top of page
Search

Work Permits for French Speakers

Updated: Feb 25, 2020

Do you need a job offer to support your application for immigration to Canada? Or do you simply want to take advantage of a temporary work permit? As many have come to find out, the nature of the foreign recruitment process is so costly and time consuming for Canadian employers that many are discouraged from ever trying although they may have a genuine need to hire an employee and are unable to find one locally.


The process to which we are referring to is called the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) application required from most Canadian employers who are seeking to hire workers from abroad. Service Canada assesses applications from companies who want to hire foreign workers in order to make sure that the job offer is genuine, that there is a labour shortage that cannot be fulfilled by Canadian workers and that the rate of pay and working conditions are appropriate so as not to disturb the Canadian labour market. They make a positive decision on the LMIA application only if it is determined, after careful examination, that issuing such decision will result in a NEUTRAL or POSITIVE effect on the Canadian labour market.


Proving the tenacity of the job offer as well as its impact on the local labour market conditions meanwhile ensuring strict 100% compliance to all procedural requirements is not an easy task. Many employers choose to hire firms to manage this process granted that in the last four years, it has become tedious and unnecessarily burdensome beyond recognition. The firms charge fees for their services, the government also charges $1000 CAD just to review the application and make a decision. The whole process from start to finish usually takes over six months and sometimes closer to one year to complete from star