LMIA Work Permits

LMIA Work Permits

An (LMIA) Labour Market Impact Assessment is a document that assesses the impact of hiring a foreign national for a particular position by a Canadian employer on the Canadian labour market. Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is issued by the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). If the LMIA is positive, it means the employer can hire a foreign worker as there is no Canadian citizen or permanent resident (PR) to fill the vacant position. If the LMIA is negative, it means the employer has to fill the position with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

It is the Canadian employer and not the prospective employee, who has to apply for an LMIA. The Canadian employer requires LMIA to hire foreign workers through any of the streams under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) of Canada. Many of the pathways for permanent residence in Canada also require the candidates to submit a positive LMIA to claim points for a Canadian job offer.

How is LMIA application submitted?

The employer can submit the application for LMIA as early as six months before the start date for the position. The procedures for applying for LMIA vary depending on the wage fixed for the person to be hired. If it is a low-wage position, the employer must meet certain additional criteria, unlike the high-wage position. So the employers must first consult the median hourly wages of their province or territory. For certain areas of employment, employers can obtain LMIAs through specialized streams. These include:

• Hiring Agricultural Workers
• Hiring Foreign Academics
• Hiring within the province of Quebec

Documents required to apply for LMIA

Processing Fee: A processing fee of $1000 has to be paid along with the application, and it is non-refundable.

Business Legitimacy Documents: Documents to prove employer’s status as a legitimate Canadian business have to be submitted along with the application.

Transition period: The employer has to submit their plan for addressing the need to hire foreign nationals. Eventually, they need to hire Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

Recruitment efforts: Employers must prove with evidence that they made serious effort to hire Canadian citizens and permanent residents to fill the position before deciding to hire a foreign worker.

Wages: The employer must include information regarding the wages of the foreign worker to be hired. High-wage positions will be differentiated from low-wage positions and it will ensure that foreign workers get wages equal to Canadians in the same position.

Workplace safety: Foreign workers are entitled to the same standards of workplace health and safety as their Canadian counterparts. So the employers have to submit evidence for proving that the foreign worker will be provided with an insurance cover, which is the minimum equivalent to the insurance cover provided by the territory or province where the business is located.

Low-Wage Workers

Besides these requirements, the employers must meet specific additional requirements if the foreign worker is being hired for a low-wage position.

Transportation: The low-wage workers must be provided with adequate transportation facilities to and from Canada. The employer must bear the expenses of transportation.

Housing: The employer must arrange adequate housing facilities for low-wage workers during their employment period in Canada.

After the assessment of the application, the employer will be informed whether the LMIA is positive or negative. If it is positive, the employer can hire a foreign worker, and if it is negative, they will have to fill the position with a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

The LMIA remains valid for six months from the date of issue. If the LMIA is positive, the foreign worker can apply for a work permit or permanent residence.

Expedited processing

In some cases, the employer can apply to have the LMIA processed within 10 days. To be eligible for expedited processing, the employer must be located outside Quebec. Expedited processing is applicable if:

• The LMIA is for one of the highest wage positions or positions with wages that comes under the top 10% of wages earned by Canadians in the province/territory of the job.
• The LMIA is for a Skilled Trades position, which is paid at least the median provincial/territorial wage for the position.
• The LMIA is for a short-term position that has a duration of 120 days or less.
• The LMIA is to hire an Express Entry candidate.

Median Hourly Wages by Province or Territory

If the hired foreign worker will be paid at or above the median hourly wage for their province or territory, the application is processed under the high-wage workers stream for LMIAs. If the foreign worker to be hired will be paid below the median hourly wage, the application must go through the low-wage workers’ stream.

Exemptions to LMIA

In some instances, the employer may not require an LMIA to hire a foreign worker. A majority of these LMIA-exemptions are managed through the International Mobility Program.

Facilitated LMIA (Quebec)

The province of Quebec enjoys a great extent of autonomy over its immigration policies, and as a result, the procedures for hiring workers are different in Quebec compared to the rest of Canada. In the facilitated LMIA process of Quebec, employers do not need to prove that they made efforts to recruit a Canadian citizen or PR (permanent resident) to fill the position.

Global Talent Stream

The Global Talent Stream (GTS) is a partnership between Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Employment and Social Development Canada launched in June 2017. This two-year pilot program helps certain employers to hire highly-skilled global talent, which enables them to compete at an international level. The employers selected under the stream will be able to hire foreign workers through an expedited process under the Global Skills Strategy.

Intra-Company Transfers

Under the international Mobility Program of Canada, high-skilled foreign nationals can work in the country as intra-company transferees. A foreign national, who is an employee in a company located outside Canada, can obtain an LMIA-exempt work permit if he/she is transferred to one of the company’s locations within Canada. This rule related to intra-company transferees applies to all countries.

NAFTA Work Permits

The North American Free Trade Agreement, an agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico, comprises a wide range of trade protocols. As per the agreement, citizens of Mexico and the United States can work in Canada without an LMIA or a work permit.

CETA Work Permits

Canada-(EU) European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, as the name suggests, is an agreement between Canada and the EU member countries. It comprises a range of trade protocols between Canada and these countries. As per the agreement, the citizens of EU member nations can work in Canada without needing an LMIA or a work permit.

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