Provincial Nominee Programs facilitate the entry or stay in Canada of many categories of professionals who otherwise might not qualify under the Express Entry System.

Note: if you have not found or trained a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident to fill out the labour shortage, you have to keep in mind that proper planning is necessary and apply for a new LMIA ahead of time. The temporary worker can apply for a work permit extension before the initial work permit expired, and he can continue working for your organization while awaiting a decision to be made on their application. For the new applications for an LMIA for the high-wage positions, your transition plan must be feasible so to be credible, with realistic and verifiable implementation steps of:

• increased efforts to hire Canadians and train them in the long-term; or
• support the high-skilled temporary foreign worker transition to becoming a permanent resident of Canada.

Business Expansion to Canada through PNPs

Provincial nominee programs authorize provinces and territories to nominate applicants based on the labour market and economic needs of each province or territory. Please visit our PROVINCIAL NOMINEE PROGRAMS page.

LMIA-Exempt Work Permit

The following sections of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) provide the IRCC with the regulatory authority to issue a work permit for temporary positions that do not require a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

• R204: International agreements – Canada-International Free Trade Agreements (FTA) (CUSMA/USMCA, GATS, CETA, CPTP, ETC.), Canada-International Non-Trade Agreements (SITA, IATA, etc.);