Compliance information for employers hiring temporary foreign workers

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Your obligations as an employer

As an employer, you must:

Compliance information sessions

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) offers virtual compliance information sessions to help you learn about your obligations as an employer. For more information, including upcoming dates, visit Employer compliance information sessions.

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 29 conditions to make sure you:

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

Results of the inspection

If your inspection is satisfactory

You don't have to do anything; the inspection is complete.

If there are compliance issues

We'll send you an initial finding of non-compliance. We'll ask you to justify why you were not compliant with the program. When you provide your reasons, make sure to include:

If we accept the reasons, then your inspection is complete. No further action needed.

Notice of preliminary finding

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 violations details and possible sanctions. We determine results for violations based on a points system.

Upon receiving a NOPF, you:

Any new details you provide could affect the final decision. Once you've responded to the NOPF, your submissions will be reviewed and then you'll be notified of the final decision.

Notice of final determination

If the final assessment concludes with the violations, 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 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 for a violation, you could face:

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