The Quebec government has expanded the list of occupations for which employers are not required to post vacant positions before hiring a foreign worker.

Canadian employers who hire workers through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) are normally required to post the position for which they are hiring through a number of means before they can apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). The LMIA is a document that shows that a foreign worker is needed to fill job vacancies and that there is no Canadian worker available to do the job.

However, this advertisement requirement does not apply to Quebec employers who hire for a number of specific positions. They can go through a much simpler and faster process known as "facilitated LMIA process".

Employers who apply under the facilitated LMIA process are not required to provide proof of their recruitment efforts. These efforts generally consist of posting the position for at least 28 days, conducting interviews with potential candidates and providing evidence that no Canadian citizen or permanent resident is sufficiently qualified or available to be hired for the position, therefore justifying the hiring of a foreign worker.

The facilitated process reduces the administrative burden and in so doing helps employers address labour shortages quickly.

Each year the Ministère de l'Immigration du Québec reviews and updates the list of occupations eligible under the facilitated process. The new list is published every February 24 and takes effect immediately. This year, the new list includes 222 occupations, up from 181 last year. The occupations include positions for architects, health care managers,  chemists, urban planners, dentists, nurses, journalists, librarians, plumbers, among others. 

The list of occupations is based on the Canada's National Occupational Classification (NOC) system and is developed by Emploi-Québec in collaboration with the Ministère de l'Immigration du Québec.

The demographic weight of the working-age population has declined rapidly in Quebec over the past decade and this decline is expected to continue. Given this situation, Quebec has been experiencing labour shortages in several sectors of its economy for several years. Today, the province has the second highest job vacancy rate in Canada.

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