Quebec’s facilitated LMIA list for 2020 is out

Employing foreigners as temporary workers is a common practice in Canada. Temporary workers form a large section of the skilled people who arrive in Canada.

The employers in Canada must process the applications of these workers through the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) system. Through LMIA, the government reviews employee applications invited by employers in Canada. The aim is to ensure that hiring a foreign worker will make a positive or no effect on the Canadian labor market. It ensures that the foreign worker is not preferred at the cost of a qualified Canadian worker. The system also ensures that the foreign worker gets salary and benefits at par with federal and provincial standards.

Under the LMIA system, it's generally needed that employers advertise the job requirements. But the province of Quebec gives the provision of facilitated LMIA. It's aimed at enabling simplified processing. With it, the employer is not obliged to advertise certain job requirements. These jobs are high demand jobs. These are entered into a list of occupations released by Quebec's government every year.

This year too, a list of occupations for the facilitated LMIA was released. 116 new occupations were added to the old list and 9 removed. The 9 occupations that were removed are:

• 0513 Recreation, sports & fitness program and service directors
• 1254 Statistical officers and related research support occupations
• 3236 Massage therapists
• 1242 Professional occupations in advertising, marketing & public relations
• 9211 Supervisors, mineral and metal processing
• 7205 Contractors and supervisors, other construction trades, installers, repairers and servicers
• 7232 Tool and die makers
• 3217 Cardiology technologists and electrophysiological diagnostic technologists, N.E.C.
• 9224 Supervisors, furniture and fixtures manufacturing

Some of the new additions to this year’s list of occupations include:

• Human resources
• Investment managers
• Architects
• Bakers
• Dentists

The list was released on Feb 24, 2020.

The distinct features of facilitated LMIA from the regular LMIA application stream are:

Application language

In Quebec, all applications for LMIA are submitted in French. The only exception is for in-home caregiver jobs. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) works with employers to assist in minimizing this requirement’s impact.

ESDC is a department of the Government of Canada. It deals with developing, managing and delivering social programs and services.

Advertising job requirements

For occupations listed in the facilitated LMIA employers are exempted from advertising requirements. The employers don’t need to prove that

• They have advertised the position
• They have tried to recruit a Canadian citizen or permanent resident

Choice of occupations

Facilitated LMIA applications may be submitted only for jobs in high demand. These jobs may be facing labor shortages in the region of Quebec where they are located.

Requirements for submission

Facilitated LMIA applications must get approval from the federal and provincial authorities. Hence, it's mandatory to submit such applications to both ESDC and the Ministère de l’Immigration, De la Diversité et de l’Inclusion (MIDI).

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