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High Wage vs Low Wage LMIA — Thresholds by Province

One number decides which LMIA stream an application runs under: the hourly wage threshold that ESDC publishes for each province and territory. The threshold is the provincial or territorial median hourly wage plus 20%, calculated from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey. Offer a wage at or above your province's threshold and the application is a high-wage one; offer less and it is low-wage, with extra rules attached.

The current thresholds

The table below is ESDC's official table for LMIAs received on or after July 17, 2026. If an application was received between June 27, 2025 and July 16, 2026, the earlier threshold applies instead — our Wage Threshold Checker holds both sets and applies the right one by date.

<div style="overflow-x:auto"><table><tr><th>Province / Territory</th><th>Threshold — received on/after Jul 17, 2026</th><th>Median (derived)</th><th>Earlier threshold — received Jun 27, 2025 – Jul 16, 2026</th></tr><tr><td>Alberta</td><td>$37.50/hr</td><td>$31.25/hr</td><td>$36.00/hr</td></tr><tr><td>British Columbia</td><td>$38.40/hr</td><td>$32.00/hr</td><td>$36.60/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Manitoba</td><td>$31.33/hr</td><td>$26.11/hr</td><td>$30.16/hr</td></tr><tr><td>New Brunswick</td><td>$31.73/hr</td><td>$26.44/hr</td><td>$30.00/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Newfoundland and Labrador</td><td>$33.60/hr</td><td>$28.00/hr</td><td>$32.40/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Northwest Territories</td><td>$48.00/hr</td><td>$40.00/hr</td><td>$48.00/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Nova Scotia</td><td>$31.96/hr</td><td>$26.63/hr</td><td>$30.00/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Nunavut</td><td>$45.00/hr</td><td>$37.50/hr</td><td>$42.00/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Ontario</td><td>$36.92/hr</td><td>$30.77/hr</td><td>$36.00/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Prince Edward Island</td><td>$31.20/hr</td><td>$26.00/hr</td><td>$30.00/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Quebec</td><td>$36.00/hr</td><td>$30.00/hr</td><td>$34.62/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Saskatchewan</td><td>$34.62/hr</td><td>$28.85/hr</td><td>$33.60/hr</td></tr><tr><td>Yukon</td><td>$45.60/hr</td><td>$38.00/hr</td><td>$44.40/hr</td></tr></table></div>

Thresholds are revised roughly once a year. Two warnings from ESDC itself: the wage must also match the prevailing wage for the occupation, and raising a wage on paper just to reach the high-wage stream can lead to a negative decision — wages must be similar to what Canadians in the same job and location earn.

What changes in the low-wage stream

• The workforce cap. At any single work location, low-wage temporary foreign workers are capped at 10% of the total workforce. The cap is 20% for construction (NAICS 23), food manufacturing (NAICS 311), hospitals (NAICS 622), nursing and residential care facilities (NAICS 623) and specified in-home caregiver positions. On-farm primary agriculture positions, permanent-residence-only positions and short-duration positions are among those with no cap.
• The CMA refusal rule. Since September 26, 2024, Service Canada does not process low-wage LMIA applications for work locations in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher. Primary agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, nursing and residential care, specified in-home caregiver positions, permanent-residence-only positions and short-duration positions are exempt; early childhood educators were added to the exemptions on November 6, 2026. A separate temporary refusal covers low-wage positions in the Montréal and Laval economic regions until December 31, 2026.
• Employment duration. For LMIAs submitted on or after November 6, 2026, the maximum employment duration under the low-wage stream is up to two years (raised from one year).

What changes in the high-wage stream

High-wage applications carry no workforce cap and no CMA refusal rule. Employers may request an employment duration of up to three years, aligned with their reasonable employment needs. Recruitment duties still apply in full: advertise on Job Bank, run at least two additional recruitment methods, and keep the records for six years.

In the current register window the split is visible in the data: 14,996 approvals ran under the high-wage stream against 11,091 under the low-wage stream, with a further 9,168 in the primary agriculture stream — one reason farm employers feature so heavily in the low-wage debate while sitting outside its cap.

Frequently asked questions