Hire an In-Home Caregiver – Wages, Working Conditions and Occupations
Labour Market Impact Assessment – Process
All LMIA applications go through a systematic assessment process to:
- verify if the employer is:
- eligible to participate in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). The list of ineligible employers appears on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) website; and
- using an authorized third-party representative, if applicable
- verify the consistency of the job offer with federal/provincial/territorial agreements
- 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 TFW is consistent with the employment needs of the employer
- employer can fulfil the terms and conditions of the job offer
- employer and the third-party representative, if applicable, are compliant with the relevant federal-provincial-territorial employment and recruitment legislation
- 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
- assess:
- the impact of hiring a TFW on the labour market including:
- wages and working conditions offered
- occupation in which the TFW will be employed
- employer’s recruitment and advertisement efforts
- benefits to the labour market
- the impact of hiring a TFW on the labour market including:
- assess previous job offers that an employer has made to a TFW
- Did the employer employ a TFW in the last 2 years, prior to December 31, 2013?
- This is to determine whether the employer provided all TFWs employed by the company with wages, working conditions and employment in an occupation that was substantially the same as those that were described in the previous offer of employment (and confirmed in the LMIA letter and annexes)
- Did the employer apply for and receive a positive LMIA on or after December 31, 2013 and employ a TFW in that position?
- This is to determine whether the employer provided all TFWs employed on LMIAs received on or after December 31, 2013, with employment in the same occupation as described in the previous offer of employment (and confirmed in the LMIA letter and annexes) and with substantially the same wages and working conditions – but not less favourable than – those set out in that offer of employment (and confirmed in the LMIA letter and annexes)
- Did the employer employ a TFW in the last 2 years, prior to December 31, 2013?
ESDC/Service Canada will ensure that the employer has met all the Program Requirements. Once the assessment is complete, the employer will be notified in writing of the final decision.
Positive LMIA
The employer will receive a letter confirming the approval of the LMIA application. This positive LMIA is valid for 6 months from the date of issue. For privacy reasons, the letter will not include the names of the TFWs. However, it provides specific details about the job offer, such as the wages, working conditions and occupations as well as a system file number. The names of the workers will appear in Annex B which is intended for the employer’s records only, and is NOT to be shared with the TFW as it is not required for the purposes of applying for a work permit.
Once the positive LMIA letter is received, it is the employer’s responsibility to:
- send a copy of this letter to the TFW
- ask the TFW to apply to IRCC for a work permit
Provincial/territorial variations
If the job is located in the province of Quebec, the employer must:
- send to the TFW a copy of the:
- positive LMIA letter issued jointly by ESDC and the ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI)
- Quebec Certificate of Acceptance issued by MIFI
- ask the TFW to submit this documentation along with the work permit application to IRCC. Visit IRCC’s Web site to find a Canadian Visa Office.
Note:
Given the rising COVID-19 infection rates, and to ensure that TFWs have adequate time to obtain the necessary documentation to support their work permit applications, the Program will continue to be flexible around the LMIA validity date. Specifically:
- approved LMIAs will be valid for nine months;
- a validity period extension of up to a maximum of nine months is permitted if the original LMIA’s validity period was issued for six months. The extension requests can be made to the processing centre that initially processed the LMIA.
Changing a TFW name on a positive LMIA
The employer must send a completed Request to add or remove a Foreign National’s name form (ESDC-EMP5661) to Service Canada, either by fax or email to the processing centre that initially processed the LMIA.
Processing times vary depending on the number of names to be changed:
- 10 names or less – request must be received at least 15 business days prior to the LMIA expiry date
- more than 10 names – request must be received at least 20 business days prior to the LMIA expiry date
Note:
If you wish to change the name of your already identified foreign worker for reasons related to COVID-19 you can now benefit from an expedited name change process. You will need to indicate that the name change request is due to hardships related to COVID-19 when you contact the processing centre that initially processed your LMIA.
