LMIA Processing Timeline – Low-Wage Stream

Hey everyone,

I’m in a bit of a tricky situation and was hoping to get some insights. My employer applied for an LMIA for me back in July 2024 under the low-wage stream. My PGWP expired in October 2024, but before that happened, my agent applied for a work permit extension on my behalf. Unfortunately, I received a refusal in December 2024 because the LMIA hadn’t been approved yet, and had to stop working right after that.

Right now, I’m in my restoration period, which is ending in a couple of weeks. I’m planning to apply for a visitor record to stay in Canada while waiting for the LMIA decision. We also reached out to our MP’s office to see if they could escalate the processing time, but after a month of investigation, they said they’re unable to do so and that I just have to wait.

I wanted to check if anyone has any recent updates on where ESDC is with processing low-wage LMIA applications. Are they still working on March 2024 files, or have they moved beyond that? Any insights would be really helpful!

Thanks in advance!