What Should You Know Before Hiring A Foreign Worker In Canada?

If you have recently opened a new business in Canada and planning to hire personnel for the same, you will need to learn more about the LMIA work permit. Short for Labor Market Impact Assessment, it is essentially a document issued by the Employment and Social Development Canada. This body mainly assesses the impact on the country if you are hiring a foreign national in Canada.

This mainly evaluates if the position you want to fill can be satisfied with a permanent resident of Canada or a citizen. If not, you will be allowed to bring in the worker you wish to. The result of this assessment can either be positive or negative.

While a positive LMIA result will mean that there is no Canadian citizen that can fill that position, in turn, allowing you to hire the foreign national, a negative result means it should be filled by a permanent citizen.

Who Can Apply for LMIA?

A foreign national is not allowed to apply for LMIA. Instead, these documents can only be applied for by a Canadian employer. However, that is not always the case. It might sometimes be possible for you to hire a foreign working, but only ones who do not require an LMIA or who are free from needing a work permit.

All other streams of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program have made it mandatory to avail of an LMIA to hire outside of Canada. In addition to that, most of Canada’s immigration processes for permanent residency require you to show a positive LMIA in order to gain points for a Canadian job offer.

The Application Process for Acquiring LMIA

The employer should always apply for LMIA at least 6 months before the starting date. The application process can differ depending on the wages of the person you are hiring. To begin with, employers should learn about the average hourly wages of their locality.

This will further help them determine whether the position they are hiring for is considered high-wage or not. This is important not only because the process differs but also because low-wage workers are needed to meet more criteria. The novel streams for employees trying to obtain LMIAs for employment include:

Home-caregivers
Foreign academics
Agricultural workers

What Happens After It Is Approved?

Once your LMIA application gets approved, all of it depends on if the result is positive or negative. If it is positive, it will be valid for only 6 months from the date of issue. The foreign worker will also have to apply for their work permit. While sometimes, the LMIA application can be processed as quickly as 10 days, other times, it may take some time.