When choosing between an LMIA-backed job offer outside your field (for example, a restaurant role) and an in-field job offer with similar pay, group members flagged both the risk of informal LMIA promises and a province-specific alternative worth checking.
What group members advised:- Get any LMIA job offer in writing and have a lawyer review it before accepting. Verbal promises from an employer about LMIA support can be withdrawn later, leaving you without the job or the immigration pathway it was meant to support.
- If your program/institution was in Ontario, look into the international student job offer stream for PNP. This can be a route to a provincial nomination without needing an LMIA-backed job outside your field.
Neither option is a clear winner in the abstract — it depends on your specific CRS trajectory and risk tolerance, but protecting yourself with a written agreement applies regardless of which path you choose.