LMIA need?

[khanh.le]

Hi everyone,

I am writing to express my concern as the title.

Here is my situation:
- Holding Spouse Open Work Permit
- Having full-time job as Software Developer (NOC 2174) in Canada
- Will have 1 year of Canadian experience from Jan, 01 2019.
- Had more than 3 years of experience (same NOC) in home country.
- CLB 7
- Living in Calgary, Alberta

My question:
- Which immigration program is best fit for me?
- Do I need to have the LMIA to make my job offer valid? (Ref: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/documents/offer-employment.html)

Currently, I'm employed without the LIMA because my work permit is open but not sure which my employer need to do to support for my application.

Thank you in advance.

 

[scylla]

Yes - if you want to claim job offer points your employer needs to obtain an approved LMIA. However if you have 440+ points under EE without a job offer, then you don't need an LMIA to be selected out of the pool.

 

[khanh.le]

Hi @scylla

Thanks for your response.

- If so, I am wondering how easy for my employer getting the LMIA for me?
- Can you show me anywhere the process to get that?

I think I will need those information to explain to him.

 

[scylla]

Hi @scylla

Thanks for your response.

- If so, I am wondering how easy for my employer getting the LMIA for me?
- Can you show me anywhere the process to get that?

I think I will need those information to explain to him.

It's quite difficult to obtain an approved LMIA. It's a long and expensive process for your employer - with no guarantee of approval. As a first step, your employer has to advertise the job for at least a month to prove no Canadian could be found for the role. The advertising your employer does for the role must meet the LMIA advertising requirements which are very specific. You can find full details here:

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/foreign-workers/median-wage/high/requirements.html

 

[khanh.le]

It's quite difficult to obtain an approved LMIA. It's a long and expensive process for your employer - with no guarantee of approval. As a first step, your employer has to advertise the job for at least a month to prove no Canadian could be found for the role. The advertising your employer does for the role must meet the LMIA advertising requirements which are very specific. You can find full details here:

https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/services/foreign-workers/median-wage/high/requirements.html

Yeah, sounds not easy for now. But regarding to this reference: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/documents/offer-employment/lmia-exempt.html, I am understanding that we won't need the LMIA to make job offer valid if we work for one employer continuously more than one year. Is that correct?

 

[scylla]

Yeah, sounds not easy for now. But regarding to this reference: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/documents/offer-employment/lmia-exempt.html, I am understanding that we won't need the LMIA to make job offer valid if we work for one employer continuously more than one year. Is that correct?

Yes - that's true. But there are three criteria to meet and you don't meed the third criteria. So you still need an LMIA.

 

[khanh.le]

Oh yeah. That's the interesting part. If I'm not wrong, the spouse open work permit has LMIA exempt code C42, which is under Canada Interest. But I'm not sure about that because I have the blank LMIA field in my work permit. In terms of it's true, which department should I ask for this?

Reference: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/exemption-codes.html#r205

 

[jes_ON]

Oh yeah. That's the interesting part. If I'm not wrong, the spouse open work permit has LMIA exempt code C42, which is under Canada Interest. But I'm not sure about that because I have the blank LMIA field in my work permit. In terms of it's true, which department should I ask for this?

Reference: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/exemption-codes.html#r205

what scylla meant is that you only meet 2 of the 3 criteria because you have an OPEN work permit. The difference is that a closed work permit has a specific employer named on the work permit; holders of closed work permits cannot change jobs without first getting a new work permit. In contrast, your open work permit allows you to change jobs at will -there is no employer named on the work permit. So, you do NOT meet the criteria for the LMIA-exempt job offer, because your employer is not named on your work permit.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/documents/offer-employment/lmia-exempt.html

1. have been working full-time for the employer on your work permit for at least one year (or an equal amount of part-time work)

 

[punith962]

what scylla meant is that you only meet 2 of the 3 criteria because you have an OPEN work permit. The difference is that a closed work permit has a specific employer named on the work permit; holders of closed work permits cannot change jobs without first getting a new work permit. In contrast, your open work permit allows you to change jobs at will -there is no employer named on the work permit. So, you do NOT meet the criteria for the LMIA-exempt job offer, because your employer is not named on your work permit.

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/documents/offer-employment/lmia-exempt.html

1. have been working full-time for the employer on your work permit for at least one year (or an equal amount of part-time work)

I had similar doubt. Thanks for the clarification. I do have one more doubt.
I'm on open work permit, if I apply for LMIA and get LMIA and start my PR application process, then does my open work permit changes to closed work permit? Or it remains same during PR process? Can you please suggest on this?