Highly Skilled Foreign Workers can get Canada LMIA processed in 10 business days

Highlights of Canada LMIA

• The IRCC conducts the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
• High-wage skilled trade occupation workers, workers with the wage exceeding the wages of top 10% Canadians, and short duration workers are covered under this situation.
• Generally, LMIAs takes more than 21 business days on an average to be processed.
• The IRCC conducts the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to help fill skill and labor gaps.

The IRCC conducts the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to help Canadian employers fill their companies' skill and labor gaps. This happens when there are no qualified Canadians or Permanent Residents available.

Under TFWP, there is one condition to be fulfilled by employers hiring foreign workers. The employers will have to complete a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to show that the employment provided to the foreign talent will positively affect the Canadian Labour Market or even have a neutral effect.

The LMIAs are processed across the High-wage stream, Global Talent Stream, Low-wage stream, In-home caregivers stream, Permanent Residence stream, Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, and Agricultural stream. IRCC accounts for all these streams. In December 2022, the LMIAs took more than 21 business days on average to be processed.

High-Wage Skilled Occupational Workers’ LMIAs

The workers in high-wage skilled trade occupations play a significant role in Canadian economic growth. For example, hiring workers for natural resource extraction and infrastructural development. The following are the lists of all the occupations that fall under this category.

NOC 2021 Code	Occupation
72011	Contractors and supervisors, electrical trades and telecommunications occupations
72013	Contractors and supervisors, carpentry trades
72014	Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and servicers
72310	Carpenters
72020	Contractors and supervisors, mechanic trades
72021	Contractors and supervisors, heavy equipment operator crews
82010	Supervisors, logging and forestry
82020	Supervisors, mining and quarrying
82021	Contractors and supervisors, oil and gas drilling services
83110	Logging machinery operators
82030	Agricultural service contractors, farm supervisors and specialized livestock workers
92010	Supervisors, mineral and metal processing
92011	Supervisors, petroleum, gas and chemical processing and utilities
92013	Supervisors, plastic and rubber products manufacturing
93100	Central control and process operators, mineral and metal processing
92100	Power engineers and power systems operators
92101	Water and waste treatment plant operators
72100	Machinists and machining and tooling inspectors
72102	Sheet metal workers
72104	Structural metal and plate work fabricators and fitters
72105	Ironworkers
72106	Welders and related machine operators
72200	Electricians (except industrial and power systems)
72201	Industrial electricians
72202	Power system electricians
72203	Electrical power line and cable workers
72204	Telecommunications line and cable workers
72205	Telecommunications installation and repair workers
72300	Plumbers
72301	Steamfitters, pipefitters and sprinkler system installers
72302	Gas fitters
72400	Construction millwrights and industrial mechanics
72401	Heavy-duty equipment mechanics
72402	Heating, refrigeration, and air conditioning mechanics
72403	Railway carmen/women
72404	Aircraft mechanics and aircraft inspectors
72406	Elevator constructors and mechanics
72500	Crane operators
73402	Drillers and blasters - surface, mining, quarrying and construction
73402	Water well drillers
83100	Underground production and development miners
83101	Oil and gas well drillers, servicers, testers and related workers
93101	Petroleum, gas and chemical process operators

LMIAs workers with the wage exceeding the wages of top 10%

The processing of the LMIAs will take ten business days for the workers, which is equal to or more than the wages of the top 10% of the PRs or Canadians. The below table shows the list of the median hourly wages in several provinces of Canada:

Provinces	Median Hourly Wages
Alberta (AB)	$28.85
British Columbia (BC)	$26.44
Manitoba (MB)	$23.00
Ontario (ON)	$26.06
Quebec (QC)	$25.00
Saskatchewan (SK)	$25.96
Prince Edward Island (PEI)	$21.63
New Brunswick (NB)	$21.79
Newfoundland and Labrador (NL)	$24.29
Nova Scotia (NS)	$22.00
Northwest Territories (NT)	$37.30
Nunavut (NU)	$36.00
Yukon (YT)	$32.00

LMIAs of short duration workers

The LMIAs of foreign workers hired for 120 days or less are also eligible under the ten business day service standard. Job roles like utilizing manufacturing equipment and handling of warranties and repairs fall under this category.

If you are looking to Migrate to Canada, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s no.1 Immigration & Visa Company.

Found this article interesting? Also read...

Enhanced PNP vs. Base PNP. Which one to choose?

Can I work in Canada as a business visitor?