Foreign Workers: Apply for TFWP Work Permit Without LMIA

A Helpful Workaround When Your Work Permit is About to Expire

Here’s something you might not know: if you’re working in Canada and your work permit is running out, you might be able to apply for a new one even before your employer gets their Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) approved. This could be a lifesaver since LMIA processing can take two or three months.

Normally, employers need to have that positive or neutral LMIA in hand before you can even submit your work permit application through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. But there’s a concurrent processing option that lets you get ahead of things.

How Concurrent Processing Works

The government created this concurrent processing measure specifically for situations where timing gets tight. Here’s what you need to qualify:

• Your current work permit expires in two weeks or less
• Your employer submitted their LMIA application with enough time in advance

If you apply this way and your existing permit expires while waiting for the new one, don’t panic. You’ll have maintained status as long as you stay in Canada, which means you can keep working under your expired permit’s conditions while your application gets processed.

When you go through concurrent processing, the government gives you an extra 60 days to provide proof that your employer received their positive LMIA. Just remember: if you can’t provide that proof within those 60 days, they might refuse your application.

The Current Low-Wage LMIA Freeze

Right now, there’s a moratorium on processing LMIAs under the low-wage stream of the TFWP. What does this mean for you?

If your job qualifies for the high-wage stream, you’re in the clear. Your employer can apply for an LMIA no matter where in Canada your job is located.

But if your job falls under the low-wage stream, things get trickier. Your employer won’t be able to apply for an LMIA if your job is in a region where unemployment is 6% or higher, unless your specific occupation is exempt.

Understanding Wage Thresholds

So how do you know if your job qualifies as high-wage? Right now, a position needs to pay at least the greater of:

• The wage threshold for your province
• The range paid to other employees at the same company, doing the same job, in the same location, with similar experience

There’s another requirement too. The hourly wage must exceed the prevailing wage listed in Canada’s Job Bank for that occupation and region, based on the National Occupation System (NOC) code.

Which Regions Are Affected?

Currently, the low-wage LMIA moratorium applies to these regions:

• St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
• Ottawa-Gatineau, Ontario/Quebec
• Belleville – Quinte West, Ontario
• Oshawa, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario
• Hamilton, Ontario
• St. Catharines-Niagara, Ontario
• Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ontario
• Brantford, Ontario
• Guelph, Ontario
• London, Ontario
• Windsor, Ontario
• Barrie, Ontario
• Greater Sudbury, Ontario
• Regina, Saskatchewan
• Lethbridge, Alberta
• Calgary, Alberta
• Red Deer, Alberta
• Edmonton, Alberta
• Kelowna, British Columbia
• Kamloops, British Columbia
• Chilliwack, British Columbia
• Abbotsford-Mission, British Columbia
• Nanaimo, British Columbia

Not sure which region you’re in? You can check by entering your postal code into the government’s Census of Population website.

Timing Your Application Right

Here’s the bottom line: concurrent processing is really meant as a backup plan, not your first choice. Whenever possible, your employer should try to get that positive or neutral LMIA well before you need to apply for your work permit.

The government recommends applying for a new permit at least 30 days before your current one expires. If your employer can’t get the LMIA in time, that’s when concurrent processing becomes your option.

Even if you’re going the concurrent processing route, your employer should still submit the LMIA application as early as possible. Immigration officers need to see that the LMIA application was submitted with sufficient lead time. Only in exceptional circumstances will they allow concurrent processing if the LMIA application was submitted right before the work permit application.

One more thing to keep in mind: employers typically need to meet advertising requirements before they can even submit an LMIA application, and those requirements usually run for 28 days. So factor that into your timeline too.