Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) in Canada

On This Page, You Will Find:

• When is an LMIA required?
• High-wage or low-wage: how the stream is decided
• Recruitment and advertising requirements
• The LMIA application process, fee and processing times
• Rules that apply to low-wage positions
• Other LMIA streams
• Employer obligations after hiring
• LMIAs, Express Entry and permanent residence
• LMIA-exempt options
• Frequently asked questions

A Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is a document that a Canadian employer usually needs before hiring most temporary foreign workers. A positive LMIA confirms that there is a genuine need for a foreign worker and that no Canadian citizen or permanent resident is available to do the job. The employer applies to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), through Service Canada, under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Once the LMIA is approved, the worker uses it to apply to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) for a work permit.

The rules have tightened considerably since 2024. This guide reflects ESDC’s current program requirements, including the hourly wage thresholds that took effect on July 17, 2026 and the eight-week advertising period for low-wage positions. It also covers a major change on the permanent residence side: from November 3, 2026, a job offer no longer needs an LMIA to earn Express Entry points or to establish Federal Skilled Worker or Federal Skilled Trades eligibility.

When Is an LMIA Required?

An LMIA is required for most positions under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Many jobs are LMIA-exempt, however, under the International Mobility Program – for example, intra-company transferees, workers covered by trade agreements such as CUSMA, French-speaking workers hired outside Quebec under Francophone Mobility, and holders of open work permits. In short: TFWP positions generally need an LMIA; International Mobility Program positions generally do not. Our guide to jobs and categories that do not require an LMIA covers the exemptions in detail.

Only the employer can apply for an LMIA. The position must be full-time, which ESDC defines as at least 30 hours of work per week.

High-Wage or Low-Wage: How the Stream Is Decided

Most LMIA applications fall into either the stream for high-wage positions or the stream for low-wage positions. The stream is decided by comparing the wage you are offering with the hourly wage threshold for the province or territory where the job is located.

The threshold is not the median wage itself. ESDC defines it as the provincial or territorial median hourly wage plus 20%, based on Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey. If the offered wage is at or above the threshold, you apply under the high-wage stream; if it is below the threshold, you apply under the low-wage stream.

The current thresholds apply to LMIA applications received on or after July 17, 2026:

Source: ESDC, hourly wage threshold by province or territory. ESDC updates the table periodically, so always check the current table before you apply. For background on how the thresholds have risen, see our report on the increased high-wage threshold.

Two points are often misunderstood:

• The threshold only decides the stream. Separately, you must still pay the prevailing wage for the occupation – the higher of the Job Bank median wage for the occupation and location, or what you pay your own Canadian employees in the same job.
• You cannot simply raise the wage to change streams. ESDC warns that adjusting the offered wage to fit a stream or avoid a requirement can lead to a negative LMIA.

Note that the TFWP “high-wage position” is not the same thing as the “high-wage occupation” used in Express Entry from November 3, 2026. The TFWP test looks at the wage the employer offers against a provincial threshold; the Express Entry test looks at the national median wage of the occupation itself (see below).

In Quebec, employers must also consult the wage table published by Quebec’s Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI).

Recruitment and Advertising Requirements

Before applying, you must make reasonable efforts to hire Canadians and permanent residents. The minimum requirements differ by stream:

• High-wage positions: at least three recruitment activities – a Job Bank posting plus at least two additional methods consistent with the occupation, one of which must be national in scope. The advertising must run for at least four consecutive weeks within the three months before you submit the LMIA.
• Low-wage positions: a Job Bank posting, documented efforts to reach youth aged 15 to 30, and at least two additional recruitment methods, each targeting a different under-represented group (such as vulnerable youth, Indigenous peoples, newcomers, persons with disabilities and asylum claimants with valid work permits). The advertising must run for at least eight consecutive weeks within the three months before you submit the LMIA.

In both streams, at least one recruitment activity must remain ongoing until ESDC issues a decision, you must use Job Bank’s Job Match service and consider Direct Apply applicants, and you must keep recruitment records for at least six years. Some occupations and regions have variations, and specialised streams such as the agricultural stream have their own advertising periods.

The LMIA Application Process, Fee and Processing Times

The general steps are:

1. Compare your offered wage with the provincial or territorial wage threshold to confirm whether the position is high-wage or low-wage.
2. Complete the required recruitment and advertising for the full minimum period.
3. If the job is in British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan or Nova Scotia, obtain any required provincial employer registration first.
4. Submit the LMIA application through LMIA Online, with the processing fee and supporting documents (including business legitimacy documents). Applications can be submitted up to six months before the expected start date. Quebec positions must be submitted to Service Canada and MIFI at the same time.
5. Receive a decision. If the LMIA is positive, send the decision letter and the signed employment contract to the worker.
6. The worker applies to IRCC for a work permit. A positive LMIA is generally valid for up to six months after it is issued for this purpose.

Fee: the LMIA processing fee is $1,000 per position requested. It cannot be paid by or recovered from the worker, and it is not refunded if the application is withdrawn, cancelled or refused. Limited exemptions apply, including certain in-home caregiver positions and on-farm primary agriculture positions.

Processing times: ESDC publishes average processing times monthly. For LMIAs processed in September 2026, the averages were 98 business days for the high-wage stream, 82 business days for the low-wage stream and 9 business days for the Global Talent Stream. These figures exclude the advertising period, which must be completed before you apply.

High-wage transition plans: employers hiring in high-wage positions must generally submit a transition plan describing how they will recruit, retain and train Canadians and permanent residents and reduce reliance on the TFWP, with some exemptions (for example, certain caregiver, agricultural, short-duration and unique-skill positions).

Rules That Apply to Low-Wage Positions

The federal government has tightened the low-wage stream considerably:

• High-unemployment refusal to process: since September 26, 2024, ESDC will not process low-wage LMIA applications for jobs located in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher, subject to listed exceptions. The list of affected areas is updated regularly.
• Cap on low-wage workers: employers can generally fill no more than 10% of their workforce at a work location with low-wage temporary foreign workers. A 20% cap applies in construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities and certain in-home caregiver positions, and some positions (such as on-farm primary agriculture) have no cap. Employers with fewer than 10 employees at a work location calculate the cap using a workforce size of 10.
• Temporary rural measures: from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, eligible employers in rural areas outside census metropolitan areas in participating provinces and territories may use a temporary 15% cap. Start dates vary by province or territory, and the measures apply only to new applications made while they are in effect locally.
• Shorter employment duration: low-wage LMIAs allow employment for a maximum of one year.
• Longer, more targeted recruitment: the eight-week advertising period, youth outreach and under-represented group requirements described above.
• Housing and transportation: employers must ensure suitable and affordable housing is available and pay round-trip transportation costs, without recovering these costs from the worker.

Other LMIA Streams

Several specialised streams sit alongside the high- and low-wage streams:

• Global Talent Stream – an expedited LMIA for innovative firms referred by a designated partner (Category A) or for occupations on the global talent occupations list (Category B), with a 10-business-day service standard and a Labour Market Benefits Plan instead of standard advertising.
• Agricultural streams – the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program and the agricultural stream for primary agriculture.
• In-home caregivers – a separate LMIA stream for families hiring a caregiver.
• Permanent resident stream – an LMIA in support of a worker’s permanent residence application. For Express Entry’s Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades programs, this is far less relevant from November 3, 2026, because qualifying job offers no longer need an LMIA (see below).

Employer Obligations After Hiring

Employers must respect the wages, duties and working conditions set out in the LMIA and employment agreement, provide a signed employment agreement on or before the worker’s first day, review wages annually against the prevailing wage, keep records and cooperate with inspections. Temporary foreign workers cannot be reclassified as independent contractors. Non-compliance can lead to administrative monetary penalties, bans from the program and public listing; the government highlighted a doubling of TFWP compliance penalties in July 2026. Workers on an employer-specific permit must generally work only for the employer and in the role named on the permit.

LMIAs, Express Entry and Permanent Residence

On October 16, 2026, IRCC announced changes to Express Entry that take effect on November 3, 2026 and change the role of the LMIA in permanent residence. Our news report on the new Express Entry changes covers the announcement, and IRCC lists the details on its Express Entry “what has changed” page.

Until November 2, 2026: job-offer points remain removed from the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS), as they have been since March 25, 2025. An LMIA-supported offer adds no CRS points, although an LMIA-based work permit can help a worker build Canadian work experience.

From November 3, 2026:

• No LMIA needed for job-offer points. Job-offer points return under a new CRS “Labour Market Integration” factor, and the offer does not need an LMIA. Having an LMIA gives no extra points or priority. The offer can be for an existing or new position, with an existing or new employer.
• Only high-wage occupations earn points. A valid offer earns 100 points if the occupation’s national median wage is at least 2 times the average median wage, 70 points at 1.5 times (but under 2 times), and 50 points at 1.3 times (but under 1.5 times). An offer in an occupation that is not on IRCC’s high-wage occupation list earns 0 points. The level depends on the occupation (NOC), not on the individual’s salary.
• Job offer or Canadian experience, not both. The new factor awards points for either Canadian work experience (including new bonus points for at least 12 months in high-wage occupations) or a qualifying job offer – whichever is higher. The factor is capped at 150 points without a spouse or partner and 140 points with an accompanying spouse or partner.
• No LMIA needed for FSW and FSTP eligibility. A temporary public policy exempts candidates invited on or after November 3, 2026 from LMIA and LMIA-exemption requirements for the job offers used to establish Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) and Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) eligibility, if they meet the policy conditions. For eligibility, the offer can be in any eligible TEER 0–3 job – so an offer can count toward program eligibility yet earn 0 CRS points.
• Offers are still scrutinised. The offer must be valid under Express Entry (generally full-time, continuous and for at least one year after permanent residence, with special rules for trades and physicians). Officers check that the employer is actively engaged in business, the offer reflects reasonable needs, the employer can meet its terms and complies with employment and recruitment laws, and that the candidate is qualified and likely to accept. A revoked offer no longer qualifies.

Candidates already in the pool who want job-offer points must update their profile before November 3. IRCC will recalculate all scores automatically, which may take up to two weeks, and invitation rounds are paused during that period. Until IRCC’s online system is updated, a candidate with a non-LMIA job offer must still answer “Yes” to “Was a positive LMIA issued?” and enter LMIA number 00000, issue date 2026-01-01 and expiry date 2029-01-01, as instructed on IRCC’s changes page. More points do not guarantee an invitation to apply.

For employers, this means an LMIA is still needed to bring most TFWP workers to Canada on a work permit, but it is no longer the gateway for supporting an Express Entry candidate in a high-wage occupation. Many provincial nominee programs continue to set their own job-offer rules, which may differ. Employers can read more in our guide to how to hire foreign workers in Canada.

LMIA-Exempt Options

Because LMIAs have become harder and slower to obtain, many employers and workers look to LMIA-exempt pathways under the International Mobility Program, or to open work permits such as spousal open work permits and post-graduation work permits. For a broader view of Canadian work permits, see our step-by-step work permit guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• ESDC – Hire a temporary foreign worker in a high-wage or low-wage position (hourly wage threshold table)
• ESDC – Program requirements for low-wage positions
• ESDC – Program requirements for high-wage positions
• ESDC – Hire a temporary foreign worker in a low-wage position
• ESDC – LMIA application processing times
• ESDC – Temporary measures under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
• ESDC – Refusal to process an LMIA application
• ESDC news release – Doubling of TFWP compliance monetary penalties (July 2026)
• IRCC – Express Entry: what has changed
• IRCC backgrounder – Changes to Express Entry for high-wage occupations (October 2026)
• IRCC – High-wage occupation list