Before hiring a temporary foreign worker

You must meet certain requirements before you can hire a foreign worker.

Labour market opinion

To hire a foreign worker, you usually must obtain a labour market opinion (LMO) from Service Canada.

You can get an LMO for:

  • a specific worker or position, or
  • pre-approval, which is approval in principle for a series of positions. This might be helpful if you need to recruit a larger number of people.

Some work categories are exempt from the LMO requirement. See Jobs that are LMO-exempt.

See Labour market opinion basics to learn more about the labour market opinion and the role of Service Canada.

If you need advice about whether jobs are subject to an LMO or you have other questions about hiring, you can contact a Temporary Foreign Worker Unit.

Temporary Foreign Worker Units

Temporary Foreign Worker Units are designed to help employers address labour and skill shortages.
These units will:

  • guide you or your representative through the immigration process for hiring foreign workers
  • ease entry for temporary foreign workers who are exempt from the labour market opinion process, and
  • pre-screen your supporting documents to streamline the application process and provide an opinion for officers at the port of entry.

You can reach temporary foreign worker units in:

  • Vancouver (serving British Columbia and Yukon)
  • Calgary (serving Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Nunavut)
  • Toronto (serving Ontario)
  • Montreal (serving Quebec)
  • Moncton (serving Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador)

You can also find out about the service standard for opinion to employers on exemption from LMO by Temporary Foreign Worker Units. This details the specific level of service you can expect to receive under normal circumstances.

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