The federal government has released its quarterly list of census metropolitan areas (CMAs) where low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) will not be processed.
In August 2024, it was announced that the government would stop processing LMIA applications under the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) for CMAs with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
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Since then, it has been releasing a list of CMAs with their corresponding unemployment rate. If the unemployment rate is 6% or more, low-wage LMIA applications in that CMA will not be processed.
Its recent update lists which CMAs will not process low-wage LMIAs between April 4 and July 10, 2025.
Without an LMIA, employers cannot hire a foreign national under the TFWP, nor can a TFWP worker renew their work permit.
Which CMAs are ineligible as of April 4?
The government has identified 24 CMAs with unemployment rates of 6% or higher.
These regions in Canada (listed below) will not process low-wage LMIA applications over the next three months.
| Census metropolitan area (CMA) | Unemployment rate |
| St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador | 7.6% |
| Saint John, New Brunswick | 7.7% |
| Fredericton, New Brunswick | 6.9% |
| Drummondville, Quebec | 8.0% |
| Montréal, Quebec | 6.7% |
| Kingston, Ontario | 7.2% |
| Peterborough, Ontario | 9.9% |
| Oshawa, Ontario | 8.0% |
| Toronto, Ontario | 8.6% |
| Hamilton, Ontario | 7.3% |
| St. Catharines-Niagara, Ontario | 7.7% |
| Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ontario | 8.5% |
| Brantford, Ontario | 7.2% |
| Guelph, Ontario | 6.2% |
| Windsor, Ontario | 9.3% |
| Barrie, Ontario | 7.5% |
| Calgary, Alberta | 7.8% |
| Red Deer, Alberta | 8.4% |
| Edmonton, Alberta | 7.3% |
| Kelowna, British Columbia | 6.7% |
| Kamloops, British Columbia | 7.1% |
| Abbotsford-Mission, British Columbia | 6.2% |
| Vancouver, British Columbia | 6.6% |
| Nanaimo, British Columbia | 6.0% |
The government will update this list every three months. The next update to this list will come on July 11.
How do I know if a work location is in a CMA?
To determine whether your job falls under one of these CMAS:
Enter the full postal code of the work location in the Census of Population search;
Check the “Census metropolitan area / Census agglomeration” result on the Geography search results page:
If this level isn’t listed, your application is still eligible.
If it shows Census agglomeration, your application is still eligible.
If it shows Census metropolitan area (CMA), you can check if the CMA is listed in the above table. If it is, your application will not be processed for the next three months.
Which CMAs were removed from the list this quarter?
Some CMAs had unemployment rates of 6% or higher between January 9 and April 3, but are no longer on the list.
In other words, these CMAs weren’t processing low-wage LMIAs in the first quarter of 2025, but they will in the second quarter of 2025.
- Regina, Saskatchewan (5.9%)
- London, Ontario (5.5%)
What can I do if a position is in a CMA with an unemployment rate above 6%?
Both employers and employees should check the unemployment rate of the CMA where the job position is located before submitting a low-wage LMIA application. This will help them find out whether the application will be processed or not.
If an employer wishes to hire a foreign worker under the TFWP in a CMA with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher, they can increase the wage of the position so that it falls under the high-wage stream of the TFWP.
Employees with a job offer under the low-wage stream in a CMA where unemployment is 6% or higher can ask if their employers are willing to wait three months in case there is any change to the unemployment rates.
Those still searching for a suitable job under the low-wage steam of the TFWP can focus their job hunt on CMAs where LMIAs are still being processed.
Those currently on a low-wage TFWP work permit who lose status because their permit cannot be extended must stop working. A worker who loses work status can apply for a visitor record to remain in Canada as a visitor, if they wish.
What is a CMA?
A CMA is a region formed by one or more adjacent municipalities around a core population center, known as the core.
A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000, based on data from the current Census of Population Program, of which 50,000 or more must live in the core based on adjusted data from the previous Census of Population Program.
Once an area has been designated as a CMA, it retains this status even if its population falls below the population threshold.
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