Yes, but the usual route has narrowed sharply, and many operators have been told no without being told what else exists.
What changed
Since September 2024, ESDC will not process low-wage LMIA applications where the work location sits in a census metropolitan area with unemployment at 6% or above. The list is updated every three months.
Exemptions were granted to primary agriculture, food processing, construction and healthcare.
Food service is not on that list. Food processing is. A meat plant is exempt; a restaurant is not.
Two further changes compounded it. The proportion of low-wage temporary foreign workers a business may employ was cut from 20% to 10%, and low-wage work permits were shortened from two years to one.
What remains open
Francophone Mobility is an LMIA exemption, so none of the above applies to it. No unemployment test, no workforce cap, no advertising requirement. The employer pays a $230 compliance fee rather than $1,000.
Critically for restaurants, all NOC TEER levels qualify. Since June 2023 that includes cooks, food counter attendants and kitchen helpers. Primary agriculture in TEER 4 and 5 is the only exclusion.
The condition
The worker must speak French at NCLC 5 in speaking and listening, and the job must be located outside Quebec. The role itself does not have to be performed in French.
What operators find hardest
Not the paperwork. Finding French-speaking candidates. Most consultants file applications but do not source people, and general job boards reach candidates already in Canada — the same pool that is already exhausted.
FrancoBridge publishes your job to French-speaking candidates in five overseas markets and across Canada. Applications come directly to you.
Program rules change and the unemployment list updates quarterly. This is not immigration advice. Consult a licensed immigration consultant or lawyer.