Exemption from the employer compliance regime for the International Mobility Program

As per the amendment to subsection R209.9(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) effective February 27, 2018, certain employers are exempt from the International Mobility Program (IMP) employer compliance regime.

The exempted employers do not need to meet the requirement to submit an offer of employment directly to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) through an account in the Employer Portal or pay the employer compliance fee when making an offer of employment to foreign workers.

On this page

• About the exemption
• Exempt employers
• Processing LMIA-exempt, employer-specific applications exempt from the compliance regime

About the exemption

Effective February 27, 2018, regulatory amendments were introduced to exempt certain employers, such as foreign missions, international organizations, foreign governments, and owners or operators of an international bridge or tunnel, from the requirement to submit an offer of employment directly to IRCC and pay the employer compliance fee when hiring foreign workers under the IMP.

When submitting the work permit application, the foreign national must still provide the employment contract and all the documentary evidence to satisfy the officer that they meet the requirements for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) exemption.

Exempt employers

The following employers are exempt from the employer compliance regime:

• a foreign government offering employment to foreign nationals to perform official duties for that government in Canada (see specific instructions in International Mobility Program: Unique work situations – United States government personnel); this includes any of the following:
  • officers of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services carrying out pre-inspection duties in Canada
  • an American member of the International Joint Commission or a United States (U.S.) grain inspector
  • a U.S. government official in possession of an official U.S. passport who is assigned to a temporary posting in Canada
  • high-ranking foreign government personnel not accredited to Canada (LMIA exemption code C12)

  Note: This does not include governments of a political subdivision of a foreign state within the meaning of the State Immunity Act or state-owned enterprises.

• the office of a political subdivision of a foreign state that enjoys privileges and immunities granted under subsection 6(1) of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act
• a foreign diplomatic mission or consular post referred to in Part I of the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act or an international organization or accredited mission as defined in subsection 2(1)^{Footnote i}  of that Act; see the following specific instructions:
  • Interns with international organizations under the Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act [LMIA exemption C10]
  • Locally-engaged staff of diplomatic and consular missions and international organizations
  • Reciprocal employment [LMIA exemption C20]
• the owner or operator of an international bridge or tunnel, as defined in section 2 of the International Bridges and Tunnels Act (see specific instructions in Employees of bridge and tunnel authorities working in Canada [LMIA exemption C20])

Processing LMIA-exempt, employer-specific applications exempt from the compliance regime

• The applicant has selected the option “I have a job offer that doesn’t need an Offer of employment number” in their temporary residence eApp for the type of work permit they are seeking. This will eliminate the requirement to include the LMIA-exempt number (offer of employment number).
• The applicant must still pay the work permit processing fee. As per step 3 on the page Steps to determine work and assessment of work permit applications, the officer must be satisfied that the job position meets the criteria for exempting the employer from the compliance regime. If the applicant selected “I have a job offer that doesn’t need an Offer of employment number” on the application in error and the position is LMIA-exempt, and if there is no offer of employment in the system (that is, it was submitted by the employer via the Employer Portal), the work permit application must be refused under paragraph R200(3)(f.1) [see the section “No offer of employment information or employer compliance fee submitted”].
• If the officer is satisfied that the job position meets the criteria for a compliance regime exemption, no electronic offer of employment is required to be submitted by the employer through the Employer Portal, and the application can continue to be processed. Although the employer is exempt from paying the employer compliance fee, the system will still expect the fee to be paid. The processing officer must manually enter the fee exemption code “EC1”.
• Because the work permit type “I have a job offer that doesn’t need an Offer of employment number” was selected on the application, the system will automatically default to case type code 60.

Employer compliance-exempt employers are not required to submit an offer of employment electronically to IRCC through an Employer Portal account, and no compliance inspections will be conducted. Therefore, the instructions in “Guide 5487: Applying for a Work Permit outside Canada” [IMM 5487] and “Guide 5553: Applying for a work permit inside Canada – extend, change conditions, initial and open work permits” [IMM 5553] inform the applicant that they should select “Other” for the type of work permit they are seeking. This will eliminate the requirement to include the LMIA-exempt number (offer of employment “A” number) on the application form.