The low-wage LMIA in Canada
The low-wage LMIA is the stream that can be closed before it is opened. In a census metropolitan area at 6 per cent unemployment or higher, the application is not assessed and refused, it is not processed at all.
About this work
When the application cannot be filed at all
This is the first question on a low-wage file, and it is a question about geography rather than the job. Since 26 September 2024, ESDC will not process an LMIA application that has both a wage below the provincial or territorial wage threshold and a work location in a census metropolitan area with an unemployment rate of 6 per cent or higher at the time of submission.
ESDC publishes the rate applied to each area for a set period. For applications submitted between 10 July 2026 and 8 October 2026, the rate in effect for Toronto is 7.3 per cent. The two preceding periods were 7.9 and 7.5 per cent.
The method ESDC sets out is to enter the complete postal code of the work location in the Census of population search, read the census metropolitan area off the result, and then check the rate applied to that area for the period. The rate is read at the date of submission, so a file held back across a period boundary is measured against a different number.
A defined set of applications is exempted from the measure, so the answer is not automatic for every low-wage position in an affected area.
The clock
How long do you have to act?
6% closes the stream in an area
Three figures decide a low-wage file, and the first one can end it before the job description is written.
The rate applied to each census metropolitan area is published by Employment and Social Development Canada for a set period and is read at the date of submission. Toronto was 7.5 per cent for applications submitted from 9 January 2026, 7.9 per cent from 10 April 2026, and 7.3 per cent from 10 July 2026 to 8 October 2026. The measure has applied to applications submitted since 26 September 2024.
The question that comes before the job description
In the Toronto area a low-wage application is not currently processed
Employers reach for the low-wage stream when the wage is what it is. In much of the Greater Toronto Area the answer is not a harder application, it is no application.
It turns on the postal code
ESDC has employers enter the complete postal code of the work location in the Census of population search, read the census metropolitan area from the result, and check the rate applied to that area.
The rate is read at submission
The published rate applies to applications submitted inside a set period. Toronto is 7.3 per cent for submissions from 10 July 2026 to 8 October 2026, and both preceding periods were higher.
Not processed is not refused
The application does not get assessed on its merits and turned down. It is not taken up, which is why the geography question belongs at the start of the file rather than in the middle of it.
Side by side
What the low-wage stream adds
5 routes, each with its own clock
Everything below sits on top of the requirements both streams share. It is the reason the wage comparison is worth doing before anything else.
| Low-wage | High-wage | Where it bites | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Refusal to process by area | Applies at 6 per cent unemployment or higher in the census metropolitan area | Does not apply | Toronto is at 7.3 per cent for submissions from 10 July 2026 |
| Cap on proportion of workers | 10 per cent, or 20 per cent in named sectors | None | A small workforce can exhaust the cap on one hire |
| Advertising | Minimum 8 consecutive weeks | Minimum 4 consecutive weeks | The recruitment window opens a month earlier |
| Maximum employment duration | 1 year | Up to 3 years | An annual renewal against a three-year runway |
| Transition plan | Not required | Required | The one requirement the low-wage stream does not carry |
Before the meeting
What to bring to the first meeting
6 things to bring
Bring what you have and say what is missing. A meeting with the papers in front of it settles in one sitting what two telephone calls will not.
- ✓The work location, with its complete postal code
- ✓The wage offered, hourly
- ✓The total headcount at that location, split full-time and part-time
- ✓How many temporary foreign workers are already at that location
- ✓The industry classification code the business operates under
- ✓What advertising has run, and the exact dates it ran
Our approach
A clear path forward
The same four steps on every matter, whether it is a refusal at the Federal Court or a ticket at the Provincial Offences court.
Book a consultationUnderstand
We take the full history and read the documents before offering an opinion. Most bad advice comes from acting on half the facts.
Assess
You get a candid read on strength, timeline and cost, including when the honest answer is that you do not need to hire anyone.
Act
We prepare the application, the defence or the appeal properly the first time, because fixing a weak record later is harder and dearer.
Report
You hear from us at each stage, and you hear what a wait actually means rather than a date chosen to sound better.
Reported decisions
What has this work produced?
7 allowed of 22 reported since 2023
Public judgments of the Federal Court with Kapil Rathod as counsel of record, each checkable by citation on the court's own site. The rest were dismissed and are listed with these ones.
Super visa, parents and grandparents
Sharifi v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 99Docket IMM-23381-24
Application allowedWork permit, Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Sing v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 105Docket IMM-18690-24
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
Rehman v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2026 FC 805Docket IMM-20802-24
Application allowedPermanent residence, Express Entry
Goel v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2025 FC 275Docket IMM-1797-24
Application allowedWork permit, job offer
Sharma v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1928Docket IMM-6445-23
Application allowedStudy permit
Tandel v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1487Docket IMM-3700-23
Application allowedTemporary resident visa
Gill v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)
2024 FC 1453Docket IMM-10337-23
Application allowed
Where to go next
A low-wage LMIA carries a 10 per cent cap, eight consecutive weeks of advertising and a one year maximum.
Before any of that, it carries a geography test: in a census metropolitan area at 6 per cent unemployment or higher the application is not processed, and Toronto has been above that line through every published period this year.
Common questions
What do people ask about Low-wage LMIA?
6 answered here
Written to be read once and acted on rather than to be rung about. Each answer is complete where the law allows a complete answer.
The cap on the proportion of low-wage workers
Ten per cent of the total workforce at a given work location, as the general rule. An application that would put the proportion above it may not be processed.
The cap is 20 per cent for a named set of sectors and occupations: positions in construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities, identified by their industry classification codes, along with specific in-home caregiver positions in a private household under four occupation codes.
How the workforce is counted matters as much as the percentage. Every full-time and part-time employee at the location counts, including Canadians, permanent residents, workers on other permits and employees on leave who are expected to return. A full-time employee averages 30 hours a week or more. A part-time employee averages less, and counts as half an employee.
Employers with fewer than ten employees at a location complete the cap section of the application form regardless, and may be asked for payroll records to support what they have entered.
Eight weeks of advertising, not four
The low-wage stream doubles the advertising requirement. The advertisement runs for a minimum of eight consecutive weeks within the three months before the application is submitted, against four consecutive weeks in the high-wage stream.
Eight weeks inside a three month window leaves very little slack. An employer who starts advertising and files six weeks later has not met it, and there is no way to make the time up after submission.
The rest of the recruitment framework is the same shape: several activities, Job Bank among them, and at least one still running when the decision is issued.
One year, and the other ways an application is refused outright
The programme allows a low-wage hire for a maximum of one year, and the employment duration has to align with the reasonable employment needs of the business. A high-wage position may be requested for up to three.
The refusal to process list runs wider than the unemployment measure. ESDC may also refuse to process a position above the cap, an in-home caregiver position where there is a live-in requirement, any position where the employer has had an LMIA revoked in the past two years, and certain low-wage positions in the economic regions of Montréal and Laval.
Employers in rural areas within participating provinces and territories may be eligible for temporary measures on the proportion of workers they can hire in certain low-wage positions. Whether a given location qualifies is worth checking against the current published measure rather than assumed.
Can a low-wage LMIA be filed in Toronto right now?
Not while the published rate stays above the threshold. ESDC will not process a low-wage application where the work location is in a census metropolitan area with an unemployment rate of 6 per cent or higher at the time of submission, and the rate in effect for Toronto is 7.3 per cent for applications submitted from 10 July 2026 to 8 October 2026. A defined set of applications is exempted from the measure.
How is the 10 per cent cap counted?
Against the total workforce at the specific work location. Full-time and part-time employees both count, including Canadians, permanent residents, workers on other permits and employees on leave expected to return. Full-time means an average of 30 hours a week or more; a part-time employee counts as half. The cap is 20 per cent in named sectors including construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, and nursing and residential care.
How long can a low-wage worker be hired for?
A maximum of one year, and the duration has to align with the reasonable employment needs of the business. A high-wage position may be requested for up to three years.
Speak to someone this week
Bring the postal code before anything else. Whether a low-wage LMIA can be filed at that location is decided by a published rate and a headcount, and both are checkable in an afternoon.