ESDC published decreased processing times for Labour Market Impact Assessment streams

On April 9, 2026, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) updated the processing times for the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications under various streams. Based on statistics from all processing centres, the average LMIA processing time has decreased for all streams except the Agricultural and Low-wage streams, which had a very slight increase.

• Global Talent Stream - 7 business days (-5 days)

• Agricultural stream – 16 business days (+1 day)

• Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program - 10 business days 

• Permanent Residence Stream - 192 business days (-52 days)

• High-wage Stream - 59 business days (-1 day)

• Low-wage Stream - 50 business days (+2 days)

#esdc, #service_canada, #lmia #tfwp, #work_permit, #agricultural_workers, #caregivers