Migrant Workers and the Ambiguities of Digitally Mediated Work in Canada

Abstract

Digitally mediated work is often framed as an opportunity for migrants to have greater flexibility, mobility and transnational connectivity. However, less attention has been paid to how digitally mediated work intersects with immigration systems that regulate settlement, labour market incorporation and belonging. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 50 migrant workers engaged in gig and remote work in Canada, this article examines how digitally mediated labour complicates migrants’ experiences of integration within Canada's multi-step immigration regime. Engaging literature on digital work, migrant incorporation and liminality, the article conceptualizes ambiguity as a condition emerging at the intersection of digitally mediated employment and temporally conditional migration pathways. Although digitally mediated work does facilitate transnational connections and flexible forms of employment, it also weakens access to workplace sociality, professional networks, and forms of ‘Canadian experience’ often associated with long-term integration and permanent residence pathways. The findings show how migrants experience overlapping spatial, affective and temporal ambiguities as they navigate remote and gig work alongside uncertain immigration trajectories. By examining how digitally mediated work reshapes processes of settlement and belonging, this article contributes to debates on migration, digital economy and the changing relationship between work, mobility and incorporation in contemporary immigration regimes.