On August 20, 2024, the government of Canada announced the approval of a proposal by the Government of Quebec to temporarily refuse to process new Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications for the TFW Program low-wage stream in the Montréal economic region. As a result, processing of these applications will be suspended for six months, starting on September 3, 2024, for job offers located in the Montréal economic region with wages below $27.47/hour, which is the current Quebec median hourly wage.
The TFW Program is designed as an extraordinary measure to be used when workers already in Canada are not able to fill job vacancies.
The economic region of Montréal includes the following municipalities: Baie-d’Urfé; Beaconsfield; Côte-Saint-Luc; Dollard-des-Ormeaux; Dorval; Hampstead; Kirkland; L’Île-Dorval; Montréal; Montréal East; Montréal West; Mount Royal; Pointe-Claire; Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue; Senneville; and Westmount.
This processing suspension applies to all LMIA applications, including those submitted under the facilitated processing.
Exceptions
There are some exceptions to the processing suspension, including:
- jobs in a place of work located outside the economic region of Montréal;
- jobs with an offered wage equal to or higher than the current median hourly wage in Quebec ($27.47/hour); and
- LMIAs applications received prior to September 3, 2024
- Additionally, employers applying for LMIA positions from certain industry groups in the North American Industry Classification System will also be exempted, including those in agriculture, construction, food processing, education, and health and social services sectors.
Erickson Insights & Analysis
The Canadian Government will closely monitor this policy as it makes determinations about future changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Erickson Immigration Group will continue to monitor developments and share updates as more news is available. Please contact your employer or EIG attorney if you have questions about anything we’re reporting above or case-specific questions.