Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has expanded its refusal-to-process policy for low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) to six additional census metropolitan areas (CMAs): Halifax, Fredericton, Kingston, St. Catharines-Niagara, Regina and Lethbridge. The change, published on 9 October and reported on 10 October, means employers in 30 urban regions with unemployment rates of 6 % or higher cannot submit or renew low-wage LMIA applications until 7 January 2027. The freeze affects positions that pay less than 120 % of the provincial or territorial median wage, with exemptions for primary agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, long-term care and in-home caregivers. Wage thresholds range from C$31.20 per hour in Prince Edward Island to C$48.00 in the Northwest Territories. For global mobility managers the enlarged moratorium tightens already-limited options for bringing lower-paid foreign talent into major population centres. Employers who rely on seasonal or entry-level workers in hospitality, retail and manufacturing will need to redirect recruitment to rural areas, raise wages above the low-wage threshold, or pivot to the International Mobility Program, which does not require an LMIA but offers fewer categories. Companies should also build in longer lead-times: although IRCC recently doubled the concurrent-processing window for in-Canada permit extensions to 60 days, that relief only applies once an LMIA is approved. Strategically, the policy signals Ottawa’s intent to curb temporary resident volumes and encourage employers to rely on the domestic labour pool. Corporations should monitor unemployment data ahead of the next quarterly update on 8 January 2027; if local jobless rates fall below 6 %, a region can exit the freeze, reopening the low-wage LMIA stream.
Source: CIC News
