SOUTHERN FLOOD Frequently asked legal questions

Temporary Foreign Workers

My status as a temporary resident is about to If you need to extend your status beyond September expire. What are my next steps? 19, 2013, you must submit a regular application for extension of your work permit with supporting If you had legal status on June 20, 2013, your status will documentation to Citizenship and Immigration be extended until September 19, 2013, if you live in . You will have to pay the regular application one of the following communities: fee. • Black Diamond For more information: • Municipal District of Foothills • Stoney Nation • call 1-888-242-2100 (press 7) • Turner Valley • send an email to [email protected] • Banff • www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/extend-stay.asp • Municipal District of Bighorn – Hamlet of Exshaw • • Can my employer reduce my hours because the • Canmore business has been affected by the flood? • Cochrane Employers can terminate or reduce hours if the • Crownsnest Pass contract of employment has been impossible to • Cypress County perform because of unforeseeable circumstances • Devon beyond their control. • Drumheller • Fort Macleod Can my employer direct me to work at a • Kananaskis location other than my normal place of work if it • cannot be used due to the flood? • Lethbridge County • Generally yes, unless there is an existing agreement/ • Mountainview County contract that says this cannot happen. If you cannot • Okotoks access the new location easily or if you spend a • Municipal District of Ranchland significantly greater amount of time traveling to • Redcliff the location, you may refuse to work from the new • Red Deer location or an employer may choose to repay you for • Red Deer County your extra costs. • Redwood Meadows • (Bragg Creek) The housing provided by my employer was • Siksika Nation badly affected by the flooding. What is my • Sundre employer’s responsibility? • Tsuu T’ina Nation The Residential Tenancies Act sets out the rights and • Vulcan County responsibilities that apply to landlords and tenants, • Municipal District of Willow Creek including employers that provide housing and to If you are a foreign national who was out of status employees with employer-provided housing. Please on June 20, 2013, the extension of legal status until refer to the Tenants’ Fact Sheet. September 19, 2013, may apply to you. Contact Citizenship and Immigration Canada to find out.

This fact sheet is to be used as information only and is not intended to substitute for or provide legal advice. Updated July 24, 2013 My employer will not be able to continue How can I get new copies of immigration operating his business due to the flooding. Am documents that were lost or damaged in the I legally allowed to get work from a different floods? employer? If you are a temporary resident in one of the affected If you are a temporary foreign worker in Exshaw, communities and you have lost immigration status Canmore, High River, Siksika Nation, Stoney Nation or documents, you must: Tsuu T’ina Nation and you intend to change employers • complete a Verification of Status or Replacement due to your present place of employment being of an Immigration Document, and affected by the flooding, your application for a work permit for a new employer will be rushed. • send it to the Query Response Centre (QRC) in Ottawa, Ontario. Please note also that your present status and conditions have also been automatically extended Write “URGENT: FLOODS” on the cover of the until September 19, 2013. If you apply, write “URGENT: envelope. You will NOT need to pay a fee and your FLOODS” on your application to benefit from rushed request for new documents will be rushed. application. Temporary Foreign Workers should contact their • If you submit a paper application for a work employers to check if they can get copies of permit for a new employer, you must write immigration documents from them directly. “URGENT: FLOODS” on the outside of the final envelope. (for example, if sending by courier write “URGENT: FLOODS” on the courier Sources: envelope) Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre • If you submit an electronic application, Temporary Foreign Workers in Alberta: Human Rights Issues immediately after submitting it, you must send http://aclrc.com an email to the [email protected] with your Application ID # and biographical Citizenship and Immigration Canada – Alberta Flood Update information (Full name, date of birth, place and www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/notices/alberta-floods.asp country of birth). Type “URGENT: FLOODS” in Human Services Alberta the subject heading to allow CIC to rush the http://humanservices.alberta.ca/documents/WIA-IM_tfw_ application. studentguide.pdf • To have the fee waived, you must provide proof of exemption (for example, a letter showing you Alberta Temporary Foreign Worker Helpline and Advisory Offices live in an affected area). If you apply online, you 1-877-944-9955 (toll free) or 780-644-9955 must select an optional Letter of Explanation tfwadvisory.office.gov.ab.ca in MyCIC and you must upload your letter that Working in Alberta explains how you are affected by the flooding. http://albertacanada.com/immigration/working/temporary-foreign- workers.aspx Can my employer make me leave the country if I quit or am terminated from my job? Neither your employer nor your employment agency can ask you to leave Canada. Only the government can tell you to do so.

This fact sheet is to be used as information only and is not intended to substitute for or provide legal advice. Updated July 24, 2013