Kitchen vacancies remain among the hardest to fill in Canada, and one of the usual routes narrowed sharply in 2024.
What operators try first
Local advertising, referral bonuses, wage increases. These work at the margin and stop working when every restaurant in the area is doing the same thing.
Where the LMIA route now stands
Low-wage LMIA applications are not processed where the work location is in a census metropolitan area with unemployment at 6% or higher. The list updates every three months.
Exemptions went to primary agriculture, food processing, construction and healthcare. Food service did not receive one — a distinction that catches operators out, since food processing sounds like it should cover them.
What else changed
The low-wage workforce cap fell from 20% to 10%, calculated per work location. Low-wage permits were shortened from two years to one.
What remains open
Francophone Mobility is an LMIA exemption, so none of the above applies. No unemployment rule, no cap, no advertising. $230 rather than $1,000.
Since June 2023 all TEER levels qualify, which brought in cooks, kitchen helpers and food counter attendants for the first time.
The two conditions
The worker speaks French at NCLC 5 in speaking and listening. The position is outside Quebec. The kitchen itself does not operate in French.
Where operators get stuck
Not eligibility. Finding a French-speaking cook, when Canadian job boards reach the pool that is already exhausted.
FrancoBridge publishes kitchen roles to French-speaking candidates in Morocco, Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Mauritius and Canada.
Rules update quarterly. This is not immigration advice.