Canada’s work permit freeze has now extended to Halifax, Fredericton, Kingston, St. Catharines-Niagara, Regina, and Lethbridge, while continuing in 24 other regions that were previously impacted.
The freeze has been removed from Kamloops and Chilliwack.
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From Oct. 9, 2026 to Jan. 7, 2027, employers in the affected areas cannot start hiring or renewing work permits for non-exempt jobs that pay less than 120% of the provincial or territorial median wage, based on an update from the government website on Oct. 9.
The pause on Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) under the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) in regions with an unemployment rate of 6% or more now covers these census metropolitan areas (CMAs):
CMAUnemployment rate (%) St. John’s6.4 Halifax6.1 Moncton8.1 Fredericton6.2 Montréal7.2 Ottawa-Gatineau7.9 Kingston6.3 Belleville – Quinte West6.4 Peterborough6.3 Oshawa9.8 Toronto7.5 Hamilton7.4 St. Catharines-Niagara6.5 Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo7.6 Brantford6.3 Guelph7.5 London9.1 Windsor7.9 Barrie6.2 Greater Sudbury6.2 Regina6.7 Saskatoon6.5 Lethbridge6.0 Calgary6.4 Red Deer6.9 Edmonton7.6 Kelowna8. 6 Abbotsford-Mission7. 6 Vancouver7. 0 Nanaimo6. 6
The next update for the list of affected CMAs is set for Jan. 8 , 2027.
The wage thresholds are as follows:
Province/Territory Low-wage threshold (hourly) Alberta$37. 50 British Columbia$38. 40 Manitoba$31. 33 New Brunswick$31. 73 Newfoundland and Labrador$33. 60 Northwest Territories$48. 00 Nova Scotia$31. 96 Nunavut$45. 00 Ontario$36. 92 Prince Edward Island$31. 20 Quebec$36. 00 Saskatchewan$34. 62 Yukon $45
The above thresholds apply to LMIAs received on or after July 17 , 202,as of this writing , and are based on data from the federal government’s Job Bank.
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Exemptions to the freeze exist for jobs in
primary agriculture; construction; food manufacturing; hospitals; and nursing and residential care facilities.
There’s also an exemption for private households that hire nurses , childcare providers , or personal support workers as in-home caregivers.
If requested , employers can get case-specific exemptions for temporary and highly mobile positions like workers at concerts , carnivals , or fairs.
On Nov./8/2024 , the federal government increased how low-wage thresholds are calculated to be at120%of the provincial/territorial median wage instead of just at the median level prior to this change.
This moratorium was introduced by the federal government on Sept./26/2024 through stopping processing low-wage LMIAs in affected areas.
A positive or neutral LMIA is necessary for a foreign national who wants to apply for or renew a work permit through TFWP with a Canadian employer.
An LMIA is an official document showing that no qualified Canadian citizen or permanent resident could be found to fill that job position.
LMIAs are issued by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and must be included by foreign workers when they submit their work permit applications to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
<p. Workers currently in Canada whose permits are about to expire may submit their work permit applications alongside their LMIA under certain conditions.
<p. On Aug./21/202626 IRCC expanded concurrent processing time frames from30 daysup to60 days. p >
Workers who apply before their current permits expire will have maintained status : they can keep working under their expired permit’s terms until a decision is made regarding their application as long as they’re still in Canada.
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