Labour Market Impact Assessment Process Changes 2015

Now, an employer can offer a permanent job to a foreign national to work in Canada as a skilled worker with an offer of arranged employment under the Express Entry system. Express Entry program provides an opportunity to the candidates having a job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from a Canadian employer to apply for Canada PR when the system draws applicants from the Express Entry pool.
CIC processes the complete applications in six months or less.

Employers need to

• provide an offer letter supported by an Labour Market Impact Assessment, and
• get a positive LMIA from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), except if the candidate is working in Canada as a Temporary Foreign Worker in a designation for which the employer has already obtained an LMIA and the employer now wants to provide a permanent job offer to this candidate. A new LMIA will be required under Express Entry, if the person or position is exempted from an LMIA. When you get your LMIA, you need to give its associated number to your Express Entry candidate.
• candidate needs to create an Express Entry profile or update their existing one in MyCIC with the
  1. Employer name and address,
  2. Start date,
  3. LMIA number, and
  4. NOC Code related to the job

Note: Most foreign workers are recruited temporarily while CIC process their application for Canada PR. This will require separate temporary work permit application and processing fee. Employers need to pay the regular LMIA processing fee.

A job offer supported by a Labour Market Impact

Assessment must

For Federal Skilled Worker Program

• be permanent, non-seasonal and full time, and
• be Skill Type 0 (managerial occupations) or Skill Level A (professional occupations) or B (technical occupations and skilled trades) on the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC) list.

For Federal Skilled Trades Program

• have at least one year of full-time work experience,
• be Skill Level B (technical occupations and skilled trades) in one of the eligible occupations, and have income and working environment equal to those provided to Canadians working in the occupation.

If recruiting from within Canada

The LMIA will still be valid under Express Entry, if you have a positive LMIA for an employee who has a temporary work permit and you wish to extend a permanent job offer to that employee. However, if the position or person was earlier exempted from an LMIA, then a new LMIA will be required under Express Entry.

Employer compliance system and fee

Starting February 21, 2015,employers who are hiring foreign nationals who are exempted from the LMIA process need to submit information about their business and organization, the Offer of Employment form, and pay processing fee to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

As of that date, a foreign national exempted from the LMIA process will not get an employer-specific work permit if the employer fails to submit the required information and pay the fee before submitting the work permit application.

The employer compliance fee is $230 and must be paid online. The fees collected will balance the cost undertaking vigorous employer compliance activities featuring assessment of thousands of employers.

If an employer is found to be non-compliant, he could face an administrative monetary penalty, a ban from recruiting foreign workers, and in serious conditions, a criminal investigation.

The employers hiring foreign nationals who have open work permits are not subjected to pay employer compliance fee.

New fee for open work permit applicants

From February 21, 2015, a fee of $100 will be collected from applicants having open work permit. This fee will be paid along with the work permit processing fee and can be paid online. The fees collected will equalize the cost of new initiatives to improve data collection on the role of open work permit holders in the Canadian labour market.

We, at Armstrong Immigration, help people understand the complex LMIA procedure. Our team holds extensive experience and will guide you through the entire LMIA process right from the beginning till the end.