Several Circumstances Where LMIA Can Be Waived
In order to successfully bring and hire a temporary foreign worker to Canada, in most cases, Canadian employers must acquire a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) prior to hiring them. However, there are several different circumstances and cases where a LMIA is not required and may be waived. There are common LMIA exemptions that fall under specific categories, such as significant benefit, reciprocal employment, and charitable and religious workers. It is important to remember that even though an individual may be exempt from getting an LMIA, it does not mean that the individual is exempt from getting a valid work permit. All of the LMIA exemptions are still required to obtain a valid work permit to work in Canada. Furthermore, in this article, I will address the specific LMIA exemptions and what that means for those individuals.
Significant Benefit
A significant social or cultural benefit refers to the degree of flexibility an Immigration officer has in assessing whether a valid work permit may be issued without the need for a positive LMIA. In order to accurately and properly assess this, the foreign worker’s proposed benefit and skill to Canada through their work must be significant and notable. Immigration officers often refer to the testimony of the credible and distinguished experts in the foreign worker’s field of work, in addition to any objective evidence provided. In order to determine the foreign worker’s level of achievement in their past experiences, Immigration often looks at their past records as a good indicator of this.
