Canada exempts early childhood educators from work permit freeze in high-unemployment areas

The federal government has exempted early childhood educators from restrictions on low-wage work permits in areas with high unemployment.

Effective Nov. 6, 2026, employers can apply for Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) to hire early childhood educators under the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), regardless of their area’s unemployment rate.

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Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced the change in a news release it published on Nov. 6, 2026.

Prior to the change, early childhood educators were subject to a moratorium on low-wage TFWP work permits in Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) with 6% or more unemployment.

A TFWP work permit is low-wage if the role pays less than 120% of the provincial or territorial median wage.

As of the time of writing, 30 CMAs across Canada are subject to the moratorium until Jan. 7, 2027, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Fredericton, and Ottawa-Gatineau.

Early childhood educators are the latest role to be exempted from the low-wage freeze.

Exemptions were already in place for workers in agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, and nursing and residential care facilities, along with in-home caregivers for private households.

A Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) is a document issued by ESDC to an employer to show that no Canadian citizen or permanent resident was available to fill the position.

For a foreign worker to apply for or to extend a work permit through the TFWP, their employer must have a positive or neutral LMIA.

On Oct. 28, 2026, the federal government removed the 90-day time limit for TFWP applications submitted in parallel with LMIAs by in-Canada workers with close-to-expiry work permits.

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