LMIA: Application Requirements for High-Wage Positions
ESDC: Employment and Social Development Canada
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is intended to be used when you are facing short-term skills and labour shortages, and only when no Canadians and permanent residents are available.
To hire a temporary foreign worker, you may require a Labour Market Impact Assessment to determine if the hiring of a temporary foreign worker will have a positive or negative impact on the Canadian labour market.
As an employer, you must comply with the Program requirements. These requirements may vary depending on the position you are requesting. We take the integrity of the Program very seriously and we have mechanisms in place to verify employers’ compliance with the Program requirements. Employers who fail to comply with these requirements will be subject to consequences for non-compliance.
To get a Labour Market Impact Assessment, you must submit an application form and all the necessary supporting documents. Your application will be assessed to validate the legitimacy of the business, the job offer and the impact of hiring a temporary foreign worker would have on the Canadian labour market.
As of April 4, 2022, employers submitting an LMIA application for a high-wage position may request an employment duration of up to 3 years. The employment duration must align with the employer’s reasonable employment needs. (High-wage positions include the Global Talent Stream, High-wage Stream including caregiver positions, Agricultural Stream and Express Entry). The duration may be issued for longer in exceptional circumstances whereby the employer provides an adequate rationale.
Employers awaiting a decision who wish to modify the duration in their LMIA applications may contact the Employer Contact Centre or the applicable Service Canada processing centre. The option to increase the duration does not apply to already issued positive LMIA decisions.
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has switched to the 2021 version of the NOC. Learn more about the NOC 2021 transition.
Important: Changes to the LMIA fee collection
As of October 23, 2020, Service Canada is making changes to better protect employers’ financial information. LMIA application forms will now only request partial digits from a credit card. Upon application receipt, Service Canada will contact the employer to obtain the remaining digits in order to process payment.
Important: Hiring TFWs in British Columbia or Manitoba
If you are hiring TFWs in British Columbia or Manitoba, you must apply for the employer registration certificate with the province first and must include a copy of the certificate or proof of exemption with your LMIA application. Your application will not be considered complete unless Service Canada has received it. You may want to take into account the processing times in the provinces before you submit your LMIA applications.
For more information about provincial laws on the employer registration requirement and possible exemptions in British Columbia and Manitoba, please visit the following websites:
Your Labour Market Impact Assessment application can be submitted up to 6 months prior to the expected job start date.
To access LMIA Online, an employer and a third party (if applicable) must have a valid Job Bank user account for authentication purposes. If you have not yet completed the one time registration in Job Bank for Employers, we invite you to do so by clicking on the link below and following the “Don’t have an account? Sign up now.” button. The registration process will take approximately 10 minutes. Once your Job Bank account(s) is/are created, you will be able to complete an LMIA application via the LMIA Online Portal.
Employers who have not employed a temporary foreign worker in the past 6 years prior to submitting a LMIA application will be subject to a review. The employer must demonstrate that they made reasonable efforts to provide a workplace that is free of abuse and that they were not an affiliate of an employer who is ineligible for the TFW Program or in default of any amount payable in respect of an administrative monetary penalty.
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