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Temporary Residence – Labour Market Impact Assessment

 

Canadian Immigration

Permanent Residence

Temporary Residence

 

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Labour Market Impact Assessment, LMIA (former LMO)

This is a cost and time extensive process,and we we offer two services: Either ‘Guidance Due Process’ OR ‘Complete Preparation’. Kindly contact us for a quote. The following provides a summary of the process and the complexity of a LMIA. 

Employers who want to hire a foreign worker must submit the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application along with all the required supporting documentation to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)/Service Canada.

In essence, employers are applying for an opinion on the impact that hiring a foreign worker would have on Canada’s job market. As a result, it is important that employers follow all the necessary steps and submit all of the required documentation.

Under the Stream for Higher-skilled Occupations, employers can hire foreign workers in higher-skilled positions such as: management, professional, scientific, technical or trade occupations. Employers can hire skilled foreign workers to either support the worker’s:

  • temporary employment; or/and
  • permanent resident visa application.

Supporting Employment for a Temporary Position

Stream for Higher-Skilled Occupations

a) position must require education or formal training such as:

  • university education
  • college education
  • vocational education
  • apprenticeship training

Transition to a Canadian Workforce

Employers must engage in activities to transition to a Canadian workforce and reduce their reliance on TFWs. The specific requirements an employer must follow are determined by the wage being offered for the position, in relation to the provincial/territorial median hourly wage, based on Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (2013).

Employers offering a wage to a TFW that is:

  • BELOW the provincial/territorial median hourly wage will be subject to a cap on low-wage positions
  • AT or ABOVE the provincial/territorial median hourly wage will be required to complete a Transition Plan for high-wage positions

b) Academics

  • employer must be a degree-granting post-secondary institution
  • position must be for a full professor, associate professor or assistant professor, whose main duty is teaching or research

 c) Film and Entertainment Occupations

  • position must be related to the making of a production or cultural or entertainment event

Supporting a Permanent Residence Application

Employers who wish to hire skilled foreign workers and support their permanent resident visa application can make a job offer under Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s (CIC) Express Entry system. The job offer must meet the criteria of 1 of the listed economic immigration programs. These programs include:

Federal Skilled Workers Program (FSWP)

  • job offer is permanent, full-time, non-seasonal
  • assists foreign workers to gain permanent residency

Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP)

  • position must be an eligible skilled trade occupation, as designated by CIC
  • job offer is permanent (minimum of 1 year, which can be from up to 2 employers), full-time, non-seasonal
  • assists foreign workers to gain permanent residency

Canadian Experience Class (CEC)

  • job offer is permanent, full-time (at least 30 hours per week) and non-seasonal
  • assists foreign workers to gain permanent residency
  • the foreign worker must have at least 12 months of full-time, or an equivalent amount in part-time, skilled work experience in Canada within 36 months.

Employers are not eligible to make a job offer to a foreign worker under these immigration programs, if they are:

  • an embassy;
  • a high commission or consulate in Canada;
  • on the list of ineligible employers maintained by CIC;
  • new and have not been in business for a minimum of 1 year; or
  • hiring workers for jobs located in the province of Quebec.

Employers who wish to hire skilled foreign workers through 1 of these immigration programs may also want to hire these workers temporarily while their application for permanent residence is being processed by CIC. As a result, employers can apply for a dual intent Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) which requires paying the processing fee. These dual intent LMIAs can be used to support the foreign nationals’ application to CIC for a:

  • permanent resident visa; and
  • temporary work permit.

 

Labour Market Impact Assessment Process

All LMIA applications go through a systematic assessment process to:

  1. Verify if the employer is:
    1. eligible to participate in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). The list of ineligible employers appears on CIC’sWeb site; and
    2. using an authorized third-party representative, if applicable.
  2. Verify the consistency of the job offer with federal-provincial-territorial agreements.
  3. Assess the genuineness of the job offer. The assessment is based on whether the:
    • Employer is actively engaged in the business related to the job offer;
    • job offered to the foreign worker is consistent with the employment needs of the employer;
    • employer can fulfil the terms and conditions of the job offer;
    • employer or the third-party representative is compliant with the relevant federal-provincial-territorial employment and recruitment legislation;
  4. Assess the language requirement of the job offer, to ensure that English and French are the only languages identified as a job requirement, unless employers can demonstrate that another language is a bona fide requirement for the job.
  5. Assess:
    • the impact of hiring aTFW on the labour market including:
      1. wages and working conditions offered;
      2. occupation in which theTFW will be employed;
      3. employer’s recruitment and advertisement efforts (VARIATIONS TO MINIMUM ADVERTISING REQUIREMENTS);
      4. benefits to the labour market;
      5. consultations, if any, with the appropriate union; and the
      6. effect on the settlement of a labour dispute.
    • previous job offers that the employer has made to aTFW

ESDC/Service Canada will ensure that the employer has met all the Program Requirements. Once the assessment process is complete, the employer will be notified in writing of the final decision.

Proof of Advertisement

Employers must demonstrate that they meet the advertising requirements by providing proof of advertisement and the results of their efforts to recruit Canadian and permanent residents (e.g. copy of advertisement and information to support where, when and for how long the positions was advertised).

Records of the employers’ efforts should be kept for a minimum of 6 years. This documentation can be requested at any time by ESDC/Service Canada, for a period of 6 years, beginning on the first day of the period of employment for which the work permit is issued to the foreign worker.