LMO for a temporary foreign worker already in Canada, the employer will be required to cover the transportation costs from the temporary foreign worker’s current address to the new location of work, and to pay only for a return ticket to his/her country of residence once the job is completed.

In regard to health care coverage, yes. The employer will be responsible for assuming the cost of health care coverage until the provincial coverage is available to the employee, and for the duration of his/her contract should the worker not be eligible for provincial coverage.

5. When will these changes come into effect?

The changes will be effective for LMO requests received by Service Canada on or after January 11, 2009.

6. What does this mean when an employer applies for an Exotic Dancer LMO?

These changes will not have any impact on how employers apply for a LMO. The LMO will continue to be assessed as usual following the same criteria pursuant to section 203 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Furthermore, all other requirements for employers of exotic dancers contained in the Employer Information Bulletin remain valid and are part of the assessment process.

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7. Will this cause delays?

We are not anticipating any delays that would be caused by these new measures.