TORONTO, July 17, 2026 – Starting July 17, Canadian employers applying for a Labour Market Impact Assessment, or LMIA, must use new wage thresholds to determine whether a position falls under the high-wage or low-wage stream. In Ontario, the threshold has increased from the previous $36 per hour to $36.92 per hour.
According to the latest standards released by Employment and Social Development Canada, new applications received on or after July 17 will be assessed using the updated threshold. In Ontario, positions paying $36.92 per hour or more will be processed under the high-wage stream, while positions paying below that level will fall under the low-wage stream. Applications received on or before July 16 will still be assessed using the previous $36 threshold.
This means some positions that paid slightly above $36 per hour may now be reclassified as low-wage. For example, a position paying $36.50 per hour would previously have fallen under the high-wage stream, but under the new standard, an application submitted after the change would be treated as low-wage.
The change is important for businesses using LMIA applications to hire foreign workers, as well as temporary residents hoping to continue working in Canada with employer support. The high-wage and low-wage streams differ in more than name. They involve different recruitment requirements, possible employment durations, and certain regional and industry restrictions.
However, $36.92 per hour is not the “minimum wage required to apply for an LMIA.”
The figure is mainly used to separate high-wage and low-wage LMIA applications. Even if a position pays less than $36.92 per hour, an employer may still be able to apply for an LMIA, but the application must meet the low-wage stream requirements. At the same time, an employer cannot simply raise the wage to $36.92 in order to enter the high-wage stream. The government still requires the offered wage to meet the prevailing wage for the same occupation in the local area and to be reasonably consistent with wages paid to Canadian citizens and permanent residents with similar experience and skills.
The low-wage stream is also subject to more restrictions. For example, most businesses face a cap on the proportion of low-wage temporary foreign workers they can employ at a single work location. Some low-wage positions in metropolitan areas with higher unemployment rates may also not be processed, depending on the occupation, industry and region.
For positions paying between $36 and $36.91 per hour, the practical impact of this adjustment may be more than a difference of less than one dollar per hour. Employers that originally planned to submit applications under the high-wage stream need to recheck the new stream classification and confirm whether they meet the corresponding requirements.
Foreign workers seeking employer support should also be cautious about online claims that “Ontario LMIA jobs must now pay at least $36.92 per hour.” That statement is not accurate. Not all work permits require an LMIA, and even when an LMIA is required, different occupations still have their own applicable wage standards.
For employers preparing an LMIA application that has not yet been formally submitted, the most important points to confirm are the application submission date, the position’s wage and the latest classification standard. If the application was received by the government on or before July 16, it will still be assessed under the previous wage threshold.（LJI by Yuanyuan）
