FAQ

  • A Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is a document that an employer in Canada may need to get before hiring a foreign worker.

    A positive LMIA will show that there is a need for a foreign worker to fill the job. It will also show that no Canadian worker or permanent resident is available to do the job.

    Source

  • The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program leaves workers vulnerable to abuse:

    • "Temporary foreign workers lack many of the rights that citizens and permanent residents do. Most of them are on closed work permits, tied to particular jobs with particular employers.

      This creates a power imbalance: Temporary foreign workers who lose their jobs also have to leave the country, and those who complain about abusive working conditions may simply not be invited back the following year."-CBC

    • "the Temporary Foreign Worker Program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights."-UN Special Rapporteur Tomoya Obokata

    There have also been instances where employers have illegally sold their approved LMIA positions to workers:

    • "The scheme can involve employers, immigration consultants and recruiters who sometimes work together to promise jobs to temporary foreign workers — often for tens of thousands of dollars.

      They sell labour market impact assessments (LMIAs). That's a federal document most employers need before they can hire a temporary foreign worker, proving they could not fill the job with a Canadian or permanent resident for at least 28 days."-CBC

    • "Fraudulent immigration services may charge anywhere from $2,000 to $200,000 for a guaranteed offer of employment, ignoring the clear guidelines on the government website"-Immigration.ca

    *I am not accusing any employers on this map of selling LMIAs.

  • LMIA employer data is published quarterly on the Open Government Portal.

    I have not modified the data except to correct obvious spelling errors and to fix postal codes so they appear on the map properly. See the FAQ on errors for details.

    This list excludes all personal names, such as employers of caregivers or business names that use or include personal names. For this reason, the list is not complete and does not reflect all employers who requested or received an LMIA.

    The data provided in this report tracks TFW positions on Labour Market Impact Assessments only, not TFWs that are issued a work permit or who enter Canada. The decision to issue a work permit rests with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC); therefore, not all positions approved result in a work permit or a TFW entering Canada. The data includes all positions on all positive LMIAs as issued, and therefore also includes any position that may have been subsequently cancelled by the employer.

    I have left out the data for "Employers carrying on business in Canada with Head Office outside of Canada" as they made up a very small portion of the positions and their foreign business addresses makes it difficult to see where those jobs are located in Canada.

  • The provinces of ON, QC and BC had so many different postal codes that they exceeded the limits of the map visual.

    In order to ensure all points appear I've used postal codes to separate the following regions:

    • The GTA: Postal codes beginning with M or L

    • Montreal: Postal codes beginning with H

    • Vancouver: Postal codes beginning with V3-V7, excluding V3G, V4S, V4T, V4V, V4W, V4X and V4Z.

    Some areas that are well outside the GTA and Vancouver were included to keep the number of points under the limit.

  • Names and addresses were copied "as is" from the Government of Canada's data including any spelling mistakes. Many postal codes were missing characters, causing points to appear in other countries. City names were also spelled incorrectly or abbreviated, including roughly a dozen different attempts to spell "Mississauga". There are likely errors in the other columns as well (postal codes employer names, occupation titles) but I will not be checking as I don't have time to manually verify the ~100,000 assessments in the map.

  • As Q1 data was published on 20 June, I expect Q2 data to be published and added to the map in late September.