LMIA Employer List: How to Use the Public List of LMIA Employers
ESDC publishes a quarterly list of employers who received positive LMIAs. Here's how to use it correctly to focus your Canadian job search — and what NOT to do with it.
The public LMIA employer list is one of the most underused tools in a Canadian job search. Used right, it tells you who is open to hiring foreign workers. Used wrong, it gets you ignored.
What the list actually is
Every quarter, ESDC publishes a dataset called "Employers who have been issued a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment". It includes the employer name, address, NOC, position requested, and approval count. It's free and downloadable as CSV.
What it does NOT mean
- It does not mean the employer is hiring right now.
- It does not guarantee they'll sponsor you.
- It does not exempt you from a normal job application.
- The position they sponsored may already be filled.
How to use it the right way
- Find your NOC 2021 code.
- Filter the list to employers who sponsored your NOC in your target province in the last 2–4 quarters.
- Cross-check against the employer's careers page for current openings (the most important step).
- Apply to current postings with a Canadian-style resume; be transparent about work eligibility.
- If no current opening matches, send a polite, role-specific message — not a mass email.
Where to find it
Search canada.ca for "Temporary Foreign Worker Program — positive LMIA employers". ESDC posts it under the Open Government data portal. Always use the most recent quarter.
Better than cold-emailing
Pair the LMIA employer list with: Job Bank's LMIA flag, our LMIA job search, and the Job Bank LMIA guide. Newer postings convert better than retrospective lists.
Disclaimer
Jobeefy is not an immigration service. Always verify with an authorized immigration representative.