Question Period Note: Labour Market Impact Assessment Processing

The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program has seen a significant increase in overall demand. What measures have been put in place to improve processing times of Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications?

Labour Market Impact Assessments are an important tool to both:

Assess and avoid negative impacts on the Canadian labour market when hiring temporary foreign workers; and

Reinforce Program conditions, standards, and employer obligations to ensure worker protection.

Employer demand for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program has significantly increased in recent months.

The Department has initiated a number of measures to ensure that employers receive timely decisions so that temporary foreign workers can enter Canada.

This has included securing additional funding to support the increased workload and implementing significant streamlining measures.

The Program processed a record number of files in 2021-2022, with more than 68,307 files processed.

As of October 30, 2022, the Department has already processed over 64,000 applications. The average processing time is 31.1 business days.

In Quebec, the TFWP is co-administered with the Ministère de l’Immigration de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI).

Year-to-date, the program has received 15,085 files from Quebec, which represents an 85% increase in applications compared to the previous year. The average processing time is 58 days (this time includes both Service Canada and MIFI efforts).

Currently there are 4,396 Quebec files awaiting processing. Approximately 52% of these files have been analyzed by Service Canada, and are awaiting action by MIFI.

ESDC continues to work closely with MIFI to maintain a high service delivery standard.

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is designed to be responsive to the Canadian labour market by ensuring that Canadians and Permanent Residents are first considered for available jobs.

The Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process is the key labour market test that provides the government with assurances that hiring temporary foreign workers will not have a negative impact on the Canadian labour market. The LMIA also establishes program conditions that identify standards to ensure the protection of TFWs and prevent bad actors from accessing the Program.

The Program aims to strike a balance between protecting the Canadian Labour Market, informing employers of their obligations and protecting workers once they arrive.

The Program has seen an increase of 54% in LMIA volume compared to last fiscal year YTD (85% in Quebec). Through the introduction of facilitative measures and staff overtime, despite unprecedented Program demand, processing times have improved.

The Program processed a record high number of files in 2021-2022, with nearly 70,000 files processed. Despite this increase, program modernisation efforts have enabled the program to improve productivity and the introduction of significant streamlining measures have shortened processing times, which has given Service Canada the capacity to absorb increased employer demand. As of October 30, 2022, the Program has already processed over 60,000 files.

As of October 30, 2022, the year-to-date average processing time is 31.1 business days, noting that processing times are longer in Quebec considering joint processing with MIFI. Service Canada updates processing times monthly on its website.

Once a Labour Market Impact Assessment is issued, the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada processes individual work permits for temporary foreign workers.

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