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Temporary foreign workers who apply to become permanent residents through Canada’s immigration system will no longer get additional points if they have a job offer that’s supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), Immigration minister Marc Miller said Tuesday.

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The move will reduce fraudulent activities in Canada’s Express Entry System, which is an online platform that manages Canada’s skilled immigration programs, the minister said at a press conference.

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“We are implementing further measures that will reinforce program integrity and reduce potential LMIA fraud, such as removing additional points that candidates receive under Express Entry for having a job offer,” he said. “This measure is expected to remove the incentive for candidates to purchase an LMIA resulting in increased fairness and integrity in the system.”

The latest move seems to be a continuation of the steps taken by the federal government to reduce the number of newcomers entering the country amidst rising unemployment and a housing crisis. The move was announced on the same day that Statistics Canada reported the country’s slowest quarterly population growth estimate since the first quarter of 2022.

Employers can use Canada’s temporary foreign worker program to hire foreign workers, but they often need to prove that they aren’t able to find a worker for that specific position in Canada. In order to do that, they must receive a federal government document called the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).

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About 71,300 LMIAs were approved by the government in the first quarter of this year, compared to 63,300 during the same period last year. Most applications were for farm workers, cooks, food-counter attendants, truck drivers and construction labourers.

Some groups, however, illegally sell LMIA-approved jobs at extremely high rates to foreigners who are either outside the country or are already in Canada and are looking for ways to boost their immigration score in order to transition from temporary to permanent resident status

Most temporary residents, such as international students and foreign workers inside the country and foreigners living outside the country, try to immigrate to Canada as skilled workers. They apply through the Express Entry platform, which started about a decade ago and provides prospective immigrants with points for their education level, work experience, English and French language proficiency, age and other factors.

The higher applicants score — out of a total of 1,200 — the more chances they have of becoming permanent residents, which eventually leads to citizenship. The system is designed to attract young, skilled people from around the world.

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For example, applicants under 30 receive the highest possible number of points in the age category. Applicants also receive points for Canadian educational degrees and work experience.

An LMIA would have provided applicants with 50 to 200 points.

One government officer who processes LMIA applications anonymously told the Financial Post earlier this year that there weren’t enough checks and balances in place to properly assess the applications. The federal government, though, said it has increased inspections in this area in recent years.

Last year the temporary foreign workers program was described as a breeding ground for slavery in a United Nations report.

Industry insiders say the demand for LMIAs has increased in recent years because recent changes to Canada’s points-based immigration system for skilled workers have made it tougher for prospective immigrants to qualify.

As such, LMIAs this year were reportedly sold at a higher price than before, ranging from $10,000 to as much as $70,000 in some cases.

The government is yet to announce a date to implement its latest move.

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