Seeking job offer: LMAI vs NAFTA

[roomba]

My husband and I are preparing our materials to enter the EE pool as FSW, but believe we will need an active job offer in order to be competitive for an ITA. We are US citizens trying to get permanent residency and my husband is in a profession that falls under NAFTA.

Could someone explain to me how this might work? If he gets an offer under NAFTA, would that count toward his CRS? Or must the employer do an LMAI in order for the offer to add the additional 50 points to the CRS? What I've read in some places suggests that NAFTA employment only provides a temporary work permit and, after a year, one could then apply for PR, but it's not clear to me.

Any help or guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[kryt0n]

A NAFTA would give you 50 points, but only once he has worked there for 1 year and the employer is willing to offer him a position for at least a year after PR.

Have you used the CRS calculator to check what your score might be without it?

 

[roomba]

Yeah, we have. We're about 400. (Evidently, we're old!)

 

[kryt0n]

At 400 points you're unlikely to get an ITA without the help of a NAFTA or lmia.

You can work on a NAFTA without an lmia, but you need to be there for a year first. An lmia can be obtained sooner, but you need an employer willing to go through the ~5 month process.

 

[xpressentry]

PR is better. Donald Trump wants to get rid of NAFTA so if NAFTA ends, the job will end. PR with LMIA will give you 50 / 200 points.

 

[roomba]

That's what we suspected.

Yup, PR is definitely better.

 

[ashu1710]

An lmia can be obtained sooner,

Nope. It CAN be obtained sooner, but most likely won't be unless you have one of those 10 day processing wages. Mine took 6.5 months.