What is an LMIA?

An LMIA is a legal document issued by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). This allows Canadian employers to hire a foreign worker to fulfil their business needs. An LMIA also ensures that hiring a foreign worker will not negatively impact the Canadian labor market.

Rather it confirms that there is a need for a foreign worker to fill a particular position. Hence, without an LMIA, no employer will be able to hire any foreign national under low – wage TFWP, nor any foreign worker can renew their permit under the mentioned pathway.

Which CMAs are ineligible as of April 4?

24 CMAs has been identified by the Canadian government that has an unemployment rate of 6% and above. These regions listed below will halt low-wage LMIA applications for the next three months. The government will update the list in every 3 months and next update date would be 11th of July 2025.

What is a CMA?

A CMA is geographical area that is made up one or more neighbouring towns. These surround a key population center, which is denoted as the ‘core’. To be designated as a CMA, it must have a total population of at least 100,000, out of which 50,000 or more must live in the ‘core’.

How to identify if a ‘work location’ is in a CMA?

To determine whether your job falls under one of these CMAS:

Enter postal code of your work location in the search bar of Census of Population;

Note if “Census metropolitan area / Census agglomeration” is appearing as a result on the Geography search results page:

Your application remains eligible even if the location is not mentioned.

Your application will be still eligible, if ‘Census agglomeration’ appears

If it displays ‘Census metropolitan area’, then first check if it exists in the table above; if yes then your application is not going to be processed for the next 3 months.

How can our Immigration Lawyers help you?

Our immigration lawyers provide significant guidance in understanding the complexities of hiring foreign workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) considering the recent changes to LMIA. Therefore, if you are an employer that is looking to hire a foreign worker in a CMA that has an unemployment rate of 6% or higher, the Nanda & Associate lawyers can help you.

On the other hand, for employees who hold job offers in the affected CMAs, our immigration attorneys can represent you and negotiate with employers to either adjust wage or waiting periods.

Additionally, if you are currently on a low-wage TFWP work permit that cannot be renewed, we can assist in applying for a visitor record to maintain legal status in Canada. Call us at 905-405-0199 today to learn more about this!

visit us for information- https://nanda.ca/immigration-lawyers-mississauga/