Canada has increased the wage thresholds for employers who are hiring foreign nationals to work in Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). These regulations have been brought into effect from June 27, 2025. This announcement has come from the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which will greatly impact new Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications. The main objective of the regulations is to align foreign nationals' wages with the regional market conditions.
New Wage Benchmarks Across Provinces
Through the revised wage thresholds, the applicant will get to know about the job classification under the high-wage or low-wage stream. The threshold directly affects the eligibility criteria of the applicants, like employer obligations and caps on foreign worker hiring.
Listed are the Threshold changes brought under the major provinces
|
Province/Territory |
Previous Threshold (CAD/hr) |
New Threshold (CAD/hr) |
|
Ontario |
34.07 |
36.00 |
|
British Columbia |
34.62 |
36.60 |
|
Quebec |
27.47 |
28.50 |
|
Alberta |
28.85 |
30.00 |
|
Nova Scotia |
22.97 |
24.00 |
|
Nunavut |
42.00 |
42.00 |
Impact on LMIA Applications
The applicants who are submitting their applications to work in Canada must meet or exceed these new wage thresholds from Jun 27, 2025. If the applicant’s offered wage falls below the announced threshold, the application directly falls under the low-wage streams. The present conditions of the low wage streams are subject to tight restrictions.
Ongoing Moratorium on Low-Wage Stream in High-Unemployment Areas
Moratorium on low wages for LMIA applicants has been into confirmation by the government. This remains active in the regions, where it faces unemployment rates of 6% or higher than the national average. This has been on hold since processing the application from September 26, 2024, will continue at least until July 10, 2025.
This clearly indicates that the employers from high-unemployment areas cannot provide work to the workers falling under the low-wage category, even if the job is in demand or falls under any industry type.
Workforce Composition Restrictions
These regulations ensure that Canadian workers are hired as the primary labour force. And also, employers cannot have low-wage Temporary Foreign Workers hired to comprise more than 10% of their workforce at a single location. Relaxation is levied on certain sectors under a 20% cap.
- Construction (NAICS 23)
- Food Manufacturing (NAICS 311)
- Hospitals (NAICS 622)
- Nursing Care Facilities (NAICS 623)
Special Note: Caregiver Roles Now Restricted
The Government have now levied restrictions for the first time to select caregiving occupations, which include:
- Registered Nurses (NOC 31301)
- Home Childcare Providers (NOC 44100)
The conclusion derived is that the government is regulating the sectors where foreign workers are given importance for hiring.
Part of a Broader TFWP Reform
This has started from the federal reform package brought into existence in 2024. The reports of worker exploitation and wage suppression include other major reforms, like reducing LMIA validity to six months, especially limiting employment duration under the low-wage stream. The regulations are considered a direct attack on the Capping of Temporary Foreign Worker admissions. This can be taken as the initiative by the Government for removing in-country work permit options for visitors