Employers no longer require LMIAs from temporary foreign workers. Work permits offered to foreign nationals in Canada can be broken down into two categories: those that need a Labor Market Impact Assessment and those that do not.
An LMIA is a document that some Canadian employers must obtain from ESDC before they hire a temporary foreign worker. This document proves that recruiting a TFW will only have a positive or neutral – that is, not negative – impact on the Canadian labor market.
Depending primarily on the positions they require to fill, Canada’s many international arrangements and agreements enable some employers to hire without an LMIA for TFWs from specific nations.
Profession: Traders
Employers no longer require LMIAs from temporary foreign workers. Canadian employers recruiting foreign nationals who work as traders can do so without an LMIA if the TFW is from any of the six countries mentioned below:
- Chile
- South Korea
- Peru
- Mexico
- Columbia
- United States
This is possible because of various international agreements Canada has with the above countries, such as CUSMA.
CUSMA, a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, allows American citizens to work in Canada without having to get a Temporary Resident Visa. Meanwhile, because of recent legislative changes, Mexican citizens seeking to work in Canada must get a TRV as well unless they meet all three of the criteria below, as outlined by IRCC.
In order to enter without a TRV, Mexican nationals must:
- Enter Canada by air or by flying to Canada to transit to another to another destination
- Be coming to Canada for a short-term visit
- Have previously wither:
- Held a Canadian visitor, work, or student visa in the last ten years.
- Held a valid United States non-immigrant visa at the time of their application and travel
Who Qualifies As A Trader?
Usually, all of the above nations should follow similar definitions as CUSMA regarding how they define someone working as a trader. A trader is someone who intends to ‘engage in substantial trade of goods/ services between Canada as well as their country of citizenship.’
Profession: Investors
If the TFW is an investor from any of these nine countries, Canadian employers can recruit them without an LMIA:
- United States
- Mexico
- Colombia
- Chile
- Peru
- South Korea
- European Union
- United Kingdom
- Some Trans-Pacific Nations – as part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
Note: The six nations presently involved with the CPTPP are Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and Japan.
Who Qualifies As An Investor?
The general definition of an investor is shared among the countries that have a Free Trade Agreement with Canada. Accordingly, an investor is usually defined as someone who can ‘showcase that they have substantially invested in a Canadian business and that they are coming to Canada to develop and direct this business.’
Occupation: Professionals
A Canadian employer can hire temporary foreign workers from any of the following nations without an LMIA if they qualify as a professional:
- Mexico
- Columbia
- Panama
- Peru
- Chile
- United States
- GATS Member Nations
- Some Trans-Pacific countries, as a result of CPTPP
What Is A Professional?
Each of Canada’s FTAs is defined as a ‘professional’ differently.
According to CUSMA, a professional is someone who either has ‘pre-arranged employment in Canada or a service contract with a Canadian company’ to perform work ‘in a profession that corresponds to their professional qualifications and with one of the eligible CUSMA professionals.’
Intra-Company Transfers
Intra-company transfers are employees of foreign/ international companies who are being transferred to work temporarily in Canada for a subsidiary, branch, or affiliate of their employer.
Although ICT work permits are open to all nations, certain FTAs contain country-specific ICT provisions:
- Executives or Senior Managers: United Kingdom, CPTPP Member Nations, CETA Member Nations, Peru, South Korea, Chile, Colombia, United States, Mexico
- Specialized Knowledge: United Kingdom, CPTPP Member Nations, CETA Member Nations, Peru, South Korea, Chile, Colombia, United States, Mexico
- Management Trainees: United Kingdom, CPTPP Member Nations, Peru, South Korea, Colombia
- Graduate Trainees: CETA Member Nations
Other Foreign Nationals Eligible For Work In Canada Without An LMIA
Employers no longer require LMIAs from temporary foreign workers. There are other situations where international agreements enable Canadian employers to hire certain foreign nationals from certain nations without an LMIA.
By occupation: Unique work situations
- Airline personnel (operational, technical, and ground)
- Government personnel from the United States
By occupation: Technicians
- Colombia
- Panama
- Peru
- CPTPP Member Nations
Relationship status: Spouses
- Colombia
- South Korea
- CPTPP Member Nations
- European Union (CETA) – Spouses of ICTs
- United Kingdom – Spouses of ICTs
By country/agreement: Other
South Korea
- Contract service suppliers or independent professionals
United Kingdom
- Independent professionals
- Contractual service suppliers
- Engineering technologists and Scientific technologists
European Union: CETA
- Contractual service suppliers
- Engineering technologists and Scientific technologists
- Independent professionals
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