The LMIA permanent resident stream

The LMIA permanent resident stream is not a separate program but a way of using a Labour Market Impact Assessment to support permanent residence rather than only a temporary work permit. When an employer requests an LMIA, they can ask for it to support a work permit, permanent residence, or both, which is called a dual-intent LMIA. An LMIA marked for permanent residence is what underpins many Provincial Nominee Program employer streams that lead to PR. So the phrase describes the PR-supporting use of an LMIA, the document that connects a Canadian job offer to a permanent-residence application.

A dual-intent LMIA is a Labour Market Impact Assessment the employer requests to support both a temporary work permit and a permanent-residence application at the same time. It lets a worker start or keep working in Canada on an employer-specific permit while also using the same job offer toward permanent residence through an eligible provincial stream. Requesting the right intent at the application stage matters, because an LMIA issued only for temporary work may not serve a later PR application the way a dual-intent one would. We confirm the intended use before the employer applies.

No. As of 2025, Express Entry no longer awards Comprehensive Ranking System points for an arranged-employment LMIA job offer. Before that change, a valid LMIA-supported offer could add 50 or 200 CRS points, but those points were removed. That makes the LMIA-for-permanent-residence value sit mainly in Provincial Nominee Program employer streams today, where a genuine job offer is still central, rather than in federal Express Entry points. Because this is exactly the kind of rule that changes, we confirm the current position on canada.ca before advising on any PR plan.

The main route is the Provincial Nominee Programs. Many provinces run employer-driven streams that require a genuine, often LMIA-supported job offer from an employer in that province, and a provincial nomination is a powerful step toward permanent residence. The skilled Canadian work experience you build on an LMIA-based permit can also qualify you for the Canadian Experience Class. So while the federal CRS no longer rewards an LMIA offer directly, an LMIA still plays a real role in several PR pathways, particularly the provincial ones.

Both can, depending on the occupation, the province and the stream. The high-wage and low-wage labels describe the temporary-work side of the LMIA, set by the wage against the provincial median, while the permanent-residence use depends on which provincial stream the job and worker fit. Some streams target higher-skilled roles, others include in-demand occupations across skill levels. We assess the specific job offer against the available provincial streams to find the strongest route to PR.