Canada – French-speaking or Bilingual Workers Exempt from LMIA
As of June 1, 2016, employers hiring French-speaking or bilingual skilled workers to work in communities outside of Quebec may qualify for an exemption from a Labour market Impact Assessment (LMIA).
When the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada created the program, one of the requirements was that the foreign national had “been recruited through a francophone immigration promotional event coordinated between the federal government and francophone-minority communities”. This requirement has since been removed as options to hire French-speaking of bilingual candidates are:
- Contact the Canadian Visa Office in Paris to recruit foreign candidates
- Participate in Destination Canada job fairs
- Make a job offer to an Express Entry candidate
The requirement has been removed since the employer simply had to upload a job offer to the Canadian Visa Office in Paris, regardless whether any action resulted from the offer.
In order to qualify, the foreign national will:
- Live and work in a Francophone community outside Quebec,
- Use French on a daily basis, and
- Work in a job at a National Occupation Code (NOC) skill level of 0, A or B.
The employer simply must submit an offer of employment to the IRCC, pay the $230 compliance fee and provide the offer of employment number to the foreign national.