Labour Market Impact Assessment / LMIA
Index
Introduction
If Canadian employers need to recruit temporary foreign workers, they must first submit an Labour Market Impact Assessment, or LMIA for short, formerly Labour Market Opinion (LMO), application to the Employment and Social Development Canada (EDSC). If they are approved, employers can assist temporary foreign workers to apply for work visas so they can come to Canada to work for their employers. A good LMIA will indicate that the job requires foreign workers and that no Canadian workers are suitable for this position. LMIA allows supporting applicants in applying for work visas, or supporting applicants in applying for immigration, or both. LMIA applications that simply support immigration no longer requires application fees.
In June 2014, LMO officially changed its name to LMIA. After the former Conservative Party Minister of Immigration, Connie transferred to the Federal Minister of Employment and Development, he made a series of reforms to temporary foreign labor regulations, and the old policy has undergone tremendous changes. The application fee has also been increased to $1,000 Canadian dollars per position.
Requirements
- English or French are the only languages that meet job requirements
- Have placed a job advertisement in Canada for at least 4 consecutive weeks. In addition, employers must also prove that they have used at least two other methods to recruit, such as participating in job fairs, cooperating with schools and providing internship positions, recruiting through professional recruitment agencies, etc.
- If the position provided by the employer is a high-paying position, you need to provide a transition plan to prove that the employer will bear the recruitment responsibility. The employer will continue to retain existing Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada employees, and will assist temporary foreign workers applying for a permanent resident status. In the transition plan, employers need to provide the specific details of the 5 recruitment activities they will conduct. One of the activities must be aimed at a small number or special categories of people, such as aborigines, disabled people, etc. Another recruitment activity must be able to prove how the employer will support the transition of temporary foreign workers into Canadian labor, such as providing language training and so on.
- Foreign workers introduced in Canada are measured by the wages provided to them by the company. They are divided into 2 categories: “low wages” and “high wages”. The LMIA application process is also different. The indicator that distinguishes between low wages and high wages is the median hourly wage in the province or region where the employer is located.
Submit Method
- Can be submitted on paper.
- Online submission started in 2020.
Documents Checklist
- LMIA application form and supporting documents (EDSC5627)
- Job offer letter (signed by employer and overseas worker) or employment contract/labor contract
- Recruitment certificate (for example, copy of advertisement: including job information, recruitment platform, validity period, etc.)
- Business registration or legal registration documents:
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- Municipal/Provincial/Territorial Business License
- Company Registration Information Certificate Of Incorporation
- Company’s tax bills for the past 1-3 years
- T2 Corporation Income Tax Return for the past 1-3 years of the company
- Income Statement Information (Schedule 125)
- Payroll information of current and former employees of the company in the past 12 months (if applicable)
- Financial Statement and Balance Sheet of the company in the past 1-3 years (if applicable)
- Company tax certification letter, certifying that the company is in good financial position and has the financial ability to hire overseas workers (produced and stamped by a lawyer or a certified public accountant)
- Provincial/regional/municipal business license (if applicable);
- Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) documents, including:
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- T4 remuneration summary (end of current year)
- PD7A current source deduction account statement (corresponding documents 12 months before submitting the LMIA application)
- Schedules 100 and 125-T2 corporate income tax return (only for companies-the 2 most recently filed returns)
- T2125 business statements or professional activities (only sole proprietorship/partnership-the 2 most recent statements submitted)
- Commercial lease agreement (if applicable)
Q&A
A: LMIA applications are mainly divided into two types. One is to help employed workers apply for permanent residence, such as applications for “fast immigration”, which does not have application fees (There is no fee for permanent residence LMIAs.);
The other is to allow foreign workers to apply for work permits (not for immigration). The application fee for employers to apply for LMIA has increased from $275 per position in the original LMO to $1,000 per position. The employer must pay through credit card or Money order payment.
A: The number of years a company has been established cannot be generalized, but it is completely in line with Canadian thinking that new companies require talents to help develop their business, and initial losses are common. ESDC has never defined the type, size, or business nature of the company that is eligible to submit an LMIA application.
In order to be qualify for the applicationt, it has to be a formal company that has been established for at least one year and has business operations.
ESDC does not have clear guidance on the financial situation of the company, but if the company loses money for a long time, it will be difficult to convince officials that the company has the financial strength for hiring.
Fees
- The service fee does not include government fees, translation fees, notarization fees, delivery fees and other third-party fees