Hire a skilled worker to support their permanent residency - Apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment
5. Apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment
Employers who want to hire a foreign worker must submit the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application along with all the required supporting documentation to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)/Service Canada.
In essence, employers are applying for an opinion on the impact that hiring a foreign worker would have on Canada's job market. As a result, it is important that employers follow all the necessary steps and submit all of the required documentation.
Important: Changes to the LMIA fee collection
As of October 23, 2020, Service Canada is making changes to better protect employers’ financial information. LMIA application forms will now only request partial digits from a credit card. Upon application receipt, Service Canada will contact the employer to obtain the remaining digits in order to process payment.
Important: Hiring TFWs in British Columbia or Manitoba
If you are hiring TFWs in British Columbia or Manitoba, you must apply for the employer registration certificate with the province first and must include a copy of the certificate or proof of exemption with your LMIA application. Your application will not be considered complete unless Service Canada has received it. You may want to take into account the processing times in the provinces before you submit your LMIA applications.
For more information about provincial laws on the employer registration requirement and possible exemptions in British Columbia and Manitiba, please visit the following websites:
- British Columbia:
- Provincial website: Register to hire foreign workers
- Provincial law: Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act
- Manitoba:
- Provincial website: Employer Registration Information
- Provincial law: Worker Recruitment and Protection Act
How to apply
Apply via LMIA Online portal
To access LMIA Online, an employer and a third party (if applicable) must have a valid Job Bank user account for authentication purposes. If you have not yet completed the one time registration in Job Bank for Employers, we invite you to do so by clicking on the link below and following the "Don't have an account? Sign up now." button. The registration process will take approximately 10 minutes. Once your Job Bank account(s) is/are created, you will be able to complete an LMIA application via the LMIA Online Portal.
Apply on Application Form
Employers must follow this step-by-step checklist to ensure that all the documents required are submitted, otherwise there will be delays in processing the application.
Complete, sign (where applicable) and submit the following documents:
- LMIA application form (EMP5593)
- employers must provide the name of the foreign national they wish to hire at the time they submit their LMIA application
- the processing fee does not apply to employers choosing only to support a foreign national's application for a permanent resident visa
- Schedule D – Skilled trades job offer – Employer #2 (EMP5595) (if applicable)
- proof of business legitimacy
- proof of advertisement (for example a copy of advertisement and information to support where, when and for how long the position was advertised)
Employers must send all required documentation to the Service Canada Centre responsible for processing skilled workers applications.
A complete application means that employers have:
- used the latest version of the application
- filled out all of the fields in all of the necessary forms
- included all of the required documentation
- signed the forms where required
- submitted the fee payment with the application (if applicable)
If an application is submitted and it is not complete, Service Canada staff will inform the employer that the application will not be processed. Incomplete applications and supporting documents submitted with the application will not be retained or returned to the employer. As a result, employers are advised to submit copies, not original documents.
Note:
On May 12, 2020, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced a Temporary Public Policy. The new policy allows some temporary foreign workers (TFWs) already in Canada to change jobs before a final decision is made on their work permit application.
Employers hiring these TFWs may receive priority processing of the LMIA applications. To do so, employers must notify Service Canada in writing that the TFW:
- is in Canada, and
- wishes to benefit from IRCC's COVID-19 Temporary Public Policy
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