Low-Wage LMIA Eligibility Changed in Some Canadian Cities on October 10. Here’s What You Should Know

Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) updates the unemployment rates quarterly — and the latest update, effective October 10, 2025, has brought major changes to which regions qualify. 

Remember: If the unemployment rate in your area is above 6% and you aren’t working in an exempt occupation or a high-wage position, employers cannot hire you through an LMIA – no matter how qualified you are or how much they want to hire you.  

Below, we summarize which cities lost eligibility, gained eligibility, and which ones remain unchanged for low-wage LMIA applications until the next update on January 8, 2026. 

Key Takeaways 

• Last period, 26 cities were ineligible for low-wage based on unemployment data. From October 10, 2025, this increased to 32 cities.  
• There are now just 9 of Canada’s larger city regions where workers can apply for an LMIA in the low-wage stream, through to January 8, 2026.  
• That’s an increase of 6 cities moving above the 6% threshold, meaning significantly fewer regions are still eligible for low-wage LMIA applications. 
• You can learn more about last year’s changes to low-wage LMIA processing based on unemployment rates in our earlier piece.  

Cities No Longer Eligible for Low-Wage LMIAs (Unemployment Above 6%) 

These regions had unemployment rates that have are above the threshold — meaning employers here can not apply for low-wage LMIAs. 

1. St John’s, NL  
2. Halifax, NS  
3. Moncton, NB 
4. Saint John, NB 
5. Fredericton, NB  
6. Montreal, QC 
7. Ottawa–Gatineau, ON/QC 
8. Kingston, ON 
9. Belleville-Quinte West, ON 
10. Oshawa, ON 
11. Toronto, ON 
12. Hamilton, ON  
13. St Catharines-Niagara, ON 
14. Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, ON  
15. Brantford, ON 
16. Guelph, ON 
17. London, ON  
18. Windsor, ON 
19. Barrie, ON 
20. Greater Sudbury, ON 
21. Winnipeg, MB  
22. Regina, SK  
23. Lethbridge, AB  
24. Calgary, AB 
25. Red Deer, AB  
26. Edmonton, AB 
27. Kelowna, BC  
28. Kamloops, BC  
29. Chilliwack, BC 
30. Abbotsford–Mission, BC  
31. Vancouver, BC 
32. Nanaimo, BC.  

Our Analysis: What Happened Here? 

Unemployment in Canada hit historic high levels (outside the pandemic) in August and stayed high through September. So, we aren’t surprised to see a few new additions to the list of cities ineligible for low-wage LMIAs.  

This quarter, the following cities were added to the list (having been eligible for low-wage LMIAs through to October 9, 2025): Kelowna, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Regina, Winnipeg, Greater Sudbury, and Guelph.  

Interestingly, this shift means that all CMAs in Alberta and Canada’s Atlantic provinces are not currently eligible for low-wage LMIA processing. This impacts all applications submitted on October 10, or later.  

BC also saw a large increase in the cities ineligible due to higher unemployment rates. Kelowna in particular has been quite volatile throughout the year.  

Cities Are Eligible for Low-Wage LMIAs (Unemployment Below 6%) 

These are the cities that are currently eligible for low-wage LMIAs to be processed, based on unemployment data for the regions: 

1. Saguenay, QC – 4.2% 
2. Québec City, QC – 4.6% 
3. Sherbrooke, QC – 5.3% 
4. Trois-Rivières, QC – 5.1% 
5. Drummondville, QC – unemployment fell from 5.6% to 4.7% (was previously above 6% earlier this year) 
6. Thunder Bay, ON – 5.1% 
7. Peterborough, ON – Dropped dramatically from 9.9% to 5.6%, reopening LMIA eligibility. 
8. Saskatoon, SK – 5.7% 
9. Victoria, BC – 5.2%.  

Only Drummondville in Quebec and Peterborough in Ontario saw the unemployment rates decrease enough to be added to this list. The other cities contained in this list have had relatively stable unemployment rates (on the lower end of the national average) throughout 2025, so far. This could be a flag for newcomers looking for work to consider roles in these regions.  

Quebec, in particular (excluding Montreal), has maintained relatively low unemployment rates across its cities. This isn’t a big surprise, given that Quebec boasts the lowest unemployment rates in Canada in September 2025.  

Overall Unemployment Data from Canada’s Government for Low-Wage LMIA Processing 

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