High Wage Worker Stream

Each Canadian province and territory has a median hourly wage as determined by Statistics Canada. High-wage workers are those earning at or above the median hourly wage for a given occupation in a specified region. 

Employers must apply for an LMIA through the TFWP stream for high-wage workers who will be paid for full-time positions (minimum of 30 hours of work/week) at or above the median hourly wage of their province or territory. This will be applied after effectively demonstrating that the employees were unable to find a Canadian citizen or permanent resident to fill the position.

Once an employer is issued a positive LMIA for a high-wage skilled position, they must send a copy of the LMIA to the worker which enables them to apply for a Canadian work permit through a work permit application or a permanent residency application, depending on eligibility. LMIA documents are valid for six months only, so ideally, foreign workers must apply for their work permits as soon as possible.