The Labour Market Impact, referred to as LMIA, is an assessment report made by Employment and Social Development Canada to judge whether the employer has the need and ability to hire foreigners. Employers in Canada who need to recruit temporary foreign workers must first submit an LMIA application to the Employment and Development Department. Once approved, they can use this to assist temporary foreign workers in applying for work visas to work for the employer in Canada.

There are two categories of LMIA:

• Government free processing. It can support the applicant’s immigration application after approval. It will add 50 points (general occupations) or 200 points (senior management occupations) in EE system.
• An LMIA supports closed work permit applications and can also support immigration applications.

Application conditions:

• No age limitation
• No specific academic requirements, overseas academic qualifications need to be certified in advance
• No language requirements for work permit procedures

Employer conditions:

• The business must have been in operation for at least one year
• Companies need to provide legal business registration documents, business licenses, tax records, financial statements, etc.
• Recruitment certificate: Employers must publish job advertisements for at least four consecutive weeks on at least three Canadian print media or online platforms; in addition, employers must also prove that they use other recruitment methods, such as participating in job fairs, cooperating with schools and providing internship positions through professional recruitment agencies, etc.
• Job Offer must meet the relevant Canadian laws

Working language restrictions:

• English language
• French (unless another language is required for work)