LMIA Work Permit Major Changes Announced! Canada Immigration Fraud #canadaimmigration #canada

Summary

In this video, Sahil, a Canadian immigration consultant, discusses recent changes to Canada's LMIA (Labor Market Impact Assessment) program, which are crucial for anyone seeking to work in Canada. The updates include a 20% cap on dual-intent LMIAs, stricter oversight of employers, and potential refusals of low-wage LMIA applications. These changes aim to curb exploitation in the hiring process, particularly in low-wage sectors like food and agriculture. The video highlights the impact of these reforms on both employers and prospective foreign workers.

Takeaways

• 📢 Major updates have been announced for the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) program in Canada, affecting work permits and immigration processes.
• 🤔 The changes are significant for foreign workers and immigrants planning to work in Canada, as they may impact eligibility and application processes.
• 📅 The announcement of these changes was made on August 6, 2024, during a meeting convened by the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion.
• 🔍 LMIA is a precursor to obtaining an employer-specific work permit in Canada, assessing the impact of hiring foreign workers on the Canadian labor market.
• 💰 Employers must offer wages that meet or exceed the median wage of the province where the job is located, with different categories for high wage, low wage, and dual intent LMIAs.
• 🚫 The government is considering refusing low wage LMIAs, which will impact sectors like food service, agriculture, and entry-level roles that typically offer lower wages.
• 🏢 New restrictions include a 20% cap on the number of low-wage workers an employer can hire, stricter oversight in high-risk areas, and additional requirements for employers based on their business history and compliance.
• 🛂 Enhanced scrutiny will be applied to employers, including unannounced inspections, to ensure compliance with hiring and wage regulations.
• 💼 The changes aim to address concerns about fraud and exploitation within the temporary foreign worker system, where workers have been known to pay illegal fees for employment.
• 🌐 The updates are part of a broader overhaul suggested by a senate committee report, which calls for significant changes to the temporary foreign worker program and the LMIA system.
• 🔄 More changes are expected in the future as the government continues to review and adjust policies to better protect foreign workers and the integrity of the Canadian labor market.

Q & A

What is the significance of the recent meeting held by the Canadian authorities regarding work permits?

The meeting announced a major overhaul of the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) program, which is crucial for foreign workers and immigrants seeking to work in Canada.

Who is the speaker in the video, and what is his profession?

The speaker is Sahil, a regulated Canadian immigration consultant practicing in Ontario.

What is the purpose of subscribing to Sahil's channel?

Subscribing to the channel is recommended for those interested in Canadian immigration updates, as it provides valuable information for aspirants moving to Canada.

What is an LMIA, and why is it important for work permits in Canada?

LMIA is a Labor Market Impact Assessment report that assesses the impact of hiring a temporary foreign worker on the Canadian labor market. It is a precursor requirement for obtaining an employer-specific work permit in Canada.

What are the three main categories of LMIA mentioned in the script?

The three main categories are high wage LMIA, low wage LMIA, and dual intent LMIA.

What is the median wage in Ontario, and how does it affect the classification of LMIA?

The median wage in Ontario is $28.39. Any salary offered above this amount falls under high wage LMIA, while anything less is considered low wage LMIA.

What are the implications of the new changes announced on August 6, 2024, for low wage LMIAs?

The changes include considering the refusal of low wage LMIAs, which will impact sectors like food service, agriculture, and entry-level roles that typically offer wages below the median.

What additional requirements are being enforced for LMIA approval under the new changes?

The new changes enforce a 20% cap policy on dual intent LMIAs, stricter oversight in high-risk areas, and additional requirements regarding the employer's years in business, previous inspections, and the number of employees.

Why is the Canadian government considering blocking low wage temporary foreign workers?

The government is addressing concerns of exploitation and illegal fees charged to foreign workers, aiming to protect the labor market and ensure fair employment practices.

What are the expected impacts of the new LMIA changes on employers and foreign workers?

The changes are expected to impact employers in sectors like food service and agriculture, making it harder for them to hire foreign workers at lower wages. It also affects foreign workers seeking entry-level positions in Canada.

How can interested individuals get in touch with Sahil for immigration consultation?

Interested individuals can contact Sahil through the number displayed on the screen or find details in the description box of the video.

Outlines

00:00

📢 Major Overhaul of Canada's LMIA Program

The video script discusses a significant update to Canada's Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) program, announced by the Minister of Employment and Social Development. The LMIA is a critical component for foreign workers seeking work permits in Canada. The update includes a new 20% cap on Dual Intent LMIAs, stricter oversight in high-risk areas, and additional requirements for employers, such as the number of years in business and previous inspections. The most notable change is the government's consideration to block low-wage LMIAs, which will impact sectors like food service and agriculture that heavily rely on temporary foreign workers. The changes aim to address exploitation and fraud within the system, ensuring that foreign workers are not charged illegal fees and that employers meet certain standards.

05:01

🛠️ Changes to LMIA Policies and Enforcement

The script outlines recent changes to Canada's LMIA policies, effective from August 6, 2024. It explains the distinction between high-wage and low-wage LMIAs, with the latter now facing potential refusal by the government. The update enforces a cap on Dual Intent LMIAs, previously uncapped, to ensure a more balanced distribution of points in the Express Entry system. The government is also implementing stricter oversight and inspections for LMIA processing, particularly in high-risk areas. Additional scrutiny is placed on employers' business history and compliance records before LMIA approval. The changes are a response to reports of foreign workers paying illegal fees for jobs, highlighting the need for a more robust and fair system.

10:03

🚫 Government Considers Blocking Low-Wage LMIAs

The video highlights the Canadian government's consideration to refuse low-wage LMIAs, which could significantly impact industries such as food service, agriculture, and others that traditionally offer lower wages. The median wage in Ontario serves as a benchmark, with any offer below this threshold likely to be refused. This move is part of a broader effort to address concerns about the exploitation of foreign workers and the fraudulent practices within the hiring process. The government is expected to enforce stricter regulations on employers, including unannounced visits and compliance checks, to ensure the integrity of the LMIA system and protect the rights of foreign workers.

Keywords

💡Work Permits

Work permits are official documents allowing individuals to work in a country where they are not citizens or permanent residents. In the context of the video, work permits in Canada are often connected to the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process, which is a precursor requirement for an employer-specific work permit. The script discusses major updates to the LMIA program affecting work permits for foreign workers and immigrants.

💡LMIA (Labor Market Impact Assessment)

LMIA is a report that assesses the impact of hiring a foreign worker on the Canadian labor market. It is a key component of the work permit process in Canada. The video script highlights that the Canadian authorities have announced an overhaul of the LMIA program, which is crucial for understanding the changes in work permit regulations.

💡Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)

ESDC is the Canadian department responsible for overseeing the LMIA process. In the script, it is mentioned that ESDC will enforce new policies and conduct stricter oversight of the LMIA system, indicating a significant role in the changes to work permit regulations.

💡Temporary Foreign Worker Program

This program allows Canada to bring in foreign workers for temporary work when there is a need for their skills and no Canadian workers are available. The video discusses an overhaul of the program related to LMIA, emphasizing the government's intention to change how temporary foreign workers are brought into the country.

💡Median Wage

The median wage is the middle value of wages in a specific region, which is used as a benchmark in the LMIA process. The script explains that wages above or below the provincial median wage determine whether an LMIA is classified as high wage or low wage, respectively, and this classification affects the conditions and restrictions associated with the work permit.

💡High Wage LMIA

A high wage LMIA is an LMIA for a job offering a salary above the provincial median wage. The script mentions that the government is considering stricter requirements for employers seeking high wage LMIAs, including more rigorous inspections and oversight.

💡Low Wage LMIA

A low wage LMIA is for a job offering a salary below the provincial median wage. The video script reveals that the government is considering refusing low wage LMIAs, which would impact sectors like food service and agriculture that rely heavily on such workers.

💡Dual Intent LMIA

A dual intent LMIA is for individuals who are applying for permanent residency and may need an LMIA for points in the Express Entry system. The script discusses new restrictions, including a 20% cap on such LMIAs, indicating a change in policy for those seeking to immigrate and work in Canada.

💡Overhaul

The term 'overhaul' refers to a thorough review and restructuring of a system or process. In the video, the term is used to describe the major updates and changes announced by the minister for the LMIA program, signaling a significant shift in how work permits will be managed.

💡Illegal Fees

Illegal fees refer to charges that are not permitted by law or regulation. The script mentions a news report about foreign workers paying exorbitant illegal fees for jobs in Alberta, which has prompted the government to take action and overhaul the LMIA system to prevent such exploitation.

💡Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups with an interest or concern in the LMIA process and work permit regulations. The video script mentions that the minister convened a meeting with stakeholders to discuss the overhaul of the LMIA system, indicating their involvement in the changes.

Highlights

Major updates to the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) program in Canada have been announced.

The overhaul is aimed at improving the Temporary Foreign Worker Program related to LMIA.

LMIA is a prerequisite for employer-specific work permits in Canada.

LMIA involves assessing the impact of hiring a foreign worker on the Canadian job market.

Employers must advertise job positions for 28 days on multiple platforms before applying for LMIA.

Different categories of LMIA include high wage, low wage, and dual intent LMIA.

High wage LMIA is for positions offering above the provincial median wage.

Low wage LMIA comes with restrictions such as providing airfare and housing for workers.

Dual intent LMIA is used for those applying for permanent residency, offering 50 points in Express Entry.

New changes include a 20% cap policy on Dual intent LMIAs.

Stricter oversight and inspections will be enforced, especially in high-risk areas.

Additional requirements for LMIA approval include the employer's years in business and previous inspections.

The government is considering blocking low wage LMIAs, affecting sectors like food service and agriculture.

Smaller businesses and entry-level roles may find it difficult to secure LMIAs under the new regime.

Unannounced visits and inspections of employers will be part of the stricter regime.

The changes are a response to exploitation and fraud within the temporary foreign worker system.

More changes are expected as part of a broader overhaul of the LMIA and work permit system.

The updates aim to protect foreign workers from illegal fees and ensure fair hiring practices.

Transcripts

so guys major news coming in with

respect to work permits to work in

Canada and whenever there are work

permits it's always considered to be in

connection within lmia now the Canadian

authorities have uh recently convened a

meeting and in this meeting major

updates major overhaul of the entire

program of lmia has been announced by

the minister of employment Workforce

Development and official languages and

if you are uh thinking of coming to

Canada as as a foreign worker or if you

are coming to Canada as an immigrant as

well then you should be very much uh you

know concerned about this particular

news update and if you want to know more

you should be tuned until the end my

name is

[Music]

sahil so guys welcome back once again my

name is sahil and I'm a regulated

Canadian immigration consultant and I

practice here in Ontario my office is

here if you have to get in touch with me

my number is on the screen and the

details are there in the description box

more than happy to connect with you

before we proceed any further please

make sure that you hit the Subscribe

button and the bell icon because we talk

a lot about Canadian immigration and if

you are an aspirant of moving to Canada

then this is a channel that you must be

subscribed to all the time so guys we

are discussing the major update that has

been uh floating around very recently

with regards to

lmas um and uh the minister of

employment Workforce Development and

official languages recently convened a

meeting um on August 6 2024 along with

uh the stakeholders the industries and

he gave out some clear messaging around

the overhaul of the temporary foreign

worker program related lmia system

because esdc is the department that

takes care of the lmas and once an lmia

is approved it is sent over to ircc or

submitted to ircc by the applicant in

order to apply for a work permit so as

you can see that for a work permit for

an employer specific work permit in

Canada lmia seems to be a precursor

requirement now whenever we talk about

lmis I'm just giving you a background

before we go to the actual news because

to understand the news better you need

to understand what exactly or how

exactly is an lmia processed now for an

lmia the basic understanding is that um

it is a labor market impact assessment

report which means that in the process

or in the in order to hire a particular

temporary foreign worker how does that

hiring impact the Canadian Market at

large that means how does it impact the

Canadian permanent residents and

citizens at large is it positive is it

negative now to do that an employer must

basically uh advertise in the job market

for over 28 days which is four weeks it

should be done on multiple platforms and

then prepares a report of the short

listing the interviews and everything

and and submits that to esdc which is

Service Canada now esdc will ensure that

all the steps were followed due

diligence has been done um and the

important step here is basically the

hourly wage that is offered to the

foreign worker or the prospective

foreign worker now every province has uh

a specific set of amount basically the

salary that should be given as you can

see on the screen um the we the median

wage of are you know all the jobs put

together uh in a particular provin for

example in Alberta the median wage is

sitting at 29.50 and if you talk about

Ontario here the median wage is sitting

at 2839 now what ircc says is that by

and large what people use are three

categories one would be um you know a

high wage lmia a low wage lmia and a

dual intent lmia okay now there are

other other categories as well but for

our discussion today it is important

that you understand these three now for

a high wage lmia anybody who's offering

a salary above say for example in

Ontario anybody offering a salary above

uh 2839 will be uh going in for a high

wage lmia anybody offering less than

2839 will be going for a low wage lmia

okay and then a dual intent LMI

basically means uh person who is

applying for a permanent resistency and

extension of his or her work permit or

maybe just applying for support in

permanent res residency that means 50

points

now these three are in basic

consideration while there are other lmis

as well um as you can see

below the provincial medium wage is

called a low wage above the provincial

medium wage is called a high wage now

along with um a low wage lmia comes

certain restrictions for example the

employer must give a two-way airfare the

employer must also uh assist the

employee or the prospective foreign

worker in housing accommodation there is

a certain cap limit also that means um

for the for the uh Workforce that a that

an employer has only certain percentage

of that could be hired as low wage

workers okay now this is all historical

today 6th of August onwards uh what are

the changes is the main topic of the day

now you you got to understand that what

is a low wage lmia high wage lmia and

dual intern lmis okay now essentially

dual intent lmis would be used by people

inside Canada or even overseas where

they only want to claim 50 points in exp

entry okay but High wage low wage lmis

are the basic understanding that you

should have now what the minister has to

say is that one uh enforcing the cap now

earlier there was no cap on Dual intent

lmis that means If an employer wanted to

assist their employees in getting 50

points lmia um they could only do that

you know just just regularly do that and

there was no precursor requirement to

that now they're saying that a 20% cap

policy enforcement on those workers

should be applicable including the Dual

intent substream that's the first change

second

a stricter rigorous oversight in the

high-risk areas uh of the processing of

the lmas and when conducting inspections

as well now this is important earlier uh

and also the third point that there

would be additional requirements of

number of years in business uh that the

employer has been into and the kind of

uh you know the previous inspections

that the employer would have gone under

and also the number of people working at

the employee would be looking at you

know uh the the uh overall inspection of

an employer or maybe before you know

such conditions before approving an lmia

so before this esdc would not look at

all of that so maybe a new newly opened

employer could also do lmas or if the

employer has uh you know no history of

layoffs or has had bad layoffs even then

they could do lmas going forward the

changes will include checking all of

these factors as well okay but the most

important change that you're looking at

today is

basically the the government is

considering blocking low wage temporary

foreign workers okay now this is a part

of this news only if you see here um

they're saying that they will now start

refusing low wage lmis now it's

important to see who does low wage lmis

generally you would see people in the

food sector agriculture Farm Workers

restaurant managers assistant managers

supervisors these these are the mainly

utilized um lmas and it also considers

or accounts for a larger chunk of lmas

that are approved so material handlers

and all of that ircc or so basically

esdc is saying that they will now start

or they're considering to now start

refusing these low wage lmas

so say for example Ontario the median

wage is $28 $39 2839 and anybody who's

typically being offered below $29

because there's a 50 50 Cent you know

buffer also you would want to keep so if

anybody is being offered less than the

median wage typically esdc is expected

to refuse these files guys um honestly

this is going to largely impact a lot of

um you know Employers in Canada

Employers in the food sector agriculture

maybe

healthcare because it is a very higher

salary right $29 accounts to more than

$60,000 a year and it is definitely a

larger chunk so that means smaller

businesses or entry-level roles cannot

expect an lmia in the coming times uh

also they're going for a stricter regime

of checking uh you know the employers

basically inspecting the employers

unannounced visits um you

remember a couple of weeks ago I made

videos specifying that uh there was a

senate committee report as well where

they said that the whole temporary

foreign worker system has to be

overhauled and the in fact the lmia or

the employer specific system of work

permit should also be stopped um as we

are seeing that while ircc esdc and the

other departments work in the background

this is one of the few first changes or

the first glimpse of the changes that

are about to follow the the roller

coaster is not stopping it is not going

to stop here there are more changes also

expected while the department is doing

their job and why is it happening now

that's also very important question uh

that why exactly is suddenly esdc waking

out of the blue and why are they

introducing all of these changes so for

that I will quickly show you one small

article um they're saying some foreign

workers are paying 30,000 or more in

illegal fees for a job in Alberta this

is a news coverage by CBC again um this

is just one off example that has been

put out in the public

historically ever since I have been in

this industry I have seen people paying

thousands and thousands of dollars in

fact running into 100,000 plus uh giving

away jobs no Zab double zero jobs and

then you know different kinds of frauds

where uh the government says that

essentially the employer is not supposed

to pay any fee for getting hired in the

business but employers Consultants

lawyers fraudulent agents all of these

elements and all of these stakeholders

who are involved in a particular hiring

process do find means and methods to

siphon off money from the foreign worker

and this is the whole cause of concern

when the government says whenever you're

hiring an employee you're not supposed

to charge that employee any sort of

money the only kind of fees that the

employee must be paying should only be

limited to the work permit application

fees if they want to hire somebody to do

that work permit application only that

portion lmia hiring process fees for

lmia employer compliance fees whatever

it is all of that is the responsibility

of the employer employee only ircc

related work permit fees that's about it

but everybody has been sort of

exploiting the system and recently it

got flagged off you know it has been

flagged off multiple times but now we

are seeing the

repercussions will this stop here

absolutely no more changes are expected

to come because there has been a

committee report overall that has been

presented submitted and the stakeholders

are calling to abort this uh program all

together or overhaul it even further and

these are the first repercussions that

we are seeing guys um overall I hope I

was able to give you some inputs into

what's happening into the world of

Canadian immigration if you have

anything to discuss with us please feel

free to schedule an appointment and we

would be more than happy to speak with

you once again uh if you haven't

subscribed to the channel yet we would

highly recommend you do that and I wish

you all the best and I really hope to

see you soon in Canada all the best

[Music]