LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment)

A document a Canadian employer must generally obtain from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) before hiring a foreign worker under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, confirming that filling the role with a foreign national will not negatively affect the Canadian labour market. To get a positive LMIA, an employer typically has to advertise the position first (recruitment rules are stricter for lower-wage roles, including an 8-week minimum advertising window and a requirement to target Canadian youth aged 15-30), keep a log of Canadian and permanent-resident applicants and why each was not hired, and show the wage offered matches what Canadians doing the same job are paid. ESDC classifies the role as high-wage or low-wage against the provincial or territorial median wage, which changes which rules apply — low-wage roles face extra caps (generally no more than 10% of a worksite's staff, 15% temporarily in some rural areas) and, since September 2024, are not processed at all in metro areas with 6%+ unemployment except for exempted sectors like agriculture, health care and construction. A positive LMIA lets the worker apply for a work permit tied to that employer and role; it is also the basis for most Express Entry candidates' arranged-employment points and is a prerequisite many Provincial Nominee Program employer-driven streams rely on. Not every foreign worker needs one — some categories (intra-company transfers, CUSMA/USMCA professionals, some Post-Graduation Work Permit holders) are LMIA-exempt.