Under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), certain IT/Tech service providers may enter Canada on work purposes without needing to undergo the usual Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process.

The European Union (EU) and its members states have signed the CETA (Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) with Canada. Whilst the whole LMIA process is challenging for a person from another country to enter Canada for paid work purposes, the CETA provides a unique opportunity to citizens from the European Union and its member states to be employed in Canada. This is because, if otherwise, the employer would have been required to comply with the LMIA requirements (except if the employer falls under the Atlantic designated employer category) and need to advertise and prove that there was no Canadian citizen and/or permanent resident available to do the job for which the employer is hiring a person from a member state of the European Union.

Under this category, self-employed persons from the European Union and its member states who have contracts to provide service(s) to a Canadian consumer may enter Canada for a specific period of time for the fulfillment of the terms of the service of the contract. He or she is by default exempted from the requirements of the usual Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) process.