The Labour Market Impact Assessment Changes 2024

The Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process in Canada has seen significant changes in recent weeks, reflecting the country’s evolving economic landscape and labor needs. The LMIA is a document that employers in Canada must obtain to hire foreign workers, ensuring the decision will not negatively impact the Canadian labor market. Recent adjustments aim to streamline this process, making it more efficient for employers while simultaneously safeguarding job opportunities for Canadian citizens and permanent residents. These changes often include expedited processing times and the introduction of new categories that allow employers in critical sectors, such as agriculture and technology, to access foreign talent more swiftly.

The most important changes are:

• Starting November 8, 2024, the wage threshold used to determine the high-wage or low-wage stream will be increased by 20%.
• Certain LMIA applications for low-wage positions in Census Metropolitan areas (CMA) with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher won’t be processed. Enter the complete postal code to determine whether an employer belongs to CMA: Census of Population
• in some sectors, the current 20% cap on the proportion of low-wage positions is being reduced to 10%
• in the construction and healthcare sectors, the cap on the proportion of low-wage positions is being reduced to 20%

• NAICS 23 – Positions in construction
• NAICS 311 – Positions in food manufacturing
• NAICS 622 – Positions in hospitals
• NAICS 623 – Positions in nursing and residential care facilities
• specific in-home caregiver positions under:
  • NOC 31301 – Registered nurse or registered psychiatric nurse
  • NOC 32101 – Licensed practical nurse
  • NOC 44100 – Home childcare providers
  • NOC 44101 – Attendant for persons with disabilities, home support worker, live-in caregiver, personal care attendant

• the maximum employment duration for low-wage positions is being reduced from 2 years to 1 year

What is the High wage position:

If an employer is offering a wage to a temporary foreign worker (TFW) that is at or above the provincial or territorial wage threshold, that application is considered a High Wage.

ESDC and IRCC are evaluating the impact of inclusion in future measures and might further change rules regarding LMIA applications.

These changes are affecting ALL LMIAs including PR LMIAs. We are kindly advising all our existing applicants in Canada to check with their employers whether they are above the current cap. If they are, they should start searching for alternative employment immediately, to start another employment after their existing work permit expires. We can offer you a highly discounted rate for immigration-related services such as work permits.