What is a Labour Market Impact Assessment?
A Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is an official document showing that an employer in Canada needs to hire a foreign worker when no Canadians or permanent residents will take the job.
In other words, the purpose of an LMIA is to ensure that hiring a foreign worker will not take away Canadians and permanent residents’ jobs.
Employers in Canada
To emphasize, all employers in Canada must follow this rule if they need to hire a foreign worker.
Further, an employer means a company, government, non-profit organization, individual, or other entity, as long as they hire a foreign worker.
However, some employers may not be eligible for an LMIA. Generally speaking, there are three major categories:
Businesses that offer services in the sex industry,
Employers that have labour or immigration law compliance issues, and
Other public policy considerations.
Employers with compliance issues
Employers with compliance issues are ineligible for an LMIA. However, this is not permanent in most cases.
Usually, there are sanctions for compliance issues, such as a fine or a ban from hiring foreign workers. However, the ban can be permanent.
To be eligible for an LMIA again, the employer will need to correct the issues, pay the fine, and wait until the ban expires if applicable.
We can also help you to solve compliance issues.
Public policy consideration - previous revocation
An employer’s LMIA may be revoked if they provide false, misleading, or inaccurate information.
If the revocation happened in the past 2 years, this employer is ineligible for new LMIAs.
Do I need an LMIA if I want to hire a foreign worker?
Generally, the answer is yes.
However, there are also situations where you do not need one.
For example, when you are hiring a foreign worker who already has an open work permit.
Moreover, if you hire a foreign worker under one of the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) below:
Canada United-States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA, formerly known as the North American Free Trade Agreement),
Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), and
Canada-Chile FTA / Canada-Peru FTA / Canada-Colombia FTA / Canada-Korea FTA
For more information about FTA work permit, please visit our service page.
You may also find other pathways to a work permit on our Service Page.
We can also help you with work permit applications.
How to apply for an LMIA?
Overall, there are two categories of applications for an LMIA: general and specialized applications.
The general applications include high wage stream and low wage stream.
Whereas, the specialized applications contain the following streams:
Caregivers. This steam is for hiring a caregiver for a child, senior or person with medical needs in a private home.
Agricultural workers.
Foreign academics.
Express Entry. This stream is for hiring a foreign worker to support their permanent residency application under Express Entry.
Global Talent Stream.
We can also help you to determine which stream is your best option.
Am I eligible for an LMIA?
The eligibility criteria vary depending on the stream and can be complicated.
However, the list below contains some of the most important requirements for an LMIA application, regardless of the stream:
Further, there are additional stream-specific requirements.
If you retain us, we can also help you to determine the best stream for you and your eligibility.
LMIA and dual intent
Dual intent refers to the Express Entry stream. When you offer a job to a foreign worker with an LMIA, it is called “arranged employment”.
Although the worker applies for permanent residency, the job you offered does not need to be a permanent position.
However, the job offer must be full-time and for at least one year.
We can also help with the foreign worker’s permanent residency application.
Canadian LGBT businesses and LMIA
For foreign workers, an LMIA job offer from a Canadian LGBT-owned business could also be a quick and easy pathway to permanent residency.
Further, some of the foreign workers may already be eligible for permanent residency even without any job offers.
Book a consultation today, we can help you with your questions.
What we do
Firstly, we help LGBTQ people to immigrate to Canada, and we create a safe and friendly place for people with immigration needs.
Then, we personalize our services for you, which may include any of the following:
Help you to determine your eligibility,
If you are not currently eligible, we help you to meet the eligibility,
Identify potential compliance issues and properly address them before you apply,
Assist you in collecting or preserving the supporting documents,
Provide other advice and instructions as needed that could be critical to a successful application, and
Complete, prepare, organize, and submit your application on your behalf.
Book an initial assessment today or contact us directly.
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