Support for Canadian employers hiring or relocating foreign workers, including Labour Market Impact Assessment applications and foreign worker recruitment.
For Canadian employers hiring from abroad, rather than for the worker being hired.
Support for Canadian employers hiring or relocating foreign workers, including Labour Market Impact Assessment applications and foreign worker recruitment.
This is the employer's side of hiring from abroad. Most of it runs through Employment and Social Development Canada rather than IRCC, which surprises employers who expect a single immigration department to handle everything.
A Labour Market Impact Assessment is the central document. It is an assessment of whether hiring a foreign worker will negatively affect the Canadian labour market, and a positive one is what allows the worker to then apply for an employer-specific permit. It usually requires genuine advertising and recruitment first, at set wage levels — the recruitment is not a formality to be reconstructed afterwards.
Some hires do not need an LMIA at all, under the International Mobility Program: intra-company transfers and certain trade-agreement categories among them. Establishing whether an exemption applies before starting an LMIA can save months.
This is what an application on this route usually involves. It is not a checklist that guarantees anything, and IRCC sets the actual requirements, which change.
Whether it fits you specifically is exactly what a consultation is for. This page cannot answer that, and does not try to.
Each route below is run by the Government of Canada, and its official page is the authoritative source for current requirements. Links go directly there.
The assessment most employer-specific work permits depend on, administered by Employment and Social Development Canada rather than IRCC.
Employers of foreign workers carry ongoing obligations and are subject to inspection. The requirements are published and enforceable.
A stream for eligible employers hiring specialised talent, with its own separate process.
Patterns that cause avoidable problems. None of this is advice about your own case, and avoiding all of it still does not decide an application.
Advertising in the wrong place, for too short a period, or at the wrong wage undermines the whole application, and it usually cannot be repaired retrospectively.
The wage has to meet the published rate for that occupation and region. This is checked.
The assessment is about labour market impact. A recruitment record showing qualified Canadian applicants dismissed without proper consideration is a problem.
Record-keeping obligations continue for years after the hire, and an inspection can come long after everyone has moved on.
The employer. Employment and Social Development Canada assesses it, and only once it is positive can the worker apply to IRCC for the work permit.
In most cases yes, and the advertising has real requirements around where, for how long, and at what wage. It is assessed as evidence, so it cannot be reconstructed after the fact.
Yes. The International Mobility Program covers a number of exempt categories, including certain intra-company transfers and trade-agreement categories. Checking for an exemption before starting an LMIA can save months.
Employers of foreign workers carry ongoing obligations, must keep records for years, and are subject to inspection. Those obligations are published and enforceable.
Official Government of Canada sources for everything described above. These are the authoritative statements of the requirements; this page is a plain-language summary of how the route works.
A few minutes of general questions, reviewed before you speak with the RCIC-IRB directly.
Start Your AssessmentThe assessment form is general information only. It does not give you an eligibility conclusion.
This page is general information. It is not an assessment of your eligibility, and nothing on it is immigration advice for consideration. Employer & LMIA Support matters at ZIMMR are advised on directly by Irshad Osman, RCIC-IRB.
Verify on the CICC public register