Most Work Permit Applications to Canada Require a Labour Market Impact Assessment
Our firm helps employers with the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process for hiring a foreign worker, which includes the following steps:
1. Advertising the job position in at least 3 venues, including the government job bank, for at least one month. The advertisement must meet strict criteria, including complying with the job description for the job position found in the government's NOC listing, offering a salary that is industry average for the position and targeting under-represented groups like new immigrants and First Nation populations. We will create the advertisement and post them for you.
2. Creating a report of the recruitment process, including a record of all job applicants who are Canadian or PR and reasons they were not suitable for the position.
3. Preparing a strong application on your behalf and applying to the government for an LMIA after the required advertising period.
In order to be approved, your LMIA application must show that Canadian citizens and permanent residents will not be disadvantaged by you hiring a foreign worker. Your application will be stronger if you can show that the foreign worker will be involved in training Canadians or P.R.'s and imparting his skills to them during his employment with you or if his employment will directly result in Canadians being employed or retained by your company.
LMIA applications are separated into 2 groups: high-wage and low-wage. In Ontario, high-wage is if the employer will be paying the foreign worker a salary greater than $23.08 an hour. If the salary paid is below this amount, then the employer cannot hire more than 10% foreign workers and the LMIA will be issued for a period of only 1 year. The employer will also have additional responsibilities for low wage foreign workers, including paying for the employee's travel expenses to and from the employee's country of permanent residence, ensuring that salary paid to employee is not below those paid to Canadian citizens or PRs and ensuring that the employee has adequate housing and workplace insurance.
Processing time for an LMIA is between 1-3 months after application is submitted.
Government fees for an LMIA application is $1,000.
Our legal fees are $3,800, not including expenses (e.g. advertising fees).
After you receive a positive LMIA from the government, the foreign worker will have 6 months to apply for a work permit.
If you wish to proceed with this, please give me a call to set up an appointment at my office.
Author: Angeline Gallivan
Disclaimer: Information provided on this website is provided as a courtesy to you and does not constitute legal advise applicable for your unique circumstances. Your use of any information provided here does not create a lawyer-client relationship between yourself and our lawyer. To obtain advise specific to your legal situation, please contact us at 289-291 3977 or info@changallivanlaw.com.