High-wage and low-wage positions (LMIA)

A buyer meets the term when the seller employs temporary foreign workers hired through an LMIA. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) says the wage offered for the position decides whether the employer applies under the stream for high-wage positions or the stream for low-wage positions. The employer compares that wage with the hourly wage threshold in ESDC’s table for the province or territory. What a sale means for those workers is covered in What employment liabilities do I inherit when I buy a business?.

How the stream is chosen

ESDC says an offered wage at or above the provincial or territorial threshold goes under the high-wage stream, and one below it goes under the low-wage stream, each with its own program requirements. ESDC publishes a threshold for each province and territory, and this entry does not list them; check the table for the province where the job is. ESDC also warns that adjusting the offered wage to fit a stream, or to avoid a requirement, could lead to a negative LMIA decision.

What to ask the seller

• Which stream each LMIA was filed under
• What each position pays now, compared with the wage on the LMIA
• Whether the employer named on the LMIA changes in the deal

The temporary foreign worker entry covers the wider program.