Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada have the requisite mandates for assessing the impact that the hiring of temporary foreign workers is likely to have on the Canadian labour market. This is in accordance to the provisions specified in R203.
There might be many situations where prospective employers in Canada are interested in hiring live-in caregivers. These employers would first need to contact their local Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada Centre and apply for Labour Market Opinions (LMOs). A Labour Market Opinion (LMO) typically assess the likely impact (if any) on Canada’s labour market of hiring a foreign worker. The foreign caregiver’s work permit application would need to include proof that the prospective employer received a positive or a neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada.
Thereafter, all prospective employers would need to complete the Foreign Live-in Caregiver Application. They would be able to find this on the website of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Following this, they would need to apply online or submit their paper applications to:
Service Canada
Temporary Foreign Worker Program
P.O. Box 6500
Toronto LCD
Downsview A
Toronto, ON M3M 3K4
Fax: 416-954-3107
Toll free: 1-866-720-6094
It is worth mentioning that the website of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) also contains a detailed description of:
- The conditions that prospective employers would need to meet prior to hiring foreign live-in caregivers
- The instructions on the manner in which the prospective employers would need to complete the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) application and,
- A description of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada’s assessment criteria and process
Officers from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada would thereafter, review the completed Labour Market Opinion (LMO) application. This Labour Market Opinion (LMO) application, will typically include a copy of the employment contract as well. While assessing the offer of employment, these officers would need to consider various factors such as:
- The need for live-in care
- The authenticity of the job offer
- Whether the employer is offering wages and working conditions that comply with provincial or territorial employment standards and labour laws
- Whether the job duties are that of a full-time live-in caregiver i.e. a minimum of 30 hours per week and,
- Whether the employer has carried out a reasonable search for identifying qualified and available Canadian citizens and / or permanent residents and unemployed foreign caregivers already in Canada
The authorities require the officers to be thoroughly satisfied that the offer of employment meets the assessment criteria. Once this is the case, the officer of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada would need to issue a letter confirming the positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) to the prospective employer. Then, the officers would need to notify the employer to send a copy to the prospective live-in caregiver employee.
The authorities would record all the details of the positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) in the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) Foreign Worker System (FWS). This will be available to officers from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) via the Foreign Worker System (FWS) Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System (CAIPS) or Foreign Worker System (FWS) Global Case Management System (GCMS) link.
The authorities require that anyone who employs live-in caregivers under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) would need to:
- Register themselves as employers with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
- Obtain taxation numbers in order to make the appropriate deductions for income tax, Employment Insurance (EI) and the Canada Pension Plan
- Remit these deduction amounts to the appropriate federal authority and,
- Provide their employees with a Record of Employment (ROE) when the employee completes the desired job
Note:
- The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) would need to provide employers with information kits
- These information kits would typically contain the necessary forms and explain the manner by which the employers would be able to comply with the law
- It is worth highlighting that employers would only be able to obtain Record of Employment (ROEs) once they have registered themselves properly as employers
- Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada only issues one positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) regarding an offer of employment to an employer at a time
- In addition, employers would need to submit this positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for supporting a work permit application within a maximum of six months from its issue date – more details on this follow
- Situations could arise where Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada rejects the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) application
- In this scenario, the officer of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada would need to issue a refusal letter to the prospective employer
When Do Employers Typically Require a New Labour Market Opinion (LMO)?
At the outset, it is worth mentioning that a positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO) for an offer of employment is specific to the approved employer and job duties. As such, a change of employer would necessitate a new:
- Positive or neutral Labour Market Opinion (LMO)
- Employment contract and,
- Work permit application
Therefore, officers would need to treat the new Labour Market Opinion (LMO) as a new application in the queue. This means that the employer would need to pay the relevant cost recovery fees as well.
The authorities have introduced this measure to deter abuse by certain employment agencies who could try to use a list of fictitious employers in order to bring a pool of live-in caregivers to Canada. Once they enter Canada, these caregivers would find themselves in situations where they have entered into contractual agreements with employers who do not exist or for whom they will not work. In short, these caregivers will be in Canada illegally. Thus, they will be vulnerable to exploitation by the employment agencies that brought them into Canada.
Employers will need to request for new positive or neutral Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) if they did not use the existing positive or neutral Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) within six months of its issuance.
What is the Expiry Date of a Labour Market Opinion (LMO)?
When Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada issues a Labour Market Opinion to employers, these Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) will typically be valid for the purpose of work permit applications for a maximum of six months from the date of issuance. Situations could arise where the employers do not submit their Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for supporting work permit applications within this six month period. Such Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) will expire once the six month period concludes. In this scenario, the employers would need to apply for new Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) in case they still desire to hire live-in caregivers under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP).
It is worth highlighting that the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) expiry date serves to identify the six month period during which:
- The employer will need to notify the caregiver about the approval of the Labour Market Opinion (LMO)
- The employer will need to send the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) confirmation letter to the prospective live-in caregiver and,
- The prospective live-in caregiver would need to apply for a work permit to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) – this is regardless of the date of commencement of the job offer
In some cases, none of these activities might take place within the period of time identified. When such a situation occurs, the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) will no longer be valid. As such, the employers would need to apply for new Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) in case they still desire to hire live-in caregivers under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP). Thus, they will need to submit new Labour Market Opinion (LMO) applications to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada.
The Guidelines for Live-in Caregivers Destined for Quebec
The Ministère de l’Immigration et des Communautés culturelles (MICC) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) or Service Canada have their own administrative requirements. Because of this, a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) for a live-in caregiver in the province of Quebec is valid for three months after the authorities in Quebec issued the Certificats d’acceptation du Québec (CAQ). It is worth highlighting that this directive is applicable regardless of the expiry date that appears on the Labour Market Opinion (LMO).
Note:
- The purpose of the six month validity period for the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) is to strengthen the integrity of the Labour Market Opinions (LMOs)
- The authorities achieve this objective by ensuring that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has a reasonably accurate assessment of labour market conditions when they evaluate applications for work permits under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP)
The Labour Market Opinion (LMO) Validity and the Work Permit Validity Dates
In some cases, readers might require further details on the validity of the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) and the duration of employment according to the Labour Market Opinion (LMO). For this, they would need to go through section 6 of the FW 1 – The Temporary Foreign Worker Guidelines chapter.
