Canada Jobs for Foreign Workers: Work Permits, Employers, and Job Bank

A job in Canada does not give you permission to work there. IRCC issues the work permit. For most people coming from abroad to a named employer, that permit is employer-specific: it lists the employer, the job, and the dates. The employer has to take steps before you can apply, and many of those jobs need a labour market impact assessment first. An employer that has never obtained one cannot turn a private email into a work permit.

How a licence differs from a vacancy in general is in how to find employers that can sponsor foreign workers. How to check a suspicious offer is in how to verify a visa sponsorship job.

Two kinds of work permit

IRCC describes employer-specific work permits and open work permits. An employer-specific permit lets you work for the employer named on it, in the job named on it, until it expires. An open work permit is a different permission. This article is about the employer-specific route, because that is the one tied to a job offer. Qualifying for an open permit is a separate IRCC page and is not created by answering a job advert.

To apply for an employer-specific permit you need a job offer from an employer who is not on the list of non-compliant employers, and you need to meet the general work-permit requirements. IRCC’s help centre says that if you apply to work for an employer listed as ineligible, the application will be refused. Not being on that list is not a finding that the employer is hiring, and it is not an approval of your permit.

LMIA and LMIA-exempt offers

A labour market impact assessment is ESDC’s document on whether hiring a foreign worker for that job is allowed. IRCC says most jobs need one. Before you apply, the employer finds out whether the job needs an LMIA, applies if it does, and gives you the documents from a positive assessment, including the employment contract. A negative assessment does not become usable because the employer still wants to hire you.

If the job is exempt from an LMIA, the employer submits the offer through IRCC’s Employer Portal and gives you an offer-of-employment number. Guide 5487 describes that number as the letter A followed by seven digits. The employer also pays the employer compliance fee where the page requires it. You still submit the work-permit application. The offer number is not the permit.

Which Job Bank postings you can apply to

Job Bank separates two searches, and they are not the same reader.

Job Bank also says that if you have not started an immigration or work-permit process, you begin at IRCC. A posting marked for international candidates is an invitation to apply for the job. It is not a statement that you may work.

Before you treat a Canadian offer as a route

1. Check the employer’s legal name on IRCC’s non-compliant employer list.
2. Ask whether the job needs an LMIA or an Employer Portal offer number, and get that document from the employer.
3. On Job Bank, use the foreign-candidates search if you are outside Canada, and apply only where the posting says international candidates may apply.
4. Read the occupation, location, and wage in the offer against the LMIA or the portal offer. IRCC can refuse a permit when the employer is ineligible. A wage figure used for an LMIA is not a promise of what the occupation pays across Canada.
5. If the employer changes, assume you need a new permit until IRCC’s page for your permit type says otherwise.

Sources

• IRCC, employer-specific work permits: Employer-specific work permits
• IRCC, applying from outside Canada: Guide 5487
• IRCC, non-compliant employers: Employers who have been found non-compliant
• IRCC Help Centre: Is the employer eligible?
• Job Bank, candidates abroad: Foreign candidates from outside Canada
• Job Bank, temporary foreign workers: Temporary foreign workers