What Is an LMIA? The Labour Market Impact Assessment Explained

The definition

A Labour Market Impact Assessment is a document issued by Employment and Social Development Canada that determines whether hiring a temporary foreign worker will have a positive or negative effect on Canada's labour market.

A positive LMIA confirms that no Canadian citizen or permanent resident was available to do the job, and that there is a genuine need for a foreign worker. A negative LMIA means the opposite, and no work permit can be issued on the basis of it.

Most employers need a positive LMIA before they can hire a temporary foreign worker.

The thing to understand first: it is not your document

You do not apply for an LMIA. Your employer does.

IRCC states this plainly: your future employer is responsible for getting you an LMIA if you need one. It is administered by Employment and Social Development Canada, not IRCC. It is assessed against the employer's conduct, the employer's recruitment, and the employer's wage offer, not against you.

If a positive LMIA is issued, the employer gives you a copy of the decision letter and Annex A, the employment details. You then use those to apply to IRCC for an employer specific work permit.

That is the entire mechanism. The LMIA gets your employer permission to hire a foreign worker. The work permit gets you permission to work.

What it costs the employer, and who is not allowed to pay it

The LMIA processing fee is one thousand Canadian dollars per position requested. It is non refundable, even if the application is withdrawn, cancelled, or refused.

And here is the part that matters to you: that fee cannot be paid by, or recovered from, the worker.

Not directly. Not through a deduction. Not through a recruitment fee or an administration fee or a lower salary. An employer who charges you the LMIA fee, or any recruitment fee, is in breach of the program's conditions and can be penalised for it.

If someone is asking you to pay for an LMIA, that is not a service. That is a violation, and very often a scam.

The single most important fact on this page

Since 25 March 2025, IRCC no longer gives Comprehensive Ranking System points for a job offer. An LMIA backed job offer is worth zero CRS points.

Before that date, an LMIA backed job offer was worth 200 points for a senior management occupation and 50 points for any other skilled occupation. That is gone. IRCC removed it for current and future candidates in the Express Entry pool.

An entire industry grew up around selling LMIA backed job offers to people who wanted those points. Tens of thousands of dollars changed hands. Those points do not exist any more. If anyone offers to sell you an LMIA to raise your CRS score, they are either uninformed or dishonest, and either way you should walk away.

What did NOT change: a valid job offer can still be an eligibility requirement for some programs, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program, the Federal Skilled Trades Program, and certain provincial nominee streams. So there are still real reasons to have one. Raising your CRS score is not one of them.

How long an LMIA lasts

For LMIA applications received on or after 1 May 2024, a positive decision is valid for up to six months.

Read that carefully. The expiry date is the date by which you must have applied for your work permit. It is not the date by which you must have started the job. The job can start later.

Six months sounds like a lot. It is not, if you also need to gather documents, complete a medical exam, and give biometrics. Start the work permit application immediately.

The employer's obligations, in brief

The employer must advertise the position and conduct real recruitment. For high wage positions, at least three recruitment activities, including Job Bank, advertised for at least four consecutive weeks. For low wage positions, more, including targeted recruitment of underrepresented groups, and for applications from 1 April 2026, at least eight consecutive weeks.

The employer must pay the prevailing wage, which is the highest of the median wage on Job Bank for that occupation and location, or the wage paid to their existing employees doing the same job. Only guaranteed wages count. Tips, bonuses and overtime do not.

For high wage positions, the employer must file a transition plan. Contrary to a widespread belief that this requirement was removed, it is still mandatory.

The employer must keep records for six years, and can be inspected without a warrant at any point in those six years.

The limits that may stop your employer entirely

There is a cap. In most sectors, no more than ten percent of the workforce at a specific work location may be temporary foreign workers in low wage positions. Certain sectors, including construction, food manufacturing, hospitals and nursing care, have a twenty percent limit instead.

And there is a hard refusal rule. For applications submitted from 26 September 2024, ESDC will not process an LMIA for a position below the wage threshold in a census metropolitan area where the unemployment rate is six percent or higher. There are exemptions, including primary agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals and nursing care, in home caregivers, and short duration positions.

This is why an employer may tell you they cannot hire you even though they want to. It is not always a negotiation. Sometimes the door is legally shut.

What you should take from all this

An LMIA is an employer's burden, an employer's fee, and an employer's risk. It buys you a work permit application, not a permanent residence advantage.

Never pay for one. Never buy one. And never build an immigration strategy around CRS points that were abolished in March 2025.

Not sure which pathway is right for you? Our RCIC-licensed consultants can advise you on the best strategy based on your immigration goals.

Prepared by Sivathri Priya, KGraph Immigration. Last updated July 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Prepared by Sivathri Priya, KGraph Immigration Consultants. Last updated July 2026. This guide is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or immigration advice.