Why Migrants, Including Indians, Are Losing Work Permits In Canada

Thousands of migrants living in Canada, including Indians, are losing their work permits due to long delays in the paperwork renewal process, as growing backlogs and changing rules hinder efforts to maintain legal status. Despite paying taxes, migrants in Canada can't work legally or access medical care and other services if they lose their legal status.

Among those who lost their permit is Devi Acharya, who moved to Canada from India with her husband and son in October 2022. Acharya miscarried in March because she did not go to a hospital, as she could not afford another medical bill. She does not have health coverage for the same reason she cannot work -- her work permit expired while she waited for a labour market impact assessment, and if she sought medical care, she could be handed a hefty bill. 

"If I got medical attention on time, maybe we could have saved the baby," she told Reuters. 

Acharya was working in housekeeping at Prince Rupert's Highliner Hotel in British Columbia before she lost her job. she liked the work and recently bought a house with her husband. 

They applied for new labour market impact assessments in September, her immigration consultant told Reuters. They have received no response, and their work permits have expired. They are in Canada legally but cannot work. Their son, Navdev, now five years old, cannot go to school.

"Two years before we were dreaming of making Canada home," she said, "and now it's shattering."

Canada's Migrant Crisis

Canada has long blamed migrants for straining services and resources amid housing shortages and rising rents. Ottawa is trying to reduce the number of migrants and is reportedly relying on people to leave voluntarily to meet its targets. Living undocumented in Canada is rare in part because it is so difficult to access services without status. 

The labour market impact assessment processing time for temporary workers hoping to become permanent residents in Canada has been increasing since at least fall 2022. It has almost tripled from 58 business days in September 2023 to 165 business days in March 2025.

Quoting an email from Service Canada-- which processes these applications-- Reuters reported that as of April 1, 2025, the department was still processing labour market impact assessment applications submitted a year earlier.

"We are seeing a backlog now of more than a year. ... It's the first time we are seeing such a delay," said immigration consultant Kanwar Sierah.

It is not known exactly how many people have lost their work permits due to delays so far, but Reuters spoke to at least four families who are in this distress. 

According to Canada's immigration department, migrants can keep working as long as they get a labour market impact assessment needed to maintain their status within 60 days of applying to renew their work permit. But the department does not have guidelines for people who lost status because of long waits.

The department has attributed the lengthier waits, in part, to an influx of applications, but would not provide the number of applications pending by month. The number of people applying for work permits within the country has grown compared to last year, as has the share of those applications that Canada is refusing, data from Canada's immigration department shows.

Experts say changing rules, as well as more applicants, may be contributing to the growing backlog.

"People are losing their immigration status", Sierah said, and added that some people are working under the table for exploitative employers or falling victim to "unscrupulous actors" who give them bad advice, for example, by urging them to apply for asylum when they may not have a strong case.

Canada's Liberal government pledged to give undocumented people status but then backtracked and said it would provide it on a small scale for people working in certain sectors.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who leads polls ahead of an April 28 election, promises to cap immigration for now.