LMIAs Are the Best Path to Fill Canada’s LABOUR GAP

LMIA: The Best Way to Deal with Canada’s Labour Shortage

Are you directly affected by Canada’s labour shortage? The demand for workers, qualified and experienced workers, is REAL, and small and large businesses, from mom and pop’s convenience stores to major hospitals and educational institutions are feeling the pain. The solution lies in bringing temporary workers through the complex process of getting an LMIA.

The Problem Explained

Blaming the labour shortage on the extreme economic and labour disruption the COVID-19 pandemic is easy, and has become almost a reflex; however, the foundational problem of Canada’s labour shortage predates the pandemic. Canada has an aging population, and the boomers are only half way through their collective retirement. If the mass exodus of the boomer population is the root cause of labour shortages, then this shortage will only heighten till it peaks at the end of the decade as the last of the boomers turn in the towel on work.

In addition to a decrease in experienced professionals in the workforce, the boomer exodus is also seeing an elevation in demand of services, requiring more workers. To make things worse, Canada’s low birth rate is not producing enough “Canadian born” workers to fill demand.

What’s the Solution Then?

Infusing the Canadian labour market with skilled immigrants to fill job vacancies helps to relieve the nation wide labour scarcity. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has increased economic immigration since the 1970’s with this purpose in mind, and in 2022, broke a record in the sheer amount of permanent resident visas issued, exceeding 400, 000. IRCC plans to bring in close to 1.5 million new immigrants by 2025 and of those new permanent residents, nearly two-thirds will be economic immigrants.

It Gets More Complicated…

However, when Permanent Residence visas are issued to skilled workers, these skilled workers do not necessarily have jobs in Canada. Applicants in the Express Entry system are awarded extra points if they have a valid job offer in Canada, but are not excluded from the pool of candidates if they do not have pre-arranged employment.

What does this mean for highly skilled new comers?

Well, we have all met the Neurosurgeon-Uber driver, or the Computer Engineer-Gas attendant, questioning what is Canada doing to better integrate their hard won, highly skilled, immigrants that have been purposely sought to fill our dire labour needs.

The Case for LMIAs: Actually Filling a Specified LABOUR GAP

Bringing in immigrants who will infuse their skills and experience into the Canadian labour market, especially in the “high-demand” sectors, where we need it the most, is best done through bringing in temporary workers, and then raising their status to Permanent Residents. When businesses cannot find the talent they need among Canadians and Permanent Residents in Canada, Temporary Foreign Workers are brought to Canada to fill the need. This is a common business issue today, especially in our world of online HR, where online job advertisements for in-Canada jobs have an overwhelming response outside of Canada.

When businesses cannot find qualified employees in Canada, they bring in foreign workers to fill vacancies, and the foreign workers truly work at jobs and in industries that they trained in back home, and that Canada is in short supply of; everyone benefits.

Temporary Foreign Workers in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 jobs are also able to bring their spouses/partners and children to Canada, and their spouses/partners are also eligible to apply for Open Work Permits. Additionally, their children are able to apply for Open Study Permits and can attend public school in Canada, and as a result of the Principal Applicant’s full time job as a Temporary Foreign Worker, the family has Provincial health insurance. As the Temporary Foreign Worker gains Canadian work experience, those working in NOC TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 jobs, become eligible for permanent residence.

Having said this, IRCC has very recently announced that it will be opening up eligibility for Open Work Permits for families of high and low wage stream LMIA Temporary Foreign Workers and also agricultural workers, so a lot of Temporary Foreign Workers will be bringing their families very soon!

Bringing in skilled immigrants to fill Canada’s labour shortage is most efficiently done when the new Permanent Resident was once a Temporary Resident who came to Canada to fulfill a direct need of a specific business or institution.

To all the businesses who are pulling their hair in frustration for not being able to find suitable workers to fill their job vacancies, LMIAs are the best way to not only solve your immediate labour shortage, but the most sustainable way to bring in immigrants that actually infuse their skills and experience into our malnourished labour market. LMIAs are more than a bandage solution to quench Canada’s need for skilled labour.

Veronika Barbakadze & Associates are immigration consultants that are highly experienced in LMIA applications and Work Permit Applications. We hold your hand through the whole process, working with you to obtain the proper documents, create compliant job advertisements, invite qualified applicants for interviews, and even help you draft job offers. When a positive LMIA is obtained, we work with the Foreign Worker to apply for a work permit, along with taking care of the immigration applications of his/her significant other and children.

Give us a call today, and let us alleviate your stress over not finding the right worker!