How to Get an LMIA: A Guide for Canadian Employers in 2026

You need an LMIA to hire a foreign worker unless the job or the worker is LMIA-exempt. Check exemptions first, because they are cheaper and faster:

For LMIA-exempt offers, you pay the CAD $230 employer compliance fee and submit the offer in the IRCC Employer Portal instead.

Hiring in Atlantic Canada or a rural community? The Atlantic Immigration Program and Rural Community Immigration Pilot lead to permanent residence without an LMIA.

ESDC compares your offered hourly wage with the provincial or territorial median hourly wage plus 20%. At or above the threshold, you apply in the high-wage stream; below it, the low-wage stream.

Source: ESDC wage thresholds (page modified July 10, 2026). Other streams include the Global Talent Stream, the agricultural stream and SAWP, in-home caregivers, and LMIAs to support permanent residence only.

All LMIAs

• Pay the prevailing wage: the higher of the Job Bank median wage for the job and region, or the wage you pay current staff in the same job and location. Only guaranteed wages count (not overtime, tips, or bonuses).
• Pay the CAD $1,000 processing fee per position, which cannot be paid by or recovered from the worker. On-farm primary agriculture positions and some caregiver positions are exempt.
• Show a real business need and that you are an active business.

High-wage stream

• Advertise for at least 4 consecutive weeks within the 3 months before applying, using Job Bank (with Job Match, and invite matched candidates rated 4 stars or more within the first 30 days) plus at least 2 other methods, one of them national in scope. Three recruitment activities in total.
• Submit a transition plan showing how you will recruit, retain, and train Canadians and reduce reliance on the program.

Low-wage stream (stricter since 2024 and April 2026)

• Advertise for at least 8 consecutive weeks within the 3 months before applying (doubled from 4 weeks on April 1, 2026).
• Recruit youth (ages 15 to 30) and use at least 2 additional methods aimed at under-represented groups such as Indigenous people, newcomers, persons with disabilities, vulnerable youth, and asylum claimants with work permits.
• Respect the cap: low-wage foreign workers can be at most 10% of your workforce at the work location (20% in some sectors). Work locations with fewer than 10 employees can have 1 low-wage foreign worker (2 where the 20% cap applies). Rural locations outside metro areas in participating provinces and territories get temporary flexibility from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027.
• Pay round-trip transportation, make sure suitable, affordable housing is available (under 30% of the worker's income), and buy private health insurance until provincial coverage starts.
• Expect work permits of up to 1 year at a time.

Service Canada refuses to process low-wage LMIAs for jobs in census metropolitan areas (CMAs) with unemployment of 6% or higher. For applications submitted July 10 to October 8, 2026, that covers 26 of Canada's 41 CMAs, including Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver. The next update is October 9, 2026.

Exempt from the refusal: primary agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, some in-home caregiver roles, jobs of 120 calendar days or less, and LMIAs only supporting permanent residence. Jobs outside any CMA are not affected. See the full list on our low-wage LMIA refusal areas page.

Government fees in Canadian dollars, as of September 2026 (IRCC fee list; ESDC program requirements):

Full cost breakdown: Canada employer costs.

Plan for several months from the first ad to the worker's arrival. Workers can no longer get LMIA-based permits by "flagpoling" at the border since December 23, 2024, with limited exceptions.

• Choosing the wrong stream by comparing with the median instead of the median plus 20%.
• Ads that don't match the offer (wage, duties, location, or language requirements).
• Running ads for less than 8 weeks on low-wage jobs after April 1, 2026, or skipping the youth recruitment step.
• Filing in a refusal-area CMA without an exemption.
• Charging the worker any part of the LMIA fee or recruitment costs, which is illegal.
• Changing the job after approval. Wages, duties, and working conditions must match the LMIA. See compliance for employers.