Officers will typically be aware of the various federal-provincial or territorial foreign worker agreements or foreign worker annexes to broader federal-provincial or territorial immigration agreements. These will typically include provisions that permit the issuance of work permits, without requiring a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). However, these rules apply only to certain temporary employment positions.
In 2015, certain foreign worker annexes expired. At the same time, the authorities renewed certain foreign worker annexes. These typically included the foreign worker annexes for British Columbia and Ontario. Officers would need to visit the website of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) for viewing the foreign worker annexes currently in effect.
Under the new foreign worker annexes, the employment positions that the officers could consider granting Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) exemption to would need to belong to one of the following categories:
- Significant Investment Projects
- Exceptional of Unforeseen Events such as natural disasters or,
- Foreign worker protection
It is worth mentioning that officers derive their authority for granting Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) exemption based on paragraph 204 (c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). The provisions specified in this paragraph enable officers to issue work permits under section 200 to foreign nationals who intend to carry out work pursuant to:
- An international agreement between Canada and one or more countries, except for agreements that concern seasonal agricultural workers
- An agreement entered into by one or more countries and by or on behalf of one or more provinces or,
- An agreement entered into by the Minister with a province or a group of provinces as specified in subsection 8(1) of the Act
Source: Citizenship and Immigration
