
Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)
Government of Canada wants to protect existing Canadians and Permanent residents and because of this, they have created this requirement for employers to obtain Labour market impact assessment before hiring a foreign worker.
The employer must apply along with enough proofs that he has tried to hire local Canadians and Permanent residents but was not able to find the suitable candidate for his or her business. Now that hiring manpower is essential for his business to sustain, he should be allowed to hire the foreign workers.
To receive a positive LMIA, the Canadian government employee reviewing an application must determine that the hiring of a foreign worker will have a positive or neutral effect on the Canadian labour market. Among other factors, it must be clear that no qualified Canadians were passed up in favour of the foreign worker, and that the foreign worker will be given a salary and benefits that meet federal and provincial standards.
There are different types of LMIA applications depending on the requirement of the employee.
- High skill/high wage applications need a different approach and has different requirements.
- Where as low wage applications need different requirements. These applications are submitted at different offices of Service canada.
- LMIA to support Permanent residence have different criteria’s to be followed and are submitted to a different office in NB.
High Wage Workers
High wage workers are classified by the median wage of the province. This is calculated amongst all occupations. Like median wage for BC is 23.98$ per hour so any position where the wage is more than this rate is considered as high wage position. This application needs to ensure the following:
- Advertise on Job bank
- Advertise on at least 3 more mediums like on line Job portals or Nationwide newspapers or recruiting using head hunters
- One must target groups like indigenous people, new comers, people with disabilities and minority groups.
- Employer needs to ensure that he has a transition plan for replacing the foreign worker with Canadian citizen or a PR before the expiry of the work permit of temporary foreign worker
Low Wage Workers
Employers seeking to hire low-wage workers do not need to submit transition plans with their Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). They must, however, follow a different set of guidelines.
- There is a cap to hire number of low wage foreign workers
- Employer must pay for round trip to the TFW
- Employer must provide affordable housing
- Pay for private health plan until TFW become eligible for provincial health plan
- Provide an employment contract. This needs to be complied and the employee should be clear about all above terms
Priority processing
Service Canada realises that there are certain occupations where there is acute shortage and hence they provide 10 day priority service for these occupations. If you wish to cheque which positions are eligible for this, you may contact us today
- Identify the position for which you are finding a difficulty in hiring locally.
- Start the process of formal advertisement in prescribed was depending on the job category
- Interview the candidates those apply locally. If you are still unable to hire, we can assist you to prepare the LMIA application
- We would need your financials to prove business legitimacy.
- There is 1000 CAD fee charged by Service Canada to process application
How to apply for LMIA in order to hire TFW’s?
1
Please call us and we can help evaluate if your company is eligible to apply for LMIA?
2
Advertise on various approved platforms as per the LMIA stream requirements of service Canada and try to hire local Canadians or PR’s?
3
If you are unable to find Canadians or PR’s after genuine efforts, we can help you apply for LMIA approval.

"I have been extremely pleased with Mr. Navjot as our consultant. His personal attention to details made my process of getting LMIA based work Permit easy to understand and he guided me all the way through, step by step. He was an excellent communicator, always prompt and it is a joy to work with. I felt supported all the way through the process, and Mr. Navjot stood by me whenever I needed it. The application for Work Permit can be nerve wracking with so many unknowns, but he made it as simple and easy for me as possible. I feel lucky to have found him. Thank you Stepwise Immigration for your generous service!"

Raj Khabra
( LMIA based Work Permit )