Hiring a foreign worker in Canada usually starts with one document: a Labour Market Impact Assessment, or LMIA. It is the employer who applies for it, not the worker, and a positive decision is what allows the worker to then apply for a work permit.
The process is not complicated, but it is unforgiving. Most refusals we see come from a recruitment step that was done a week too short, or from an application filed for a position that was never eligible in the first place. This guide walks through the steps in the order you actually have to do them.
A note on the numbers below: wage thresholds, processing times and caps are set by Employment and Social Development Canada and change several times a year. Every figure here is dated. Always confirm the current value on the official page before you file.
Step 1: Work out whether your position is high-wage or low-wage
This is the first decision, and everything else depends on it. The dividing line is the median hourly wage of the province or territory where the work will happen, plus 20%. Offer at or above that number and you are in the high-wage stream. Offer below it and you are in the low-wage stream.
The thresholds below took effect on July 17, 2026:
| Province or territory | Hourly threshold |
|---|---|
| Alberta | $37.50 |
| British Columbia | $38.40 |
| Manitoba | $31.33 |
| New Brunswick | $31.73 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $33.60 |
| Northwest Territories | $48.00 |
| Nova Scotia | $31.96 |
| Nunavut | $45.00 |
| Ontario | $36.92 |
| Prince Edward Island | $31.20 |
| Quebec | $36.00 |
| Saskatchewan | $34.62 |
| Yukon | $45.60 |
The two streams have different advertising rules, different documents and very different processing times, so getting this wrong at the start costs you the whole application.
Step 2: Check that the position can be processed at all
Before you spend anything, confirm that your application will even be accepted. Two rules stop applications cold.
The unemployment rule. Since September 26, 2024, low-wage applications are not processed when the work location sits in a census metropolitan area with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher. Some exemptions apply, but the default is refusal to process.
The cap on low-wage workers. At a given work location, low-wage temporary foreign workers are generally limited to 10% of your workforce. The limit rises to 20% in certain sectors, including construction, food manufacturing, hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities. If you employ fewer than 10 people, that works out to one worker under the 10% cap, or two under the 20% cap.
Some positions sit outside the cap entirely, including on-farm primary agriculture, healthcare support roles, and work lasting 120 calendar days or less.
Step 3: Recruit in Canada first, for the full minimum period
An LMIA is an assessment of whether hiring from abroad will hurt the Canadian labour market. Proving you genuinely looked here first is the core of the application, and it is where most files fall apart.
The minimum advertising periods are:
- High-wage positions: at least 4 consecutive weeks
- Low-wage positions: at least 8 consecutive weeks
- Agricultural Stream positions: at least 14 consecutive calendar days
All of it has to be completed within the 3 months before you apply. Two points matter more than people expect. The weeks must be consecutive, so a posting that lapses for a few days and restarts does not count as continuous. And the advertising has to still be live or recently completed when you file, because a campaign that finished four months ago is out of the window.
Keep everything: screenshots of each posting with visible dates, the list of applicants, and a written reason for every Canadian applicant you did not hire. That last document is the one employers most often skip, and the one Service Canada most often asks for.
Step 4: Prepare the supporting documents
The exact list depends on your stream, but most applications need proof that the business is real and active, proof of the recruitment you just completed, and a description of the job that matches what you advertised, word for word on the essentials. Any gap between the advertised wage, hours or duties and what appears in the application is a problem.
High-wage applications also generally require a transition plan showing how you intend to reduce your reliance on temporary foreign workers over time.
Step 5: File through LMIA Online and pay the fee
Applications are submitted through the LMIA Online portal. The fee is $1,000 per position requested, and it is worth being clear about what that means: the fee is not refunded if your application is withdrawn, cancelled, or refused. Ten positions means ten thousand dollars at risk on the quality of your file.
You can apply up to 6 months before the job is expected to start, and given current processing times, you generally should.
Step 6: Plan around the processing time
These are the figures published for August 2026, on a page last updated on September 10, 2026, in business days:
| Stream | Business days |
|---|---|
| Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program | 6 |
| Global Talent Stream | 10 |
| Agricultural Stream | 25 |
| Low-wage | 82 |
| High-wage | 90 |
| Permanent Resident Stream | 156 |
Service Canada is explicit that these swing significantly month to month with application volume. Treat them as planning estimates, not promises. The gap is worth noticing: a high-wage file at 90 business days is roughly four and a half months before the worker can even begin their own application.
Step 7: After a positive LMIA
A positive LMIA is not a work permit. Once it is issued, you give the worker a copy along with a signed job offer, and the worker applies for the work permit through Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. That is a second process, with its own timeline, and the work cannot start until it is approved.
The mistakes that cost the most
- Advertising that is a few days short. Eight weeks means eight consecutive weeks. There is no partial credit.
- Applying in a region where the file cannot be processed. Check the unemployment rule before you spend on recruitment, not after.
- A job offer that drifts from the advertisement. If you advertised 40 hours and apply for 44, expect questions.
- No written reasons for rejecting Canadian applicants. Interviewing local candidates is not enough on its own; you have to be able to explain each decision.
- Starting too late. A high-wage LMIA plus a work permit application is a timeline measured in months, not weeks.
Where we come in
Immigration Pros works with employers across the whole sequence:
- Confirming the stream and the eligibility rules before any money is spent
- Running recruitment so the documentation stands up to review
- Preparing and filing the application
- Supporting the worker through the permit stage afterward
If you are weighing a hire and are not sure the position qualifies, that is the cheapest moment to ask. Start with a free assessment and we will tell you whether the LMIA route makes sense before you spend anything on recruitment.
