LMIA Application: Business Legitimacy
From: Employment and Social Development Canada
Note:
Effective June 10, 2020 and until further notice, for all pending and future LMIAs, the assessment of business legitimacy will consider restrictions placed on businesses due to COVID-19.
Information from the application, employer, provincial/territorial websites, and media sources will be used to determine if the business is considered essential or subject to restrictions. Any restrictions that affect the operation of a business at the time of assessment will be reviewed. If these restrictions prevent the foreign worker from immediately performing their job duties, this could negatively affect the LMIA decision.
In addition to the above COVID considerations, Service Canada will also assess business legitimacy as described below.
The requirement for additional supporting documents to demonstrate that your business and job offer are legitimate is dependent on your history with the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program and the type of LMIA application you are submitting. To find out if you are required to submit business legitimacy documentation please review the following statements:
- I have received a positive LMIA decision in the past two years; and
- my most recent LMIA decision was positive
If you answer “no” to either of these statements then you must supply supporting documents along with your application to demonstrate that your business and job offer are legitimate.
If you answer “yes” to both of these statements then you may be exempt from providing some or all supporting documents.
Note: At any time, Service Canada reserves the right to request additional documents to complete a business legitimacy assessment.
Please read the information below to determine if additional documents are required to support your LMIA application.
We assess the Labour Market Impact Assessment application and supporting documents to confirm that your business:
Before applying for a Labour Market Impact Assessment, you must ensure that you do not have past compliance issues with federal or provincial laws regulating employment or the recruitment of employees. Your past compliance will be assessed and any issues may negatively impact your application.
Canada Revenue Agency documents
Employers must protect their employees’ personal information, especially Social Insurance Numbers, from theft and misuse. Be sure to redact or blackout all social insurance numbers if you are submitting CRA documents as part of your Labour Market Impact Assessment application package.
You must include your most recent documents from the Canada Revenue Agency if you are submitting them as part of your Labour Market Impact Assessment application package.
Ability to fulfill terms of the job offer
If you have received a positive LMIA decision in the past two years and your most recent LMIA decision was positive then you are not required to provide documents that support your ability to fulfill the terms of the job offer with your LMIA application.
All Other Employers: To demonstrate that you can meet the conditions of the job offer, you must submit at least one of the following documents:
- T2 Schedule 100 Balance sheet information and T2 Schedule 125 Income statement information
- T2042 Statement of farming activities (redact social insurance number)
- T2125 Statement of business or professional activities (redact social insurance number)
- T3010 Registered charity information return
- T4 or payroll records for a minimum of 6 weeks immediately prior to the submission of this LMIA application, if the temporary foreign worker already works for you (redact social insurance number)
- your most recent Canada Revenue Agency notice of assessment (NOA) and documentation showing your income exceeds the low income cut-off if you are a family or private household hiring a worker to perform caregiver duties. (Submit previous year NOA if LMIA application is submitted after July 1st. Submit a rationale for consideration if, due to an extraordinary circumstance, the most recent year NOA is not available)
- an attestation confirming that your business is in good financial standing and will be able to meet all financial obligations to any temporary foreign worker you hire for the entire duration of their employment
- if you are a foreign employer without a Canada Revenue Agency number whose business address and operation is outside of Canada, you may submit your contract or invoice for the goods or services that you are providing in Canada
Proof of providing a good or service
If you have received a positive LMIA decision in the past two years and your most recent LMIA decision was positive, then you are not required to provide proof that you are operating a business that is providing a good or service in Canada with your LMIA application.
