Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) released its July 2026 Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) processing times on August 7, 2026. The headline takeaway is straightforward: wait times have increased across nearly all streams of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), with only one notable exception.

Here is the full breakdown of July 2026 processing times compared to June 2026:

• Global Talent Stream: 10 days (+1 day)
• Agricultural Stream: 23 days (+1 day)
• Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP): 8 days (-1 day)
• High-wage stream: 88 days (+9 days)
• Low-wage stream: 73 days (+2 days)
• Permanent resident stream: 86 days (-13 days)

The high-wage stream continues its upward trajectory. Processing time has climbed from 60 days in February to 88 days in July, marking the highest level recorded for this stream in 2026. That is a 47% increase in just five months, and it is significantly impacting employers who need to hire foreign workers urgently.

The low-wage stream also rose, though more modestly. At 73 days, it is up two days from June but still substantially higher than the 48-day wait time recorded in February. This represents a 52% increase over the same period.

The one bright spot is the permanent resident stream, which dropped from 99 days to 86 days. This nearly two-week reduction is the most significant movement in any category this month. More importantly, the permanent resident stream has fallen by more than five months since February, suggesting that backlog issues are being resolved.

The agricultural stream saw a 15-to-23-day increase since February, while the Global Talent Stream and SAWP remained relatively stable with changes of only one day.

Crucially, these processing times do not include the mandatory advertising period that employers must complete before submitting an LMIA application. This recruitment period ranges from two to eight weeks depending on the stream, meaning actual total wait times are significantly longer than the figures above.

Another important detail: the federal government does not process low-wage LMIAs in regions where the unemployment rate is 6% or higher. Ineligible regions are updated quarterly, with the next update scheduled for October 10.

How LMIA Fits Into the Work Permit Process
A Canadian employer must obtain a positive or neutral LMIA from ESDC before a foreign national can apply for an employer-specific work permit under the TFWP. This process confirms that the employer made genuine recruitment efforts to hire a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and that employing a temporary foreign worker will not adversely affect Canada's labour market.

Once ESDC issues the LMIA, the employer must provide the foreign worker with both the LMIA decision letter and a job offer letter. These documents are required when applying for an employer-specific work permit through IRCC.

The LMIA is valid for up to six months, so workers must submit their work permit application before the LMIA expires. Under IRCC's concurrent processing measures, certain foreign nationals can submit a work permit application while the employer is still awaiting an LMIA decision.

Trends and Outlook
Canada plans to admit 60,000 temporary foreign workers through the TFWP in 2026, down from 82,000 in 2025. Admissions are already trending downward: from January to April 2026, 19,240 workers entered through the program, a 29.1% decrease from the same period in 2025 and a 54% drop from 2024.

This reduction is part of the federal government's broader effort to bring temporary residents below 5% of Canada's total population by 2027. The government has also lowered planned admissions under the International Mobility Program (IMP), which covers LMIA-exempt work permits, from 285,750 in 2025 to 170,000 in 2026. Between January and May 2026, IMP admissions fell to 58,675.

Fewer TFWP admissions could eventually translate into lower LMIA application volumes, which may reduce pressure on processing times. However, in the near term, wait times are expected to remain elevated.

Job seekers can find LMIA-supported positions through the Canada Job Bank, where more than 6,000 postings were listed from employers with approved or pending LMIA applications at the time of writing.

For employers and workers navigating this landscape, the key takeaway is to plan well ahead. With high-wage LMIA processing now taking nearly three months on average, plus the mandatory advertising period, the total timeline from job posting to work permit approval can easily stretch beyond four months.