ESDC has announced changes which come into effect on August 28, 2017, affecting both the high-wage and low-wage streams of Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications. Specifically, clarifications have been made to their policy on recruitment efforts, and new hard requirements have been put into place. Applications submitted before August 28, 2017 will be considered ‘transitional’ and not be subject to these new requirements.

Specifically, advertising on the Job Bank and, if applicable, a provincial or territorial job board, is now mandatory for both the low and high-wage streams. If for some reason an employer chooses not to advertise on the Job Bank and the provincial/territorial job board, a written rationale and explanation must be provided. Acceptance of this written rationale is discretionary, and no additional guidance has been provided on what type of scenario would merit an exemption from this advertising method.

Also new to the requirements is the mandatory use of the job-matching function offered through the Job Bank. Employers will now be presented with a list of candidates who ‘match’ their job posting, and the candidates will be rated on a star system, where 5 out of 5 stars indicates that the candidate matches all listed requirements of the posting. Employers are now obligated to invite every candidate scoring at least 4 out of 5 stars in the job matching section to apply for the position. This must be done for any candidate presented in the first 30 days the ad is live on Job Bank.