If your employer failed an inspection, the first thing you want to know is whether your work permit is still good. The official pages answer part of that question, and are silent on the rest. We will tell you which is which.
The short version: the penalties are written for the employer. What they mean for you depends on which program your permit sits under.
It depends on the program, and for one of them the official pages do not say.
| Your permit rests on | What the official pages say |
|---|---|
| An LMIA (Temporary Foreign Worker Program) | They list the employer’s consequences. They do not say what happens to your permit |
| An LMIA exemption (International Mobility Program) | IRCC may refuse pending permit applications tied to the business and revoke active permits tied to it |
For the first row, we are not going to fill the gap with a guess. If you are in that situation, ask before you act.
A warning at the lightest end, and penalties, bans and a public listing at the heavy end.
- Penalties: up to $100,000 per violation, to a maximum of $1 million per year.
- Bans: a permanent ban from both programs for the most serious violations. In the International Mobility Program, bans can also last 1, 2, 5 or 10 years.
- Public listing: IRCC publishes the business name and address on its list of non-compliant employers. A warning alone does not get a business listed.
- Past LMIAs: ESDC can suspend or revoke LMIAs it had already issued.
Whether the job you actually have matches the job that was approved. Inspectors can look at 29 conditions. Examples are staying in the same business and the same job as the offer, wages and working conditions that are not less favourable than the offer, and an abuse-free workplace.
Inspections can be on-site or virtual, announced or unannounced. Inspectors can interview workers, and they can look at how workers were treated up to 6 years after they started.
An inspection does not end in a penalty by default. The employer first gets the chance to explain, and the process can close there if ESDC accepts the reasons. If not, the employer receives a notice of preliminary finding and has 30 days to respond before a final determination.
The official pages do not say, so look at what your permit says. Your employer-specific permit names your employer, and the official pages do not say that an inspection changes that.
What IRCC does say is what happens if you leave or lose the job:
- You apply for a new work permit with the new employer.
- You may be able to start before approval by asking IRCC for authorization to work. IRCC sends an email that is not your work permit.
- If you lose the job, you must stop working for any employer until the new permit is approved or the authorization email arrives.
If your status ends, you have 90 days to apply to restore it, and you normally cannot work until it is restored. Our page on restoration of status explains how.
Yes. You cannot be punished or deported for contacting these offices.
Call the Service Canada tip line at 1-866-602-9448. Service Canada says it won’t tell your employer you called, and calls may lead to an inspection. Your employer cannot take your passport or work permit away from you, and cannot punish you for reporting mistreatment, unsafe work or inadequate housing.
There is a separate permit for that: the open work permit for vulnerable workers.
- Who: workers in Canada who are being abused, or are at risk of abuse, and hold a valid employer-specific permit or are waiting on an extension. Retaliation for reporting non-compliance or cooperating with an inspection counts as abuse.
- How: online, with evidence such as a letter from a support organization, a sworn affidavit or a complaint to an authority. There is no fee, and IRCC usually does not ask for biometrics.
- What you get: permission to work for almost any employer, except employers on the non-compliant list. It cannot be renewed, so you must apply for another permit before it expires. IRCC may contact your former employer for an inspection afterwards.
IRCC publishes the list. A business appears there when it has received a penalty or a ban. Our guide to extending a work permit explains your options if you need to keep working, and the fees for any new permit are listed in our fee guide.
Immigration Pros helps you work out where you stand when your employer’s situation changes, before your status is at risk:
- Checking which program your permit sits under
- Planning a change of employer or an extension without a gap
- Preparing the evidence if you apply for the open work permit for vulnerable workers
Our page on Canadian work permits covers the permit types. If you are not sure what your employer’s inspection means for you, start with a free assessment and we will tell you what to do first.
