Ontario's new LMIA employers in 2026 Q1
Employers in Ontario that received a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment in January to March 2026 and had not appeared in any earlier quarterly list on file (2021 Q2 to 2021 Q3 and 2022 Q1 to 2025 Q4).
What the data shows
ESDC approved 33,216 positions for 7,882 employers across Canada in January to March 2026. Ontario accounted for 8,816 positions (27%) at 2,380 employers.
610 of those Ontario employers (26%) had not appeared in any earlier quarterly list on file. Together they received approval for 969 positions. The most common occupation among them was professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations (25 employers), and Toronto had the most new employers of any city (116).
A positive LMIA lets an employer apply to hire a temporary foreign worker for that position; it is not a work permit and does not mean a worker was hired. It is illegal for an employer or recruiter to charge a worker for a job or an LMIA.
Employment and Social Development Canada publishes the positive LMIA employer list once a quarter, a few months after the quarter ends. 2026 Q1 (January to March 2026) is the latest quarter published as of October 27, 2026, so this October 2026 report covers it.
Source: Employment and Social Development Canada, Temporary Foreign Worker Program: positive LMIA employers list. Licence: Open Government Licence – Canada.
| NOC | Occupation | New employers | Positions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11202 | Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations | 25 | 25 |
| 60030 | Restaurant and food service managers | 23 | 27 |
| 72310 | Carpenters | 19 | 21 |
| 85101 | Harvesting labourers | 16 | 253 |
| 63200 | Cooks | 16 | 19 |
| 62020 | Food service supervisors | 15 | 20 |
| 13110 | Administrative assistants | 15 | 15 |
| 12200 | Accounting technicians and bookkeepers | 14 | 14 |
| 72410 | Automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairers | 13 | 14 |
| 13100 | Administrative officers | 13 | 13 |
| 72106 | Welders and related machine operators | 12 | 14 |
| 21231 | Software engineers and designers | 11 | 13 |
| 62200 | Chefs | 11 | 12 |
| 62010 | Retail sales supervisors | 10 | 11 |
| 60020 | Retail and wholesale trade managers | 10 | 10 |
How we counted: An employer is new when its name (ignoring case and punctuation) is not in any earlier quarterly list on file, in any province: 2021 Q2 to 2021 Q3 and 2022 Q1 to 2025 Q4. Employers are counted by name, so one company with several work sites counts once. Positions are the approved positions ESDC lists; streams include high-wage, low-wage, agricultural and permanent residence support. The figures are also available as data.json.
Free to quote, with a link
Anyone may quote, chart or republish the figures in this report, in print, online or on air, as long as you link to this page (on air, name LMIA Employer Finder). No permission request is needed. Questions about the data: info@a3eecosystem.com.