Over the last two weeks, there have been important changes to the LMIA process which will have a significant impact on Quebec Employers interested in hiring or retaining temporary foreign workers.
1. Temporary Refusal to Process Low-Wage LMIAs in Montreal Extended
The temporary refusal to process LMIA applications for low-wage positions in the Montreal economic region that commenced on September 3rd, 2024, has been extended until November 30th, 2025, and has been expanded to include the city of Laval.
What does this mean?
If the hourly wage offered to a Temporary Foreign Worker is lower than the wage threshold used to distinguish low-wage positions from high-wage positions (currently $32,96 per hour for Quebec) and the position will be located in the economic regions of Montreal or Laval, the application will not be processed unless the offer is in one of the strategic and essential sectors (agriculture, construction, food processing, education, health and social services).
For more details on this temporary freeze and the exemptions, please refer to the MIFI website (French only) and ESDC website.
2. Updated List of Occupations Eligible for the Quebec Facilitated LMIA Process
On February 24th, 2025, Quebec updated the list of occupations eligible for the Facilitated LMIA Process. These updates occur annually on February 24th. This year the updates included notable changes as the list of eligible occupations was significantly shortened. In 2024, there were 342 eligible National Occupational Classification (NOC) codes and in 2025, there are 86.
Employers wishing to hire workers under the NOC codes that were removed from the list will no longer be able to bypass the requirement to demonstrate recruitment efforts for these occupations and to access the Facilitated LMIA Process. However, there will be a 30-day transition period (until March 24, 2025), during which applications for NOCs on the 2024 list can still be submitted.
3. End of recruitment exemption for TEER 5 NOCs (formerly D skill level)
The 2025 list of NOCs eligible for the Quebec Facilitated LMIA process no longer includes TEER 5 (formerly D skill) occupations. As of February 24th, there is a 30-calendar-day transition period where the advertising and recruitment exemption will still apply to the low skill occupations listed here.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
