Employer-driven immigration and the LMIA: when it actually helps

What an LMIA is, and which department assesses it

LMIA stands for Labour Market Impact Assessment. It is an assessment made by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) on an application submitted by an employer, judging the effect that hiring a particular foreign worker would have on the local labour market. It sits within the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and is administered by ESDC (ESDC · Hire a temporary foreign worker).

One boundary causes most of the confusion here. ESDC handles the LMIA. IRCC handles work permits and permanent residence applications. Two departments, two processes, two sets of criteria. A positive LMIA establishes that the position may be filled by a foreign worker; it does not mean the IRCC application will be approved. Note also that the employer submits the LMIA application, not the worker.

High-wage and low-wage: decided by the provincial threshold

The test is a single comparison. Take the hourly wage stated on the LMIA application and compare it to the threshold for the province or territory where the work is located. At or above the threshold, the application goes through the stream for high-wage positions; below it, the stream for low-wage positions.

The threshold is defined: the median hourly wage for that province or territory plus 20%, drawn from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey (2024 to 2025). Median wages are updated, and the thresholds move with them.

Which column applies depends on the date ESDC received the LMIA application — not the date the employer began preparing it, or the date the work permit is filed. The table above lists common provinces only; thresholds for all thirteen provinces and territories are on the ESDC page.

Raising the wage is not a way into the high-wage stream

ESDC states on that page that offering a higher wage to the foreign worker is not on its own sufficient to place a position in the high-wage stream. The wage offered should be consistent with what Canadians and permanent residents are paid for the same job, at the same location, with similar skills and years of experience. Inflating the offered wage in order to fall into a particular stream, or to avoid a particular requirement, may result in a negative LMIA.

A wage that does not line up with what this employer pays others in the same role is visible at assessment.

What an LMIA is still good for

The points route is closed

On March 25, 2025 IRCC removed job offer points from the Comprehensive Ranking System — the 200 points for NOC Major Group 00 senior management positions and the 50 points for other skilled occupations. The change applies to profiles already in the pool and to new ones. The full breakdown is in Express Entry: how the CRS score works.

A good deal of guidance still in circulation says an LMIA is worth 200 points. Under the current rules that is no longer the case.

Three places it still counts

First, eligibility for the Federal Skilled Trades program. It requires either a full-time job offer of at least one year or a certificate of qualification issued by a Canadian provincial, territorial or federal authority. That is a threshold to apply, not a bonus.

Second, employer-driven streams within provincial nominee programs. These require a job offer from an employer in that province, and each province sets its own requirements on the position, occupation category and wage. One province's conditions do not carry over to another. For someone already living in a province, an offer is often the common precondition for two separate things: meeting that province's stream criteria, and having a status to remain in Canada on.

Third, ESDC lists "applications to support permanent residency" as its own application type, alongside high-wage positions, low-wage positions, primary agriculture, and the Global Talent Stream.

Put together, the position of the LMIA has shifted over the past few years: from how many points it adds, to whether you qualify and which route is open.

When this route is worth pursuing

When language, education and age cannot be moved much in the near term, and a Canadian employer is willing to go through the LMIA process. The purpose of this step is to obtain a work permit, land, and accumulate Canadian work experience. Canadian work experience counts in both the core and skill transferability sections of the CRS, and a Canadian post-secondary credential carries additional points of its own.

When it is not the answer

If you have at least one year of work in Canada in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 within the past three years and meet the language minimum. TEER refers to the levels within the National Occupational Classification, set by the training and skill requirements of the occupation. The Canadian Experience Class requires no job offer.

The Federal Skilled Worker program requires no offer either. Its own selection grid is scored out of 100 with a pass mark of 67, and a valid offer is worth 10 points within it (IRCC · Six selection factors). That is the FSW grid, which is a different thing from the CRS.

And where the position is not genuine — where the point of the offer is the status rather than the work. If the genuineness of a position is called into question, the consequences reach the whole file, including the permanent residence application that follows.

Work out where you stand first

The calculator on this site scores against the official IRCC grid band by band, separating core, spouse, skill transferability and additional points. It also checks your language against the minimum for each of the three federal programs, and says so directly when a score will not put you in the pool. For the provincial route there are OINP and MPNP calculators here as well.

The number is something you can work out yourself. The judgment below it is the harder part: whether this position should go the LMIA route, which stream it should be filed under, which of the province's categories it fits, and which permanent residence route it connects to afterwards. Once the occupation classification and the offered wage are written into an application, changing them later moves the whole file, and doing it over costs months.

If you already hold an offer and want the occupation classification and the wording of the letter checked before anything is filed, there is a service for exactly that: employment letter and NOC classification review, CAD $150 plus applicable tax, written opinion within 3 business days. To go through your overall profile together with the offer, see the consultation rates.

Common questions