LMIA for Employers

Before employers can hire temporary foreign workers they first need to apply for and obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

The job offer being advertised to the temporary foreign worker must be related to goods and services being provided by the business.

Steps to apply for an LMIA

1. Provide required documentation to show your business is genuine.

   Required Documentation

   • Business license;
   • Business registration
   • Canada Revenue Agency documents;
   • Commercial lease agreement;
   • Workplace safety and insurance clearance letter/certificate;
   • Other documents – if any
2. Recruiting and Advertising

   Before advertising a job vacancy to a temporary foreign worker, the employer must first be able to prove that they made various attempts to hire Canadian PR holders or Citizens and failed. Thereby, being able to open to job to foreign workers.

3. Interviewing eligible applicants

   From the large number of resumes received for the job vacancy, it is important that the employer keep notes and records of who they interviewed, why they are eligible or not eligible for the job, why an application was rejected etc, as this information would need to be submitted along with the LMIA application, including how many applications were received, and how many were interviewed.

4. Job offer to Foreign Worker

   If an employer is unable to find a PR holder or Citizen to fill the job vacancy, then then they can open the job offer to a foreign worker. This job offer would include a contract that is signed by both the employer as well as the foreign worker. The contract needs to include details such as, job position, salary, job responsibilities, number of work hours per week and the duration of employment.

5. Submitting an LMIA application

   Once employers have gathered all the required documentation, they would be able to submit their LMIA application. The application processing fee for each foreign worker is $1,000; which has to be paid to the Employment and Social Development Canada.

   You can pay by certified cheque, money order, Visa, MasterCard or American Express.

   Processing times

   The LMIA requirements are that you must submit your LMIA application six months prior to the job’s anticipated start date.

   There are exeptions to this rule, if:

   • A position is in an industry with incredibly high demand
   • The position is very high paying
   • The employment term is less than 120 days

   If the above exceptions apply, then applications would be processed within 10 days.