Compliance information for employers hiring temporary foreign workers

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COVID-19

Effective October 1, 2022, the Government of Canada announced the removal of all COVID-19 entry restrictions, as well as testing, quarantine, and isolation requirements for anyone entering Canada, including temporary foreign workers (TFWs). Read the news release.

Your obligations as an employer

As an employer, you must:

Reasons for an inspection

Under the IRPR, we can inspect for the following reasons:

Learn how to comply with pandemic inspections.

Authority to inspect

Under the IRPR, we can:

Inspections may be:

If your business is inspected

We'll let you know:

In the case of an on-site visit, our inspectors can:

When told of an inspection, you must:

What inspectors are looking for

During an inspection, we'll verify whether you follow the conditions set out in the:

Inspectors can look at 28 conditions to make sure you:

Employers of live-in caregivers must show that the TFW:

Results of the inspection

If we accept the reason(s), then your inspection is complete. No further action needed.

If you fail to provide information, or if we don't accept your justification, we'll issue a notice of preliminary finding (NOPF). This includes the violation(s) details and potential results.

You'll have one final opportunity to respond and provide new information or documentation regarding the justification.

If issues relate to the pandemic conditions, you have 5 days from the date of the NOPF to respond to the inspector. If not, you have 30 days from the date of the NOPF to respond to the inspector.

In either case, you can request a time extension to provide your response. We consider these on a case-by-case basis.

Any new details you provide could affect the NOPF and/or penalty decision(s).

If the final assessment concludes with the violation(s), we'll issue a notice of final determination (NOFD), which explains:

Note: If, as a result of an inspection, you’re found non-compliant and become ineligible for the TFW Program (TFWP) due to a ban or unpaid administrative monetary penalties, and you have outstanding LMIA applications, a positive LMIA won’t be issued and there will be no refund for LMIA processing fees.

Consequences of non-compliance

If we find you non-compliant of a violation that occurred before December 1, 2015:

If we find you non-compliant for a violation that occurred on or after December 1, 2015, you could face:

We determine results for violations that occur on or after December 1, 2015, based on a points system.

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