Immigration Support for Employees

July 6, 2023

Christian Horizons recognizes that retaining employees is essential in providing quality services and supports. Retention of our skilled workforce is a priority. The Human Resources Department frequently receives requests from employees who are seeking support to complete immigration documentation. Each year Human Resources carefully reviews and evaluates the many Canadian immigration streams to determine what we can offer to employees regarding immigration.

Over the past two years Christian Horizons has assisted employees with immigration in two main ways:

Providing employment verification letters that have been used for Express Entry applications. The request for an employment verification letter can be made through an online form on CHConnect. https://portal.christian-horizons.org/topics/Pages/Employment-Letters.aspx (employee login is required). Select the letter type “Other”. The letter will contain the job title Direct Support Professional (DSP) with National Occupation Code 42201 – Social and Community Service Workers. If you are in a position other than DSP, please complete the same online form and we will work with you to customize a letter, if appropriate.

Information sharing and providing documents for the “Temporary resident to permanent resident pathway”. This was a limited-time pathway that allowed employees who were working in full-time positions to expedite their permanent resident status. This pilot ended in November 2021.

Exciting news… after reviewing the criteria, we are adding the following support for employees seeking permanent residency:

Completion of Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) This stream applies to employees in Sudbury, North Bay and Moose Jaw.

Christian Horizons would like to support as many people as possible while also respecting that our workplaces are primarily peoples’ homes. This does limit access to some immigration streams due to the employer obligations associated with some programs. Currently Christian Horizons does not complete documents for employer nomination programs such as the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) or the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP).

Immigration in Canada is a current issue that is receiving attention from both the government and the public. Policies and programs continue to change. Human Resources will continue to monitor for new initiative and explore options to support employees. We are committed to reviewing our practices so that we are prepared to share good news, like the addition of the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot – RNIP program as a support for employees.