# LMIA questions



## sweiss (Mar 21, 2015)

Hello,

I am a high skilled worker (4 years degree in computing) wtih some very specific knowledge and experience, and there is a Canadian company that wants to hire me.

They told me we'll need to go through a process called LMIA, that involves offering the job for some time in Canada first among other things. By the way, HR people told me they posted this job before and nobody applied....

Question is, provided the company wants to hire me, is there anything that could prevent me to get a positive assessment? 

And what would be the average processing time of a LMIA?


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## scaifem (Aug 20, 2015)

Hi Sweiss,

I have been through this process. Check the requirements for the Labour Market Impact Assessment, they may have changed but when I did it the employer had to advertise in three places, including some specific ones (I dont recall the details). And this has to be done for a defined period of time (2 months I think). And the adverts have to be kept active through out the LMIA application.

If your employer is new to this get them to check that the people they advertise through will provide a letter/other document saying the job has been advertised with them since X date - this caused a delay for me.

Once the criteria for advertisement are met your employer will have to justify why each (Canadian) applicant is not suitable and so form a reason to recruit from abroad. Once this is done I think it took the LMIA people about a month to return a positive verdict in my case. So all in all it took about 3 months.

That said, it took my employer 3 attempts to submit the application form which was a lot more hassle than they anticipated. The people at the LMIA office were very communicable and transparent, almost like they support the process, not immigration, but if you think about it by showing there is a need for immigration of trained people they have job security (My opinion only) - I even called them with a query over the NOC code they allocated to me and they were more than happy to explain it and their reasons.

If you are sure you want to apply for the job and your employer is committed to you I would recommend you start collecting your paper work for the express entry system. Obviously I dont know your situation but getting degree certifications, English exams, and all of the other documents required takes several weeks/months and could be done while the LMIA process is running.

Once you submit you then have to wait in the pool - a job offer means, assuming you qualify for a program like federal skilled worker (have you checked this?) you`ll be selected in the first qualifying draw and invited to apply. Then its a waiting game - I am currently 3.5 months since submission of my application.....and still waiting.....

Good luck


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## sweiss (Mar 21, 2015)

Thank you scaifem!

FYI, 4 weeks is the time they have to advertise the job before initiating the LMIA. Maybe it has changed since you went through this.

Do you remember what kind of problems your employer had in order to apply, since they had to attempt it 3 times?


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## scaifem (Aug 20, 2015)

I mentioned one - that they couldn`t get proof that the position had been advertised for a specific amount of time.
Then I think it was a mix up with forms, they used an old form that was still available on the website and had to re-submit with a new form.

The impression that I got was that if the job and its advertisement met the criteria they give a positive LMIA...In the end the ultimate decision regarding immigration lies with someone else.


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