LMIA
A Labour Market Impact Assessment is a decision by Employment and Social Development Canada about whether hiring a foreign worker for a particular job will help, harm or have no effect on the Canadian labour market. A positive or neutral assessment lets the worker apply for a work permit.
It is your application, not theirs
This is the misunderstanding worth correcting before anything else. The employer applies. The employer pays. The employer makes representations about its own recruitment, wages and business, and the employer is the one inspected afterwards.
Two consequences follow. An LMIA is not a document you can hand to a candidate to take elsewhere — it is tied to your job, at your business, at the wage you stated. And the fee, currently $1,000 per position, cannot lawfully be recovered from the worker, directly or indirectly. Arrangements where the worker pays for their own LMIA are among the most common violations found on inspection.
What ESDC is actually assessing
Not whether your candidate is good. Whether Canadians were given a genuine chance at the job. You must advertise the position as prescribed, for the prescribed period, and be able to explain what happened to every Canadian and permanent resident who applied. "Not a cultural fit" will not survive a question; specific, job-related reasons will.
You must also offer at least the prevailing wage for that occupation in that region, which ESDC publishes and updates. Paying below it fails the application; paying below it after approval is a compliance violation.
High-wage and low-wage change what is asked
Whether the wage you offer is above or below the provincial or territorial median splits the process in two. Low-wage positions carry extra conditions — caps on the proportion of your workforce that may be foreign workers, transportation and housing obligations, and a shorter permit duration. Some regions and occupations are subject to refusals to process altogether, and that list changes with policy.
Timing
The advertising period alone runs to weeks before you can apply, and processing follows that. An LMIA-supported hire is a plan measured in months, not weeks. If the role is genuinely urgent and genuinely specialised, look at the Global Talent Stream, which is the fast lane and has its own conditions.
Where Skylam comes in
Confirming the role needs an LMIA at all — see Hiring Foreign Workers, because a good share do not. Then getting the advertising, the wage and the recruitment record right the first time, because a refused LMIA is not simply reapplied for: it is a file ESDC now has an opinion about.
Requirements
Who qualifies
The employer
- A genuine, operating Canadian business with a real need for the position.
- No outstanding compliance findings, and not on the list of ineligible employers.
- Able to demonstrate the business can pay the wage offered.
The recruitment
- Advertising on the prescribed platforms, for the prescribed minimum period, within the window before applying.
- Advertisements that state the job, the wage, the location and the requirements accurately — an ad that does not match the LMIA is a problem in itself.
- A record of every applicant, and a job-related reason for each Canadian or permanent resident not hired.
The offer
- Wage at or above the prevailing wage for the occupation and region, as published by ESDC.
- Working conditions that meet provincial employment standards and occupational health and safety law.
- Workplace insurance where the province requires it.
- For low-wage positions: transportation, affordable housing assistance where applicable, and a cap on the share of your workforce.
The application
- The fee per position — never recoverable from the worker.
- A transition plan where one is required for a high-wage position.
- Business legitimacy documents: incorporation, financial statements, payroll records, a lease.
After a positive LMIA
- The worker applies for the permit; the LMIA has a validity period and the application must be made inside it.
- You must employ them in that job, at that wage, at that location. Material changes may need a new LMIA.
- Records for six years, and an inspection can come at any point during them.
Fees, wage thresholds, advertising rules and the refusal-to-process lists are set by ESDC and revised regularly — confirm the current position before you advertise.
Requirements change without notice. Check IRCC’s own page
Every case turns on its own facts. Book a consultation and a licensed consultant will tell you where you stand on LMIA.
Book a ConsultationLast updated 22 September 2026
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