Procedure to acquire a Labor Market Impact Assessment

LMIA is a document that determines the kind of impact a foreign worker would have on the Canadian labor force. The type of impact should either be positive or neutral. Employers in Canada, when recruiting foreign workers, must submit an LMIA report. The Canadian government supports the Canadian workforce when there is a lack of sufficient workers in Canada.

The government of Canada uses the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to contribute to its workforce amidst the lack of Canadian skilled and qualified workers. When an employer submits the LMIA document to ESDC (Employment and Social Development Canada) while hiring a foreign worker, the ESDC officials determine that no potential workers in Canada are left out. Employers will need to demonstrate their genuine efforts toward finding an eligible Canadian employer and that he will be hiring foreign workers only because of the lack of qualified Canadian workers. Canadian employers must ensure that the foreign workers get the benefits and salaries per the Canadian standard.

The fee for an LMIA process costs CAD 1000 per position. The employer must ensure he advertises the job vacancy for four consecutive weeks before an LMIA application process begins. Apart from the job posting at Canada Job Bank, the employer must use a minimum of two ways of hiring foreign workers. Additionally, employers must focus on disabled people and depreciated groups such as the First Nations.

Languages that can be publicly advertised in terms of job vacancies are French and English. Any other language that can be advertised will depend upon the employer’s requirement.

The LMIA process can be classified based on high wages or low wages. Low-wage employees are paid under the median wage of the province and territory. High-wage employees are those who get paid at or above the median wage level.

Recruiting high-wage employees

Suppose an employer is on his way to searching for a high-wage employee; he will need a transition plan and an LMIA document. A Transition plan implies that the employer is attempting to gradually lessen his dependency on foreign workers.

The purpose of these transition plans is to make sure that Canadian employers use this program only when searching for foreign workers. This further implies that employers must only use the program when they need to hire workers from abroad temporarily on an urgent basis. They must only use the program when they feel a lack of adequate Canadian employees, and it should be seen as a limited alternative only.

The employer can demonstrate his intention and purpose in several ways, such as providing investment proof in terms of training, assisting foreign workers in attaining permanent residency, or through Canadian assistants.

Recruiting low-wage employees

Recruiting low-wage employees requires employers to submit an LMIA and a transition plan. The Canadian government has restricted access to TFWP by limiting the number of temporary foreign workers being employed by businesses. Employers with a minimum of 10 or more employees working under them and seeking to apply for a new LMIA need to maintain a twenty percent proportion of the workforce comprising low-wage temporary foreign workers.

As an employer offering a low median provincial or territorial wage, you must do the following: 

• Make sure about the availability of budget-friendly housing.
• Pay for their worker’s private healthcare insurance until they become eligible for health coverage at the provincial level.
• The temporary foreign worker should be paid for the round trip.
• Ensure the workplace safety board registration at the provincial or territorial level for the temporary foreign workers.
• They must comply with a contract between the employer and employee.

Global Talent Stream

The Global Talent Stream (GTS) is a fast-track procedure to help hire foreign tech talent. It falls under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Once the ESDC receives the GTS application, it is processed within its standard time of ten days from the day of applying for the GTS. However, the IRCC processes the work permit within two weeks. Over 80 percent of the time, it is supposed to meet the service standard processing time. The Global Talent Stream classifies under two categories. The first category comprises the growing companies seeking extremely talented and uniquely specialized employees from overseas. A designated referral partner should recommend employers in this category to GTS.

The second category includes employers searching for suitable employees according to the Global Talent Occupations List. The list talks about the in-demand occupations as well as the jobs that lack domestic labor supply.

The two categories of employers must ensure that they pay their employees according to the existing current pay and wage. The existing wage or pay is in accordance with the following;

• The wage is based on the Canadian government’s job bank.
• The wage that’s equal to the standard wage for existing and current employees with the same skill set and experience, location, and profile.
• The minimum range of wage or pay is listed on the Global Talent Occupations.

The facilitated process of LMIA

A facilitated LMIA process exists in Quebec that provides an opportunity for Quebec employers to hire workers from abroad at a faster pace. It is an attempt to face the labor shortage challenge.

The LMIA facilitation process comprises listed occupations with proven labor shortages. Therefore, they don’t need to demonstrate their recruitment efforts or publicly advertise the job positions.

However, he will have to provide evidence for the following:

• The employer must show that the foreign worker he hires meets the required work experience and the NOC requirements.
• The employer must ensure that the temporary foreign workers are paid consistently (hourly basis) per the current standard of Canadian wages. The wage must be equal to that of the permanent residents with the same occupation and location.
• A transition plan applies to all the LMIA applications that are considered high-wage. But as for the facilitated LMIA process in Quebec, a transition plan only applies to the second LMIA process in the same geographical location and the same job or profession.