Glossary of Terms

Immigrant: A person who chooses to settle permanently in another country

Foreign National: A person who is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident

Temporary Resident: A foreign national who is granted lawful entry into Canada on a temporary basis under the authority of a valid document issued for the purpose of entering Canada. Temporary residents include students, foreign workers, business travelers and visitors, such as tourists.  Valid documents may include a work permit, study permit, a visitor record or a permit processed under a special program such as the Refugee and Humanitarian Resettlement or In-Canada Asylum programs.

Permanent Resident: A foreign national who has legally immigrated to Canada and has been granted permanent resident status. Permanent Residents are not yet a Canadian citizen. They must live in Canada for at least 730 days (two years) within a five-year period or risk losing their status. Permanent residents have all the rights guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms such as equality rights, legal rights, and mobility rights, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association. They do not have the right to vote in elections.

Refugee: Refugees are individuals who have fled their countries because of conflict or a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or because of a political opinion. The Government of Canada receives refugees who have undergone detailed scrutiny, security checks, identity verification, and medical tests before they are selected to come to the country. Once a refugee arrives in Canada, they receive permanent resident status and are able to work and avail of all programs and services as Canadians, with the exception of the right to vote.  Refugees do not require work permits.

International Workers: A foreign national who has been granted permission by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to legally work in Canada on a temporary basis.  International Workers may come to Canada via the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or the International Mobility Program. International Workers are usually issued closed work permits that specify the employer, occupation and duration for which they are allowed to work.

International Student: Temporary residents who are legally authorized to study full-time in Canada at an eligible post-secondary institution on a temporary basis. With a few exceptions, international students are issued a study permit and are able to work on-campus without a work permit.  International students can apply for an off-campus work permit which may allow them to work for up to 20 hours per week during the academic semester and up to 40 hours per week during academic breaks. Note that international students working in essential services are exempt from this requirement as stipulated here.

International Graduate: International students who have completed at least half of their studies in Canada and have graduated from a publicly funded post-secondary Canadian educational institution.  Students must have studied on a full-time basis and completed a minimum of a oneor degree program. International Graduates may apply for a post-graduate work permit which allows them to work in Canada for up to three years.

Provincial Nominee: Economic immigrants selected by a province or territory for specific skills that will contribute to the local economy to meet specific labour market needs.  A nominee must meet federal admissibility requirements, such as those related to health and security.

Express Entry Skilled Worker: An economic immigration stream under the NL Provincial Nominee Program.  Prospective Express Entry candidate must have submitted and been accepted into Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s Express Entry pool. In order to be accepted into the pool, immigrants must meet the minimum entry criteria that demonstrate their ability to participate in the labour market and establish themselves economically in Canada.

Skilled Worker: An economic immigration stream under the NL Provincial Nominee Program. Prospective Skilled Worker candidate are selected for their ability to participate in the labour market and to establish themselves economically in Canada. Skilled workers are assessed on the basis of selection criteria that stress education, language ability and skilled work experience.

International Graduate: An economic immigration stream under the NL Provincial Nominee Program open to International graduates who hold a post-graduate work permit.

Prospective International Worker: A foreign national who has been recruited by an employer to fill a vacancy in their organization but has yet to receive approval from either the provincial or federal government to begin working for the employer. Approval may be granted upon successful application for a federal Labour Market Impact Assessment or a provincial Job Vacancy Assessment.

Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA): A federal labour market test completed by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) designed to assess an employer’s need to hire temporary foreign workers.  The assessment is based on the impact a temporary worker would have on Canada’s labour market (i.e.  how the offer of employment would affect Canadian jobs).  A positive LMIA is usually required prior to hiring international workers under the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Job Vacancy Assessment: A provincial labour market test completed by Immigration, Population Growth & Skills (IPGS) designed to support Newfoundland & Labrador employers in identifying their labour force challenges and evaluate the need to recruit in workers to fill permanent, full-time positions in their organizations.

Positive Job Vacancy Assessment: A positive job vacancy assessment determines that an employer has demonstrated a need to recruit and hire foreign workers for the identified permanent occupation(s) and location(s) listed on the job vacancy assessment application.

Negative Job Vacancy Assessment: A negative job vacancy assessment determines that an employer has not demonstrated a need to recruit and hire international workers.

National Occupation Classification (NOC) System: The authoritative resource on occupational information in Canada used to understand jobs found throughout Canada’ labour market. The NOC system lists more than 30,000 occupational titles in the Canadian labour market.  The NOC describes each occupation according to skill type and skill level. The system is used to collect and organize job statistics and to provide labour market information.

The National Occupational Classification system lists five (5) occupational skill levels.  They are as follows:

• Level O (managerial): management occupations across all skill types
• Level A (professional): professional occupations that usually require a university education.
• Level B (skilled and technical): skilled or technical occupations that usually require college education or apprenticeship training
• Level C (intermediate and clerical): intermediate and clerical occupations that usually require secondary school and/or occupation-specific training
• Level D (elemental and labourers): occupations that usually require on-the-job training be provided

For a detailed list of occupations by skills level, please review the NOC website here.

Indeterminate Full-time Position: A position with no anticipated end date that consists of a minimum of 1,560 hours of paid employment in a 12-month period or a minimum of 30h/week.

Seasonal: A seasonal worker is an employee who is hired to perform labour or services for a particular period or on cyclical basis. (i.e. seasonal agricultural workers)

Median Wage: The median wage is the point at which half of the workers had an equal or higher wage and half had an equal or lower wage, when wages are arranged in numerical order. The median wage for specific occupations for Newfoundland and Labrador can be determined by using the labour market information section on the national Job Bank or Statistics Canada chart of Earnings by NOC and Education Levels.  This information can be found here or here.

Recruitment Activities: Human resource strategies used to recruit prospective employees. Activities may include advertising the position on general employment websites, participation at job fairs, the use of professional recruitment agencies, consultations with labour unions, etc.

Settlement Assistance: Supports provided to foreign workers and their dependents, to assist in the successful economic establishment and long term retention in the province. Supports may include transportation cost from the prospective international worker’s country of residence, assisting the prospective international worker find suitable and affordable housing, and referral to a settlement agency or community organization for information about life and work in the province.

Settlement Orientation: Programs, activities and initiatives designed to assist immigrants and refugees with their settlement and integration needs.

Settlement Service Provider Organization: An agency or community organization that provides settlement services for newcomers to Canada. Services include programs that give newcomers resources and training to live and work in Canada.  Service may include assistance with day-to-day tasks like taking public transportation or making doctor’s appointments; interpretation and translation services and assistance in the completion of important forms and documents such as medical care plan, social insurance numbers, and permanent resident cards.

Work Permits: A document issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada that authorizes a person to work legally in Canada. There are two types of work permits; open work permits and employer specific work permits also known as closed work permits.

Open Work Permit: Enables an immigrant to seek and accept employment and to work for any employer for a specific period of time.  An open work permit may restrict the occupation or location.

Employer Specific Work Permit: Also known as a closed work permit, it allows foreign workers to work according to a set of specific conditions detailed on the permit.  Conditions may include, the type of work they can do, the employer they can work for, location where they can work, and how long they can work.

Third Party Representative: A person who has the permission of someone wanting to immigrate to Canada or obtain Canadian citizenship to conduct business with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) &/or Immigration, Population Growth & Skills (IPGS) on their behalf. The representative can be paid or unpaid. When someone appoints a representative, they may also authorize IRCC and/or ISL to share information from their case file with this person. Canada’s citizenship and immigration laws cover representatives and defines the terms of their services.