Precarious Work and Immigration

Work is changing. Increasing global corporatization, the evolution of artificial intelligence, the growth of the gig and informal economy, and other changes in industry are making work more precarious. The jobs available to many are less stable and more uncertain than in generations past. Workers are less likely to be in a union and more likely to be vulnerable to discrimination and mistreatment.

Along with these global shifts, the Canadian immigration system has also increased precarity for workers. Policy changes have expanded “opportunities” for migrants to come to Canada on a temporary basis, with the hope of eventually receiving permanent status. Temporary pathways often tie a migrant’s status to their employer, which far too often leaves workers vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.

These big-picture trends isolates workers from each other and puts them in competition. This too often leads to workers blaming other groups of workers, especially migrants, for the challenges they face.

Clarifying misunderstandings of how the immigration system actually works is important for recognizing workers’ common interests and building solidarity.

Undocumented Workers

Common assumptions that many Canadians have about undocumented workers are wrong. The vast majority of undocumented migrants did not illegally cross a border under the cover of darkness; many undocumented workers still pay most taxes despite not having access to basic services like health care and education.

The reality is that “illegalization is a systematic feature of the immigration system” (Goldring et al., 2024). That is, it is common for migrants who enter Canada with temporary status to experience periods where they lose their status even as they pursue permanent residency and secure status. The rules for temporary visas are complex and constantly shifting, and the bureaucracies that process them are critically slow and inflexible. Far from a clear binary of “legal” or “illegal,” the path to permanent residency is messy, complex, uncertain, and multi-directional (Goldring et al., 2024).

Abuse, exploitation, employer mistakes, and health problems are just some of the varied reasons why a migrant might lose temporary status. Generally, workers who choose to stay in Canada do so out of “a commitment to support their family as best they can” and “make every attempt they can to regain status“ (Foster & Luciano, 2020). Without status, migrants loose access to many basic services, including health care and education, and their health and wellbeing suffers. AWARE's Surviving the Canadian Dream project used art, audio interviews, and other media to explore the realities faced by individuals and families with precarious status.

Undocumented migrants are the most vulnerable “to exploitation by those who seek to profit from people’s uncertain futures“ (Goldring et al., 2024). Defending the most vulnerable workers is important for advancing the rights of all workers.

Temporary Foreign Workers

The Canadian Temporary Foreign Worker program has been widely criticized for exposing workers to exploitation and abuse. A United Nations special rapporteur called it a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of modern slavery” (Obokata, 2023) because it entrenches and worsens the power imbalance between employers and workers.

A temporary foreign worker’s employer directly controls their working conditions and their migration status. They are also often dependent on their employer for accessing other basic rights, such as housing or health care. Employers look to hire temporary foreign workers to fill low-paying, dangerous, and undesirable jobs, and the workers have very limited access to justice when they face mistreatment. The result is a program where abuse is systemic: it is built into the system, not an outlier (Amnesty International, 2025).

Advocates have long raised concerns about closed work permits that are tied to specific employers. Open work permits allow workers to find work elsewhere when facing mistreatment by an employer. Completely overhauling the Temporary Foreign Worker program is necessary; in the meantime, open work permits should be the standard for all temporary foreign workers.

International Students

International students studying at Canadian postsecondary institutions are increasingly vulnerable as well. Underfunded universities, colleges, and polytechnics have looked to the exorbitant fees they are allowed to charge international students as a way to fill revenue gaps, and the federal government has facilitated this with immigration policy.

Special rules limit whether and how much international students are allowed to work, restricting their ability to provide for themselves as they study. International students risk becoming undocumented if they encounter barriers to continuing their studies or inadvertently break one of the special rules limiting where they can work.

Immigration Scams

Canada’s complex immigration system has also encouraged the growth of scams targeting potential migrants with empty promises of guaranteed jobs and permanent residency.

Many migrants have been tricked into paying $10,000 or more for a lie, only to discover on arrival in Canada that the job they had been promised doesn’t exist or that they have not actually been accepted into the university they expected to attend. The Labour Market Impact Assessment required for employers to hire temporary foreign workers opens many opportunities for exploitation, such as workers being charged or having their wages docked to pay for a cost that the employer is supposed to cover, sometimes charging them many times the actual cost.

Root Causes of Migration

Canada’s immigration system exists within a global context. Employers in the Global North seek migrant workers to perform dangerous, dirty, or demeaning work, keeping wages low and workers divided. Workers in the Global South are pushed by economic, political, social, and environmental factors to seek work abroad.

Migrant workers build infrastructure and clean buildings; they grow, harvest, cook, and serve food; they take care of children, elders, and disabled family members. Their work upholds the Canadian economy. They are often separated from their families, who depend on the remittances they send back.

Migrant workers in Canada deserve more rights and better protections, including open work permits and stable paths to permanent residency. But they should also have the right and opportunity to stay in their home countries. The root causes of migration overlap with the enduring impacts of colonization, imperialism, globalization, and climate change.

Recognizing these interconnected international factors, AWARE is an affiliate member of the International Migrants Alliance. We also work in alignment with the Canada-wide Migrant Rights Network.

References

Amnesty International. (2025). Canada has destroyed me: Labour exploitation of migrant workers in Canada. https://amnesty.ca/temporary-foreign-workers-report/

Foster, J., & Luciano, M. (2020). In the shadows: Living and working without status in Alberta. Parkland Institute. https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/in_the_shadows

Goldring, L., Landolt, P., Joly, M-P., & Abji, S. (2024). Hidden in plain sight: Precarious legal status trajectories and their long-term consequences. CEP Project. https://cep.info.yorku.ca/reports-briefs/

Obokata, T. (2023). End of mission statement. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences. United Nations. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/09/canada-anchor-fight-against-contemporary-forms-slavery-human-rights-un