Canadian authorities will allow family members of some temporary foreign workers to obtain work in Canada starting next January.

Also, spouses of temporary foreign workers who have a "high-wage job," as well as their working-age children, will be able to apply for an open work permit.

To be "high-wage," these jobs must have an hourly wage equal to or exceeding the average hourly wage in the relevant Canadian province or territory.

This measure also applies to individuals coming to Canada under the International Mobility Program (IMP) and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

These changes are expected to last for at least two years.

After that, at an unspecified date, families of foreign workers in "low-wage jobs" will be allowed to do the same.

Also, this measure can be expanded to include families of foreign agricultural workers, after consultation with provinces and stakeholders in this field. These facilitation measures include families of 200,000 foreign workers according to federal estimates.

The federal government believes that this influx of workers will help address labor shortages in the service, tourism, and health sectors, in particular.

The government currently estimates the number of job vacancies across Canada at about one million.

For his part, according to the Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Sean Fraser, yesterday’s announcement will make the immigration system more "compassionate" because it will spare temporary foreign workers from "being away from their families" when they come to Canada to work temporarily.