The application for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (“LMIA”) asks: Employers should generally be counselled against stating that an offer of employment requires the ability to communicate in a language other than English or French.
Owner Operator LMIAs
One of the less understood recruitment exemptions in the Labour Market Impact Assessment stream is the exemption for Owner / Operators of a business. The Employment and Social Development Canada website states: Category: Owners/Operators Description: The owner/operator must demonstrate that he is integral to the day-to-day operation of the business and will be actively involved … Read More
Original Signatures, Digital Signatures and Copies of Signatures
One of the more frustrating aspects of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program from an application procedure angle can be determining whether ESDC accepts digital signatures, and whether an individual other than the 3rd party representative can sign for the person named as the third party representatives. Helpfully, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program Wiki appears to … Read More
LMIA’s – The Job Creation Factor
Regulation 203(3)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (the “IRPR“) states: (3) An assessment provided by the Department of Employment and Social Development with respect to the matters referred to in paragraph (1)(b) shall, unless the employment of the foreign national is unlikely to have a positive or neutral effect on the labour market in … Read More
ESDC – Determining Who the Employer Is
Canada’s Department of Employment and Social Development Canada (“ESDC“) administers the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (the “TFWP“). This is the program through which employers can obtain Labour Market Impact Assessments (“LMIAs“). The following is a partial reproduction of the TFWP Manual (an internal document) regarding who the employer is for the purpose of administering the … Read More
Labour Market Impact Assessments – Recruitment Requirements
Employers wishing to apply for Labour Market Impact Assessments are required to conduct recruitment efforts to hire Canadian citizens and permanent residents. The Department of Economic and Social Development (“ESDC” or “Service Canada“) is very stringent in its recruitment requirements, many of which are not publicly available. In this blog post I seek to provide … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #25 – Protecting Foreign Workers and Employer Compliance Inspections, with Meera Thakrar
The Government of Canada, as well as several provincial governments, have introduced several measures to protect temporary foreign workers and maintain the integrity of Canada’s foreign worker programs. Meera Thakrar is a Canadian immigration lawyer whose practices focus on helping companies recruit and retain foreign workers. Meera joins Peter Edelmann, Deanna Okun-Nachoff and Steven Meurrens … Read More
Borderlines Podcast #24 – The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, with Kyle Hyndman and Meera Thakrar
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, also known as the Labour Market Impact Assessment, is the main program through which Canadian companies hire temporary foreign workers. We discuss numerous aspects of obtaining Labour Market Impact Assessments, including prevailing wage, recruitment, transition plans, processing times, job match, the Global Talent Stream and the Owner – Operator LMIA. … Read More
Work Permits for Employers in the Sex Trade
Since July 4, 2012, Minister Instructions have been in place that prohibit temporary foreign workers in Canada from working in a business that is in a sector where there are reasonable grounds to suspect a risk of sexual exploitation of some workers. The Ministerial Instructions define the business sectors where there are reasonable grounds to … Read More
The Global Skills Strategy – Faster Processing and More Compliance for Certain Work Permits
The following is an article that I wrote for The Canadian Immigrant Magazine.