As of August 28, 2017, Employment and Social Development Canada ("ESDC") now requires all employers seeking a Labour Market Impact Access ("LMIA") to confirm an offer of employment to a foreign national to advertise on the Government of Canada Job Bank (the "Job Bank"), irrespective of province or territory. As a consequence, employers located in provinces that operate their own job boards — i.e., B.C., Saskatchewan and Québec — must now post jobs on the Job Bank in addition to the relevant provincial job board. Employers choosing to use alternative methods of advertising must provide a written rationale and explanation for using the alternative method.
Job Match
Employers must also use the government's new Job Match service when they advertise a position on the Job Bank. The Job Match service is designed to allow employers to view anonymous profiles of registered job seekers which correspond to the skills and requirements outlined in the employer's job posting. The Job Match system will rate candidates using a star system of one to five stars. The more stars received by the match, the greater the purported compatibility between the position advertised and the job seeker.
Employers seeking to recruit for a role at or above the provincial or territorial median hourly wage (i.e., high-wage positions), are required to invite all job seekers matched within the first 30 days of the job advertisement to apply for the position if they are rated four stars or more. For low-wage positions, employers must invite all candidates rated at two stars or more to apply for the position within the first 30 days of posting the advertisement. It is not clear, however, whether employers must interview all job seekers invited to apply for the role under the new system.
Global Talent Stream Exempt from Requirement to Recruit/Advertise
As noted previously in our Business Immigration Alert dated June 20, 2017, employers seeking to hire unique and specialized talent referred to ESDC by a designated referral partner and occupations found in ESDC's Global Talent Occupations list are exempt from the advertising and recruitment requirements as part of the new Global Talent Stream. As of August 24, 2017, the list of Global Talent occupations includes the following high-skilled occupations:
- NOC Code 0213 — Computer and information systems managers
- NOC Code 2147 — Computer engineers (except software engineers and designers)
- NOC Code 2171 — Information systems analysts and consultants
- NOC Code 2172 — Database analysts and data administrators
- NOC Code 2173 — Software engineers and designers
- NOC Code 2174 — Computer programmers and interactive media developers
- NOC Code 2175 — Web designers and developers
- NOC Code 2241 — Electrical and electronics engineering technologists and technicians (minimum annual salary $81,000 / $38.94 hourly or higher prevailing wage)
- NOC Code 2283 — Information systems testing technicians (minimum annual salary $78,000 / $37.50 or higher prevailing wage)
- NOC Code 5241 — Digital media designers where the position requires a minimum of 5 years industry experience and specific skills requirements (minimum annual salary $80,000 / $38.46 hourly or higher prevailing wage)
It is not yet clear how these changes will impact the processing of LMIA for senior managerial and executive-level roles, which could sometimes be exempted from the normal requirement to post on the Job Bank where it could be demonstrated that its use was not considered an effective method of recruitment and the employer used alternative methods that were more appropriate in the circumstances (i.e., they target an audience with the appropriate education, professional experience and/or skill level required for the occupation).
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.
