June 6, 2019

This Week’s Success Story: Restoration of Worker Status – LMIA-exemption for Francophones Working outside Quebec

We have been retained by a client who has been working under an International Experience Canada (IEC) class for more than half a year in Ontario. The client was from a French-speaking country, having also a high level of English knowledge (speaking and writing). A company from Ontario who has business in many countries, including French-speaking ones, was very much interested in retaining the services of this individual. They interviewed the foreign worker and were very pleased with his knowledge and level of experience. The company decided to extend a job offer to the applicant. Being a francophone working in Ontario (outside Quebec), the process of obtaining the work permit for the foreign worker exempts the company to obtain a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) prior to submitting the work permit application.

The foreign worker decided to submit the application on his own. Much to his surprise, he received, after a couple of weeks, a refusal to his application. The applicant came to us to ask for advice. We checked thoroughly the application he submitted and realized he missed some important documents to attach to his application, therefore the work permit application could not have been approved as it was submitted.

The foreign worker retained our services and we prepared a restoration of the LMIA-exempt work permit, for a Francophone working outside Quebec. The applicant realized how thorough we were and how many supporting documents we wanted to provide to IRCC, to have a perfect image of the situation. We submitted the application and after a couple of months, the restoration of the work permit was approved and the work permit for a period of two years was issued. One can only imagine the happiness of the applicant and our satisfaction for a job well-done!