Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which oversees the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, has recently announced that processing times for Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) has slowed due to increased volume.
No clear details were given of specific processing timeframe impacts, but the announcement did say that delays were to be “expected in the coming months”. No indication was given either as to the impact of delays on programs where specific timeframes are targeted, such as 10 day processing in certain cases.
ESDC has indicated that it is taking steps to improve processing times. However, in cases where LMIAs cannot be avoided, employers (and employees) must simply recognize this reality at this time, unless and until the situation improves, and until further information is provided by ESDC.
The information in this article is for general purposes only, and not intended as legal advice for any particular situation.