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Labour Market Impact Assessments, or also known as LMIA’s, are quite popular to fill the labour shortage in Canada and offer opportunities for temporary and permanent residency to foreign workers. There are several types of LMIA’s that are issued when foreign workers are needed to fill open positions that cannot be filled by qualified Canadian candidates. Different LMIAs are used for different positions - high wage, low wage, primary agricultural positions, PR supported LMIA’s and the Global Talent Stream.
If you have an employer who is looking to hire you and either you or they need help going through the LMIA or Provincial Nomination process or any other work permit-based program, reach out to our specialized team at our office in Canada. You can also apply for a FREE email assessment, click here.
There are three ideas that need to be understood before exploring the different LMIA paths: the NOC code, the prevailing median wage, and the provincial median wage. The National Occupation Classification system assigns a specific code, NOC, and typical job duties to all occupations that exist in North America. The NOC code is more important than the job title.
Prevailing median wage is specific to the NOC code and region where the vacancy or job is being offered by the Canadian employer. Any offered position must match this wage.
Provincial median wage is the median wage set by each province no matter what city or town of the province or NOC code the position is in. The following table shows the provincial median wages as of November 5th, 2023.
|
Province/Territory |
Median Hourly Wage |
|
Alberta |
$28.85 |
|
British Columbia |
$27.50 |
|
Manitoba |
$23.94 |
|
New Brunswick |
$23.00 |
|
Newfoundland and Labrador |
$25.00 |
|
Northwest Territories |
$38.00 |
|
Nova Scotia |
$22.97 |
|
Nunavut |
$35.90 |
|
Ontario |
$27.00 |
|
Prince Edward Island |
$22.50 |
|
Quebec |
26.00 |
|
Saskatchewan |
$26.22 |
|
Yukon |
$35.00 |
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The Low-wage LMIA is designed for low-skilled job positions where the hourly wage for temporary foreign workers falls below the provincial median wage. These jobs can be very physical or hands-on such as cooks, labourers, construction, nurse aides, and so on. There is a cap here that limits the number of low-wage foreign workers that can be hired based on the number of foreign workers and Canadians already on the payroll. There are also specific requirements for the Canadian employers for low-wage positions, which are not included as part of the high wage stream. Examples include covering the flight ticket to/from the foreign worker’s resident country and ensuring available, affordable housing that will not consume more than 30% of their monthly gross income.
Foreign workers who are in the low-wage stream and have specific NOC skill levels such as TEER level 4 or 5, cannot apply to bring their spouses or common-law partners to Canada with an Open Work Permit unless they have an ongoing Permanent Residency under process.
The exception to this category is Agricultural streams which we will cover later in this article.
This stream is for employers looking for highly skilled or semi-skilled temporary foreign workers and the offered wage is equal to or higher than the provincial median wage and the prevailing median wage. These are usually office jobs, IT, healthcare, engineering, or any other highly skilled positions. High wage LMIA applications have no limit on the number of foreign workers that can be hired if you have completed the recruitment process, have justification that no qualified Canadians can fill this position, and your company has the financial capacity to pay these high wages. This latter point is based either on your CRA financial documentation or a letter from your lawyer, CPA, or banker attesting to this. These positions may not be as easy to fill, but they have fewer restrictions placed on both the employer and the foreign worker.
If you have an employer who is looking to hire you and either you or they need help going through the LMIA or Provincial Nomination process or any other work permit-based program, reach out to our specialized B2B team at our office in Canada. You can also apply for a FREE email assessment, click here.
PR-supported LMIA’s are offers of employment that start from the date the applicant/foreign worker has received their final confirmation of PR. The applicant can be inside Canada, overseas or anywhere else. There is no high-wage or low-wage streams for PR supported LMIA’s, and no low-wage cap if the employer wants to support the foreign worker to obtain their Canadian Permanent Residency through this LMIA stream. Obviously, the LMIA itself does not provide anyone with a PR, but it can facilitate it through Express Entry. In this stream, the employer has the option to apply for a PR-supported LMIA without a work permit or a PR-supported LMIA with a work permit. In the latter scenario, the employer would have to pay the Service Canada processing fee for the LMIA of $1000 (if a work permit is requested with the LMIA) and the advertisement/recruitment fees. PR-supported LMIA’s without a work permit have no processing fee charged by Service Canada.
The Global Talent Stream is a specific type of LMIA that does not require recruitment efforts locally by the Canadian employer and has two streams, either A or B. Stream A can be processed for any highly skilled and paid occupations if a referral partner of the program in your specific province approves you first before referring you to Service Canada. In Stream B, specific occupations such as engineering, IT, and media occupations are pre-approved by Service Canada and can be offered by the Canadian employer to hire them through a fast-track processing and approval process. The Global Talent Stream is very specific to highly paid and highly skilled positions and you can check out the video where we have explained this program in more detail. The $1000 processing fee is still required by Service Canada for this stream, and a Labour Market Benefit Plan is also required to be submitted with this type of application.
If you have an employer who is looking to hire you and either you or they need help going through the LMIA or Provincial Nomination process or any other work permit-based program, reach out to our specialized team at our office in Canada. You can also apply for a FREE email assessment, click here.
For individuals seeking permanent residence through Express Entry, an LMIA can be a game-changer. It can help you gain Canadian work experience and become eligible for the Canadian Experience Class sub-stream. An LMIA can also significantly boost your Express Entry profile with either 50 or 200 bonus points depending on the NOC code TEER level. It can work both for low-wage and high-wage LMIAs – but Express Entry has specific skill eligibility requirements of TEER level 0,1,2, or 3. Also, remember that your LMIA does not have to be a PR-supported LMIA to claim these bonus points in Express Entry if you are in an eligible occupation. Refer to our existing video and article on how and when you can claim these bonus points with your LMIA in Express Entry.
The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program or Agricultural Stream, allows farms to hire foreign agricultural workers from Mexico and certain Caribbean countries. The regular Agricultural Stream is open to any foreign national. The regular primary agricultural worker LMIA stream, which is not seasonal, does not require recruitment efforts for agricultural employers and the $1000 Service Canada processing fee is also exempt. These LMIA’s are in the low-wage stream and not eligible for Express Entry for bonus points. However, the Agri-Food pilot could be a solution for those seeking for Permanent Residency in these low-skilled occupations or the Provincial Nominee Program.
The Agri-Food Pilot Program provides an avenue for obtaining permanent residency for low-skilled foreign workers in Canada's agricultural and food processing industries. An LMIA is crucial for this program to gain the necessary Canadian work experience in the right industry and a job at the prevailing median wage.
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When hiring Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) for unionized positions, you must adhere to the wage rates and terms specified in the collective agreement and ensure that their employment doesn't disrupt ongoing or potential labor disputes. Failing to do so can result in a negative Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) decision, so collaboration with union representatives to recruit Canadian and permanent resident workers is advisable.
Combining Provincial Nominee Program with Express Entry can lead to 600 bonus points if you receive a PNP nomination certificate, expediting your PR process. However, the impact of an LMIA in PNP can vary depending on the province and your profile.
If you have an employer who is looking to hire you and either you or they need help going through the LMIA or Provincial Nomination process or any other work permit-based program, reach out to our specialized B2B team at our office in Canada. You can also apply for a FREE email assessment, click here.
LMIA doesn't typically apply to programs for investors or entrepreneurs in Canada. However, there's an exception - the owner/operator LMIA which is now called the ‘investor’ LMIA offers bonus points in Express Entry and a work permit for executives or directors of operating businesses in Canada. It can be either an LMIA with a work permit or a PR supported LMIA with or without a work permit. And as a Canadian employer, remember that the new Recognized Employer Pilot program is also being rolled out where the bureaucracy of LMIA applications will be minimized for trusted employers to fast-track approvals. If you are an employer, I would also suggest you check out our LMIA eligibility and processing video and article before you dive deeper into the rabbit hole.
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