LMIA: should my wage meet occupation OR province median wage?

[Judlu]

Hi folks!

According to LMIA requirements:
Employers must refer to the median wage published on Job Bank to determine the prevailing wage. Use the job title of the available
position and conduct a search on Job Bank to determine the median wage for the occupation and work location where the TFW will be employed.

And this "median wage" for my occupation - Marketing Manager (NOC 0124) in Ottawa is pointed as $41$/per hour.

My real salary meets entry-level wage only((


but according to another source - CanadaImmigration -
the wage should meet the province median wage which is 21.15$ for Ontario.

I'm confused: what is correct? Should my wage meet professional/location median wage (doesn't work for me) or medium provincial wage (it works)?

I think we could try LMIA option with my employer but this "wages thing" make us not confident...

And do we have a chance that LMIA will be approved if we point my real wage which is around $25/hourly (significuntly lower than occupation median wage)?

Thanks!!!

 

[Gagan89]

I am also in the same boat

 

[kryt0n]

From memory of my (refused) lmia, it needs to match or exceed the province median wage for the NOC code

 

[Judlu]

From memory of my (refused) lmia, it needs to match or exceed the province median wage for the NOC code

So does it mean that even if all other requirements are OK and the job description is very specific (it needs knowledge of several specific software as I'm working for IT company) anyways our application 100% will be refused because of that wage issue?

 

[kryt0n]

It's one of those requirements that the company has to prove. Essentially they are trying to prove they CANT find a Canadian. So they can't get away with advertising for a skilled job with a low wage because it puts Canadians off. So yea, it's a hard one...

 

[Judlu]

So are there any ways to make it work? For example - trying another NOC code or reflecting that I work 30 hours weekly (not 40 as it is in reality)... Or it's better not to play with these things?

 

[kryt0n]

Well right now your employer is trying to find someone to fill a job role, right? The LMIA requirements mean it has to be full time and permenant. Full time is over 30 hours per week. It can't be a limited time contract job. They have to advertise the job for 4 weeks before they send off the application for you. They have to prove they tried to find a Canadian. The job offer has to reflect the NOC code the job falls in, and you have to demonstrating you have the works experience expected so you are the best fit. As far as I know, the wage offered has to be the province median wage.

 

[Judlu]

Let me clarify this moment please:

"If the employer has to advertise a median province wage" (means $ 21.15 for Ontario) it is much lower than even the entry level wage for marketing manager/Ottawa ($25), not speaking about median wage ($41).

I just don't understand the logic: employer suggests in the ad to pay for example $22, nobody replies, and he should pay me $41 rather than mine $25?

The employer didn't start the advertising yet as we cannot understand if all this LMIA project can be successful for myself. If not - what's the point to start...

That's why I'm trying to clarify all these moments. Thanks for your patience

 

[kryt0n]

My retail supervisor wage was $16 pH. Now, when applying for my lmia,my boss had to advertise at $19 odd per hour. No one in our tourist town paid that and my boss was reluctant to.

. Employers applying for a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) must pay the temporary foreign worker (TFW):

at a minimum, the posted prevailing wage for the occupation and work location where the foreign worker will be employed; or
a wage that is within the same wage range that they are paying their current employees working in the same occupation and same work location, if this rate is higher than the prevailing wage.
Employers must refer to the median wage published on Job Bank to determine the prevailing wage.

http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/foreign_workers/hire/permanent/working_conditions.page

 

[Judlu]

So did he decide not to apply for LMIA for you because of that "wage reason"?

 

[abdul1026]

I am not 100%, but I believe you can apply under "low wage" stream: http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/foreign_workers/hire/median_wage/low/overview.page

 

[kryt0n]

So did he decide not to apply for LMIA for you because of that "wage reason"?

No, he applied for me and had to give me a higher wage. As such, he got a lot more applicants which made it harder to prove why I was the only one suitable.

In the end, my LMIA was refused because he advertised for someone with a college degree (as per NOC code suggestion) but the officer said that was 'desirable, but not essential'. Ugh. One woman ruined my future in Canada...

 

[Judlu]

I'm sorry about it. It's really weird why the person who already has job and stable income cannot stay... Why it's not an attractive kind of immigrants for Canadian government...

What are you going to do now?

 

[kryt0n]

Well this was Jan 2015 so we left Canada (after 2.5 years) and moved to NZ for a year. Back in the UK now and have a EE profile up. Eligible for CEC and FSW and 440 points.

Now waiting for PNP or a miracle LMIA. My old employer wants me back, but Alberta median wage is so high now compared to the salary from the tourist town I worked that he cannot afford to offer me the job.

I'd have PR by now if we could have stayed...

 

[istari]

I'm sorry about it. It's really weird why the person who already has job and stable income cannot stay... Why it's not an attractive kind of immigrants for Canadian government...

Because an "attractive kind of immigrant" is never going to be as attractive as ensuring that Canadian citizens have jobs.