What an LMIA is

Key point: ESDC issues a positive or negative LMIA. The worker still has to apply to IRCC for the work permit.

LMIA means Labour Market Impact Assessment. IRCC's page says it asks whether hiring a temporary foreign worker will have a positive or negative effect on the Canadian labour market. ESDC does not issue a third, "neutral" result. A positive LMIA means the hire should have a neutral or positive effect, and it confirms that no citizen or permanent resident is available. ESDC's positive LMIA list uses that wording.

There are two applications, and people mix them up.

• The employer applies to Employment and Social Development Canada, through Service Canada. That is the LMIA. The processing fee on the low-wage requirements page is $1,000 per position. It is not refunded if the application is withdrawn or negative.
• If the LMIA is positive, the worker applies to IRCC for a work permit and pays the work permit fee. On the fee list that fee is $155. A work permit is what lets you work. A positive LMIA does not.

Most employers need an LMIA before they hire a temporary foreign worker. Some jobs are exempt. An open work permit, including a PGWP, is a different thing: the employer does not need an LMIA to hire the person who already holds it.

LMIA-exempt work permits

Key point: Exempt means no LMIA. It does not mean the worker can skip a work permit.

Exempt means the employer does not need an LMIA. It does not mean the worker can skip a work permit. Under the International Mobility Program, the employer usually submits an offer in the Employer Portal and pays a $230 employer compliance fee, then gives the worker an offer number. IRCC's hiring page says that. Open permits, such as a PGWP or a bridging permit, do not use that portal step.

The codes below are the ones people ask me about. IRCC's list of LMIA exemption codes uses these names. The code is a filing label. Eligibility is the page for that category, and those pages change. Trade agreements such as CUSMA use their own codes. Use the agreement's page, not a guess.

C51 is charitable work under IRPR paragraph 205(d). There is no LMIA, and you still need an employer-specific work permit. The code applies from December 15, 2022. Before that date, charitable work and religious work shared C50. Religious work is still C50.

The work itself has to be charitable. A job at a charity is not enough on its own, and an administrator or office manager at a charity usually does not qualify. CRA registration is not required, but it helps show the work is charitable. CRA lists relief of poverty, advancement of education, advancement of religion, and other purposes that benefit the community. IRCC's examples include cooking at a homeless shelter, prenatal classes for low-income families, and 24/7 group home care for people with developmental disabilities.

The employer submits the offer in the Employer Portal and pays the employer compliance fee, unless that fee is waived. If the worker is unpaid, or gets only a living stipend below minimum wage, the work permit fee is waived under code E02 and the employer compliance fee is waived under code EC1. Volunteering that is not work, such as canvassing for donations, does not need a work permit at all.

C16 is spelled out on the Francophone mobility page. The employer uses code C16 and pays the $230 fee. The worker lives and works outside Quebec and shows intermediate French. Primary agriculture in TEER 4 and 5 is excluded.

C41 and C42 are narrower than they used to be. IRCC's January 2025 notice limited family open work permits from January 21, 2025. For a worker's spouse, the usual case is TEER 0 or 1, or a listed TEER 2 or 3 job, and the worker's permit must be valid for at least 16 months after IRCC receives the spouse's application. A few narrow exceptions exist. Dependent children are no longer eligible under that ordinary measure. Read the current family page rather than an old checklist.

For a student's spouse, the student spouse page limits the permit to a master's program of 16 months or longer, a doctoral program, a listed professional degree, or a named eligible program. A spouse of a one-year college student should not assume this permit exists.

C11 follows the entrepreneur answer: you intend to operate a business in Canada that would create or maintain significant benefits, or jobs for citizens and permanent residents. Intra-company transfers now use C61, C62 or C63, depending on the role. The names are on the exemption codes page. C43 is the PGWP. A75 is the code used for many bridging open work permits. If your program uses a different code, the instruction for that program wins.

Processing basics

I do not print a week count, because Service Canada's times change and a blog number goes stale. The order of the file is stable:

1. The employer recruits in Canada for the period the stream requires, and keeps the proof.
2. The employer applies in LMIA Online and pays the fee, unless a published fee exemption applies. A high-wage or low-wage application can be filed up to 6 months before the job starts. That is a filing window, not a promise of how fast the decision comes.
3. Service Canada assesses the business, then issues a positive or negative LMIA. A positive one means the hire should have a neutral or positive effect on the labour market. There is no separate neutral result.
4. The worker applies to IRCC with the LMIA details and pays the work permit fee. Biometrics are extra if IRCC asks.

The decision letter says how long that LMIA can be used. Apply before it expires. If the letter and a website disagree, follow the letter and the current ESDC page.

Scams, and paying for an LMIA

Key point: Never pay for an LMIA. The employer pays the processing fee. You pay your own work permit fee.

Do not pay an employer, or a recruiter, for an LMIA. ESDC's fee section says the processing fee cannot be paid by the worker and cannot be recovered from the worker. The 2022 rule change prohibits charging or recovering LMIA fees, employer compliance fees, and recruitment fees, before the job and during it. The employer has to make sure a recruiter acting for them does not charge those fees either.

You still pay your own visa fee and your own work permit fee. That is different from paying for the LMIA.

The pattern I refuse is a stranger who offers a positive LMIA, or a job you will never do, in exchange for a payment. A bought offer is not genuine. It can end in a refused work permit, a refused permanent residence application, and a misrepresentation finding. I will not file it.

If you already hold a work permit and you want to know whether Express Entry is realistic, start with the calculator and the work permits page. Bring me the offer only if the employer, the wage, and the duties are real.