Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP): Streams and LMIA

Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program lets Canadian employers hire foreign nationals for jobs they cannot fill with a Canadian or permanent resident, but only after the employer clears a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and accepts detailed obligations on wages, recruitment, housing, and record keeping. The program is run jointly by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), and the rules have tightened significantly since late 2024.

How the Wage Decides Which Stream Applies

The wage on offer is the pivot point of every TFWP application. Each province and territory has a wage threshold equal to its median hourly wage plus 20 percent.¹ Offer at or above that number and the position falls into the high-wage stream. Offer below it and the low-wage stream applies, with extra rules on housing, transportation, and how many foreign workers a location can employ.

As of mid-2025, thresholds ranged from $30.00 per hour in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island to $48.00 per hour in the Northwest Territories.¹ Filing under the wrong stream leads to a refusal and the loss of months of processing time.

The Labour Market Impact Assessment

Before hiring anyone through the TFWP, the employer must obtain a positive LMIA from ESDC. Under section 203 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, an officer decides whether the hire will have a neutral or positive effect on the Canadian labour market.² That means showing no qualified Canadian or permanent resident is available and that the wage matches the prevailing rate for the occupation and region.

Applications require business registration details, annual revenue, a full job description, and records of recruitment. The employer must explain why each Canadian applicant was not hired. The processing fee is $1,000 per position, with a limited exemption for certain higher-skill on-farm primary agriculture roles.³ A positive LMIA is valid for six months; if the worker does not apply for a work permit within that window, the employer starts over.⁴

Recruitment You Have to Do First

Employers must complete at least three different recruitment activities before applying. One must be a posting on the Government of Canada’s Job Bank. The other two must target audiences with the right education or skill level, and at least one of those must be national in scope.⁵ The Job Bank posting must use the Job Match service on its default setting, and any job seekers rated four stars or higher must be invited to apply within the first 30 days. The Direct Apply feature must be turned on, and applications received through it have to be genuinely considered.

All ads must run for at least four consecutive weeks within the three months before the LMIA is submitted, and at least one activity must stay active until ESDC issues its decision. Every posting has to name the company, business address, job title, duties, wage (meeting or exceeding the prevailing rate), benefits, location, and required qualifications.⁵

Transition Plans

High-wage employers must submit a transition plan showing how they will reduce their reliance on foreign workers. That means either three activities aimed at recruiting, retaining, or training Canadians and permanent residents plus one activity aimed at underrepresented groups (Indigenous people, newcomers, or people with disabilities), or a single activity that helps the foreign worker transition to permanent residency. Each activity needs a description, expected results, timeline, and level of employer investment.

Caregiving, primary agriculture, the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, and inherently time-limited roles are exempt from the transition plan requirement.

The Streams at a Glance

The TFWP is not one door but several, each with its own rules and processing speed.

High-Wage Stream

Positions paying at or above the provincial or territorial wage threshold. Employment duration can be requested for up to three years, and the transition plan and full recruitment rules apply.⁶

Low-Wage Stream

Positions below the threshold. A cap limits temporary foreign workers at any one work location to 10 percent of the workforce, or 20 percent for construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, and nursing or residential care. Employers must ensure suitable, affordable housing is available and cover transportation.

Global Talent Stream

An expedited stream for highly skilled roles in technology, engineering, and other specialized fields. Companies qualify by referral from a designated partner organization or by hiring for a position on the Global Talent Occupations List.⁷ As of March 2026, processing averages seven business days.⁸

Agricultural Streams

The Primary Agriculture Stream covers seasonal and year-round farm work in livestock, nursery operations, and crop harvesting. The Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) is a subset operated under bilateral agreements with specific countries. Processing averages 16 business days for agriculture and 10 for SAWP.⁸ These roles are generally exempt from transition plans and, in higher-skill categories, from the $1,000 fee.³

Spousal Work Permits

Some family members can apply for open work permits, but eligibility depends on the principal worker’s National Occupational Classification skill level. Spouses of workers in TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupations have generally been eligible; TEER 4 and 5 spouses face tighter access.⁹ Recent policy changes further restricted these permits to spouses of workers in highly skilled or select in-demand occupations.

Applying: Fees, Timelines, and the Work Permit Step

LMIA applications are filed through the LMIA Online Portal. An application is only complete once all stream-specific documents are uploaded, forms signed, and the $1,000 fee paid per position. Quebec positions lasting more than 30 days require simultaneous submission to Quebec’s Ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration.⁸

Processing times as of March 2026:

Global Talent Stream: 7 business days
Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program: 10 business days
Agricultural stream: 16 business days
Low-wage stream: 50 business days
High-wage stream: 59 business days
Permanent resident stream: 192 business days

Once the employer receives a positive LMIA, the worker applies to IRCC for a work permit. The work permit fee is $155, and applicants from countries subject to biometrics collection pay an additional $85 per person, with a family cap of $170.¹⁰¹¹

A worker can hold TFWP status while pursuing permanent residency. Section 22(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act recognizes dual intent, so applying to Express Entry or a provincial nominee program does not by itself put temporary status at risk, as long as the officer is satisfied the worker will leave if the stay is not extended.¹²

What the Employer Must Provide Once the Worker Arrives

The LMIA and work permit create enforceable obligations. Under sections 209.2 and 209.3 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, the employer must provide a written employment agreement in the worker’s chosen official language on or before the first day of work, matching the terms of the original offer.¹³ Employers cannot recover LMIA fees, recruitment costs, or any other hiring charges from the worker.¹⁴

The workplace must be free from physical, sexual, psychological, and financial abuse, and retaliation against workers who report problems or cooperate with inspections is prohibited.¹⁵

Health Insurance

Employers must obtain and pay for private health insurance covering emergency medical care for any period before the worker qualifies for provincial or territorial coverage. No portion of the cost can be deducted from the worker’s pay.¹⁶ Seasonal agricultural workers from Mexico and the Caribbean are exempt because bilateral agreements handle health coverage.

Housing and Transportation

For low-wage positions, suitable and affordable housing must be available. “Suitable” means no need for major repairs to plumbing, electrical, walls, floors, or ceilings. “Affordable” means shelter costs, including rent and utilities, remain below 30 percent of the worker’s before-tax income.¹⁷ Service Canada can require proof.

Employers pay round-trip transportation between the worker’s home country and the Canadian work location and cannot recover that cost from the worker.

Inspections, Records, and Penalties

ESDC can inspect an employer at any time based on suspected non-compliance, a history of violations, random selection, or a communicable disease at the worksite. Inspections can be announced or unannounced, on-site or virtual, and no warrant is required for commercial premises.¹⁸ Inspectors can interview people, request documents, take photographs, and examine electronic devices.

The review window is six years from the worker’s first day of employment, so employers must keep all LMIA, working-conditions, and housing records for that full period.¹⁸ Failing to cooperate with an inspection is itself a ground for a non-compliance finding.

Administrative monetary penalties reach $100,000 per violation, calculated on a points-based scale.¹⁹ Employers can also be banned from hiring under both the TFWP and the International Mobility Program for 1, 2, 5, or 10 years, with permanent bans possible for serious violations.²⁰ Non-compliant employers are also named publicly.¹⁵

Protections for Workers Facing Abuse

A worker experiencing abuse (or at risk of it) connected to their job can apply for an open work permit for vulnerable workers, which unties them from a single employer. The worker must be in Canada, hold a valid employer-specific work permit or have applied to extend it before it expired, and show that abuse is occurring or imminent.²¹

Abuse is defined broadly: physical harm, being forced into unsafe conditions, unsafe or unsanitary employer-provided housing, sexual touching or comments without consent, controlling the worker’s movement, stealing wages, threats or intimidation, and retaliation for reporting non-compliance.²¹ Applications cannot be made at a port of entry; they must be filed from within Canada.

What Changed in 2024–2026

The TFWP has been tightened substantially. The federal government raised the high-wage threshold by adding the 20 percent premium above the provincial median, blocked LMIA applications and renewals for low-wage positions in regions with an unemployment rate of six percent or higher, and dropped the standard low-wage workforce cap to 10 percent. The 2026 Immigration Levels Plan targets 60,000 TFWP arrivals, down 27 percent from the previous year’s target of 82,000.

To ease those restrictions in areas that depend on temporary labour, temporary measures for rural employers run from April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027. Employers outside census metropolitan areas in participating provinces can keep their current share of low-wage foreign workers even if it exceeds the cap, or use a 15 percent cap instead of 10.²² The measures only apply once a province opts in. As of mid-2026, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and British Columbia had joined, with implementation dates varying.²³ Low-wage positions linked to the permanent resident dual-intent stream do not qualify for the rural exemption.

Moving From TFWP to Permanent Residency

A TFWP permit is temporary, but the Canadian work experience gained on it can lead to permanent residency. The two most common routes run through Express Entry.

The Canadian Experience Class is often the most direct. It requires at least one year of full-time skilled work experience (or 1,560 hours total) in Canada within the three years before applying, in a TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3 occupation, performed with proper work authorization.²⁴ Self-employment and work performed as a full-time student do not count. Applicants need minimum language scores in English or French and must plan to live outside Quebec.

The Federal Skilled Worker Program uses a points system covering language, education, work experience, age, arranged employment, and adaptability, with a minimum of 67 out of 100 points required.²⁵ Provincial nominee programs offer another route; a nomination adds 600 points to a candidate’s Comprehensive Ranking System score in Express Entry, which effectively guarantees an invitation to apply.

1
Government of Canada. Hire a Temporary Foreign Worker in a High-Wage or Low-Wage Position
2
Department of Justice Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations – Section 203
3
Government of Canada. Hire a Skilled Worker to Support Their Permanent Residency – Program Requirements
4
Government of Canada. Labour Market Impact Assessment Valid for a Maximum of 6 Months
5
Government of Canada. Program Requirements for High-Wage Positions
6
Government of Canada. Hire a Temporary Foreign Worker in a High-Wage Position
7
Employment and Social Development Canada. Hire a Temporary Foreign Worker Through the Global Talent Stream
8
Government of Canada. Labour Market Impact Assessment Application Processing Times
9
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Open Work Permits for Family Members of Foreign Workers: Who Can Apply
10
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Application Fees
11
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Biometrics
12
Justice Laws Website. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act – Section 22
13
Justice Laws Website. Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations – Section 209.2
14
Department of Justice Canada. Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations – Section 209.3
15
Government of Canada. Employers Who Have Been Found Non-Compliant
16
Government of Canada. Temporary Foreign Workers: Your Rights Are Protected
17
Government of Canada. Program Requirements for Low-Wage Positions
18
Employment and Social Development Canada. Compliance Information for Employers Hiring Temporary Foreign Workers
19
Government of Canada. Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
20
Government of Canada. Penalties for Employers – International Mobility Program
21
Government of Canada. Open Work Permit for Vulnerable Workers: Who Can Apply
22
Government of Canada. Temporary Measures Under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
23
Government of Canada. Government of Canada Taking Action to Support Rural Employers Under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
24
Government of Canada. Express Entry: Canadian Experience Class
25
Government of Canada. Federal Skilled Worker Program (Express Entry)