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Business Immigration. Counsel for Employers
Your candidate is qualified, the offer is signed, and the start date is six weeks away. Whether that hire is lawful depends on which federal program applies, what your recruitment file looks like, and whether your business can survive an inspection two years later.
LMIA ApplicationsLMIA-Exempt PermitsCompliance and InspectionsPermanent Residence Support
An employer that hires a foreign national accepts binding conditions under sections 209.2 to 209.4 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, including a six-year record retention obligation. Administrative monetary penalties reach $100,000 per violation, to a $1,000,000 annual maximum.
Business Immigration for Employers
1,000$
LMIA Fee Per Position Requested
230$
Employer Compliance Fee, IMP
6Years
Employer Record Retention
100,000$
Maximum Penalty Per Violation
Quick Answer
What does a business immigration lawyer do for an employer?
A business immigration lawyer acting for an employer decides whether a role requires a Labour Market Impact Assessment under section 203 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations or qualifies for an exemption under sections 204 to 208, prepares the ESDC application or the Employer Portal offer of employment, and keeps the employer compliant with the conditions in sections 209.2 to 209.4, which are enforced by inspection.
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Your Legal Team
Lawyers and Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (CICC)
Work permits, permanent residence, sponsorship, refugee claims and appeals
EMPLOYER-SIDE IMMIGRATION
Hiring Foreign Workers Lawfully in Canada
Every foreign national who works in Canada does so under one of two federal programs, and the difference decides your cost, your timeline and your exposure. The Temporary Foreign Worker Program, administered jointly by Employment and Social Development Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, requires the employer to obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment under section 203 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations before the worker can apply for a permit. The International Mobility Program covers work permits issued without an LMIA, under the exemptions set out in sections 204 through 208 of the same Regulations, where the work is authorised by an international agreement, by a reciprocal arrangement, or because it delivers a significant benefit to Canada.
Employers routinely assume the immigration burden sits with the candidate. It does not. The worker applies for the permit, but the employer is a regulated party in its own right. Section 209.2 sets the conditions that attach to employers of LMIA-exempt workers, section 209.3 does the same for employers who hired through an LMIA, and section 209.4 obliges every employer to report for an inspection, produce documents and give inspectors access to the work site. Records supporting compliance must be kept for six years beginning on the first day of the foreign national's employment.
Lexaltico LLP acts for employers rather than applicants: technology firms recruiting engineers, construction and manufacturing businesses filling persistent vacancies, professional services firms transferring staff into Canada, and owner-managed companies that have grown past the point where informal hiring is safe. We work out of 55 University Avenue in downtown Toronto and act for employers across Ontario and, on federal matters, across Canada. This page is the overview; each linked page below goes deeper on a single program or obligation.
THE TWO PROGRAMS
Temporary Foreign Worker Program or International Mobility
The first question in any employer file is whether the position needs a labour market test. If it does, you are in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and ESDC becomes your regulator alongside IRCC. If an exemption applies, you are in the International Mobility Program, the process is faster and cheaper, and the analysis moves from labour market economics to legal eligibility under a specific regulatory provision.
Temporary Foreign Worker Program
International Mobility Program
Legal basis
Section 203, IRPR
Sections 204 to 208, IRPR
Labour market test
Yes, assessed by ESDC
No
Government charge to the employer
$1,000 processing fee per position requested
$230 employer compliance fee per offer of employment
Recruitment advertising
Required, with prescribed methods and duration
Not required
Employer filing
LMIA application to ESDC
Offer of employment through the IRCC Employer Portal
Typical categories
High-wage and low-wage streams, Global Talent Stream, agriculture, in-home caregiving
CUSMA and other trade agreement entrants, intra-company transferees, provincial nominee support, spouses, post-graduation permit holders
Conditions on the employer
Section 209.3
Section 209.2
Subject to inspection
Yes
Yes
Both programs end in the same place: an employer that is inspectable, nameable on a public list of non-compliant employers, and exposed to monetary penalties and hiring bans. The exemption saves you the labour market test. It does not save you the compliance obligation, and employers who assume otherwise are the ones who fail inspections.
CHOOSING A PATHWAY
Matching the Role to the Provision
Section 204 covers work authorised under an international agreement. The most heavily used is the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, whose temporary entry chapter allows American and Mexican citizens to enter as professionals in a listed occupation, as intra-company transferees, or as traders and investors, all without an LMIA. Comparable provisions exist under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, and the General Agreement on Trade in Services. Section 204 also covers agreements between Canada and a province, which is the route a provincial nominee uses to obtain a work permit while the permanent residence application is pending.
Section 205 covers work that creates or maintains a significant benefit to Canada, reciprocal employment, and specified public policy categories. Intra-company transfers of executives, managers and specialized knowledge staff from a related foreign entity are assessed here where no trade agreement applies. So are the open work permits held by many spouses of skilled workers and by post-graduation work permit holders, both of which allow an employer to hire without any immigration filing at all, provided the permit conditions are verified before the start date.
Where no exemption fits, the LMIA is the route. Within the Temporary Foreign Worker Program the streams differ sharply: the Global Talent Stream carries a two-week service standard for eligible technology occupations and requires a Labour Market Benefits Plan; the high-wage stream turns on the provincial median hourly wage published by ESDC; and the low-wage stream is subject to caps on the proportion of temporary foreign workers at a work location and to regional processing restrictions that have changed more than once since 2024. Those settings must be confirmed at the time of application rather than assumed from a previous file.
Before you send the offer letter
Immigration status should be settled before terms are agreed, not after. An offer that promises a start date the permit cannot support, or that describes duties differently from the ones filed with ESDC or entered in the Employer Portal, creates a mismatch that surfaces at the port of entry or in an inspection. Under section 200(3) of the Regulations, an officer must refuse a work permit where the employer is on the list of ineligible employers.
COMPLIANCE
What the Employer Promises
The conditions are not abstract. An employer must remain actively engaged in the business for which the offer was made, comply with the federal and provincial laws that regulate employment and the recruiting of employees, and provide the foreign national with employment in the same occupation and with wages and working conditions that are substantially the same as, but not less favourable than, those set out in the offer. Employers must also make reasonable efforts to provide a workplace free of abuse, a condition that captures physical, psychological, sexual and financial abuse and reprisal.
The provision most often breached is the wage and conditions requirement, and it is usually breached by drift rather than by design. A worker is moved to a different site, given different duties after a reorganisation, paid a lower overtime rate than the offer contemplated, or has a deduction taken that the offer never mentioned. None of that is dishonest. All of it is a variance between the offer as filed and the employment as delivered, and that variance is exactly what an inspector measures.
1
Selection
An inspection may be opened where there is reason to suspect non-compliance, where the employer has been non-compliant in the past, or by random selection under section 209.5 of the Regulations. No complaint is required.
2
Document demand
The employer is asked to produce payroll records, time sheets, the employment agreement, proof of the wage actually paid, recruitment evidence and business registration documents covering the review period.
3
Interviews and site visit
Officers may interview the employer, the foreign national and other employees, and may attend the work site. Section 209.4 requires the employer to attend and to give access.
4
Notice of Preliminary Finding
If a condition appears to have been breached, the employer receives a written preliminary finding setting out the alleged violation and the proposed consequence, and has 30 days to respond with evidence and justifications.
5
Final determination
A Notice of Final Determination records the outcome. A finding of non-compliance can carry a warning, an administrative monetary penalty, a ban on hiring foreign workers, and publication of the employer's name and address.
The 30-day response window is the single most valuable stage in the process. The Regulations recognise defined justifications, including a change in the applicable law or a collective agreement, a dramatic change in economic conditions not directed disproportionately at the foreign national, an error made in good faith in interpreting an obligation where the employer subsequently compensated the worker, and an accounting or administrative error followed by compensation. Those justifications must be raised with evidence, and voluntary correction before an inspection is far more persuasive than an explanation afterwards.
RETENTION
From a Work Permit to Permanent Residence
A work permit is a fixed-term asset. If the employee is worth recruiting internationally, the retention plan should start well before the permit expires. The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program operates the Ontario Workforce Priority stream, under which an Ontario employer initiates the process through the employer portal in support of a qualifying job offer, and a nomination carries substantial weight in the federal system. Federally, the Canadian Experience Class rewards a year of skilled Canadian work experience, which is precisely what an employer-sponsored work permit produces.
One planning point has changed. IRCC removed additional Comprehensive Ranking System points for arranged employment in 2025, so a job offer no longer improves an Express Entry score directly. The value of the employment relationship now runs through provincial nomination, through the Canadian experience the employee accumulates, and through the employer's willingness to keep the person lawfully working while a permanent application is processed. Employer reference letters that align duties, hours and wages with the National Occupational Classification remain decisive evidence.
RECURRING SITUATIONS
Where Employers Get Into Trouble
The start date problem is the most common. An offer is signed with a date the immigration process cannot support, and the employer is then choosing between a breach of contract and an unauthorised start. Section 124 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act makes it an offence to employ a person the employer knows or ought to know is not authorised to work, and there is no informal grace period. Status is confirmed first, and the offer letter is written around the confirmation rather than the other way round.
The acquisition problem is the most expensive. A share purchase generally leaves the employer entity intact, so existing employer-specific work permits continue to name a company that still exists. An asset purchase does not: the workers become employees of a different legal entity, and permits naming the vendor no longer authorise the employment. That analysis belongs in due diligence, alongside the vendor's compliance history, because a purchaser can inherit the practical consequences of an employer that was already under inspection.
The growth problem is the quietest. A company that hired two foreign workers informally three years ago now has fifteen, spread across sites, with permits held in a shared drive and expiry dates nobody owns. Nothing is wrong until something is, and then everything is wrong at once, because the same defect repeats across every file. The fix is unglamorous: a register of every foreign worker, permit type, expiry date, printed conditions and planned next step, reviewed quarterly by a named person.
The final recurring issue is the assumption that immigration and employment law can be handled separately. They cannot. An employment agreement that permits unilateral changes to duties, hours or location may be perfectly enforceable in Ontario and still create a federal immigration variance the moment it is used. A termination clause that fails the Employment Standards Act, 2000 puts the employer in breach of the condition requiring compliance with employment law. The two analyses have to be run together.
WORKING WITH LEXALTICO
Scoped Mandates, Quoted Up Front
Routine employer files are quoted as fixed fees: an LMIA application including the recruitment plan and attestations, an Employer Portal offer of employment for an exempt category, a CUSMA professional or intra-company transfer package, or an OINP nominee submission. Government fees, including the $1,000 LMIA processing fee and the $230 employer compliance fee, are disbursements and are shown at cost. Inspection responses and penalty defence are quoted by phase because the volume of records drives the work.
For employers hiring at volume we also run a compliance audit: a review of every current foreign worker file against the offer as filed, the wage actually paid, the duties actually performed and the records actually retained. It is far cheaper than a preliminary finding. To discuss a hire, a program choice or an inspection, contact our business immigration group.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a business immigration lawyer do for an employer?
A business immigration lawyer acting for an employer decides whether a role requires a Labour Market Impact Assessment under section 203 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations or qualifies for an exemption under sections 204 to 208, prepares the ESDC application or the Employer Portal offer of employment, and keeps the employer compliant with the conditions in sections 209.2 to 209.4, which are enforced by inspection.
Does my company need an LMIA to hire a foreign worker?
Only if no exemption applies. Common exemptions include professionals and intra-company transferees under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, transfers of executives, managers and specialized knowledge staff from a related foreign company, and workers who already hold an open permit such as a post-graduation work permit or a spousal open work permit. Where none of these fit, an LMIA from Employment and Social Development Canada is required.
How much does hiring a foreign worker cost the employer in government fees?
An LMIA application costs $1,000 per position requested, is payable by the employer, is non-refundable regardless of outcome, and cannot lawfully be recovered from the worker. For an LMIA-exempt hire under the International Mobility Program the employer pays a $230 compliance fee when submitting the offer of employment through the Employer Portal. Legal fees and any recruitment costs are separate.
What records do we have to keep, and for how long?
Any document that relates to compliance with the conditions in sections 209.2 and 209.3 must be retained for six years beginning on the first day of the foreign national employment. In practice that means the offer of employment, the employment agreement, payroll journals, time records, proof of wages paid and deductions taken, recruitment and advertising evidence for LMIA hires, and business registration documents.
Can our company be inspected even if nobody complained?
Yes. Under section 209.5 of the Regulations an inspection can be opened where there is reason to suspect non-compliance, where the employer has been found non-compliant in the past, or through random selection. Employers who have used the Temporary Foreign Worker Program are also subject to on-site inspections. There is no requirement that a worker or a third party first make a complaint.
What happens if we are found non-compliant?
Consequences range from a warning to an administrative monetary penalty of up to $100,000 per violation, subject to a $1,000,000 annual maximum per employer, and a ban from hiring foreign workers for one, two, five or ten years, or permanently for the most serious violations. Non-compliant employers are also published by name and address, and work permits naming a banned employer must be refused.
How long does it take to bring a foreign worker into Canada?
It depends entirely on the pathway. A CUSMA professional who is a United States citizen can in some cases be processed at a port of entry. An Employer Portal offer for an exempt category can be filed the same day, with the work permit application following. An LMIA adds a minimum four-week advertising period before the application is even submitted, plus ESDC processing and then the work permit application.
Do you act for the employer or for the worker?
We are retained by the employer and our duty of loyalty runs to the employer. Where the employee also requires independent advice, for example on a permanent residence application or on the terms of an employment agreement, we say so and the employee obtains separate counsel. Employers should be cautious about arrangements in which a single lawyer purports to act for both sides in a disputed matter.
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Representative Outcomes
Cases We Have Handled
Immigration · 2026
Refugee exclusion set aside on judicial review
Mîra v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 603Federal Court · Mr. Justice McHaffie · 6 May 2026 · Docket IMM-21730-24 Our client is a Romanian expert accountant. She says she was prosecuted and convicted in her absence on corruption charges after…
Mîra v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 603 Federal Court · Mr. Justice McHaffie · 6 May 2026 · Docket IMM-21730-24
Our client is a Romanian expert accountant. She says she was prosecuted and convicted in her absence on corruption charges after refusing to alter her expert reports to suit prosecutors at Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate. She and her partner claimed refugee protection in Canada in 2018.
How the exclusion arose
The Minister raised exclusion under Article 1F(b) in 2020, then withdrew that intervention in October 2023 after reviewing the evidence. The Refugee Protection Division went on to find our client generally credible and not excluded.
On appeal the Refugee Appeal Division raised exclusion on its own motion, gave notice, and excluded her. The Minister did not intervene. So the finding under review was one the Minister had already abandoned.
What the Court held
The application for judicial review was allowed and the decision set aside for both applicants, on two grounds.
The new evidence. The Division refused fresh evidence of corruption inside the prosecuting authority as irrelevant. The Court found it had mischaracterised the argument and had not engaged with the material at all, which included reporting that linked the prosecutor in our client’s case to indicted officials said to hold influence over prosecutors.
The exclusion finding. The Division reasoned that because Romania is a country where the rule of law prevails, a charge and conviction could be relied on. It cited Arevalo Pineda for that, but not the passages of the same decision requiring an objective assessment of all the claimant’s evidence and satisfaction that the issuing authority itself respects the rule of law. The Court held that reliance on jurisprudence stripped of its qualifying context does not meet the standard, and noted that no assessment of the issuing authority was ever carried out.
On the authority of Qazi, where a claimant alleges the charges are fabricated and has been found credible, the existence of a warrant alone is not enough. The Division had to go further and did not.
Why it was hard
Displacing an Article 1F(b) exclusion is difficult, and considerably harder when the conviction comes from a European Union member state. The presumption that a charge from such a state can be taken at face value is precisely what had to be dislodged, and it was dislodged on the record rather than on assertion.
Outcome
Judicial review allowed. The decision was set aside for both applicants and the appeal remitted to a differently constituted panel. That is the relief sought on a judicial review: the exclusion finding no longer stands and the appeal is heard again before a fresh panel.
“I had the absolute pleasure of working separately with two lawyers from Lexaltico — Pooja Lassi and Matthew Ram — on different matters. The level of professionalism, expertise, and care demonstrated by each of them was consistently exceptional. They do not simply service your needs — they take the time to thoroughly understand your situation and proactively problem-solve.”
SJR
★★★★★
“I had the absolute pleasure of working separately with two lawyers from Lexaltico — Pooja Lassi and Matthew Ram — on different matters. The level of professionalism, expertise, and care demonstrated by each of them was consistently exceptional. They do not simply service your needs — they take the time to thoroughly understand your situation and proactively problem-solve.”
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When we become your lawyers
Three things must happen first
A conflict check must be completed. We act for a great many people and
businesses, and we cannot act against a current client or use what we learned from a former one.
That check happens before anything else and occasionally means we have to decline.
We must confirm in writing that we are prepared to act. Not every matter is one we
can take, and saying so early is better than taking a file we cannot properly serve.
A retainer agreement must be signed. It sets out what we are doing, what we are
not doing, who is responsible for what, and how fees work. Until it is signed no relationship
exists, whatever has been discussed.
Confidentiality before a retainer
Why you should not send us documents yet
Information sent through a form, or by email, before a retainer is signed is not covered by
solicitor client privilege. That is not a policy we chose. It follows from there being no
solicitor client relationship for the privilege to attach to.
It can also create a problem for you. If you send us detailed information about a dispute and we
are later approached by the other side, what you sent may affect whether we can act for either of
you.
So tell us the shape of the problem and leave out the detail: the area of law, roughly when it
arose, and whether anything is urgent. That is enough for us to say whether we can help. The
documents come after the retainer.
Results, testimonials and reviews
What they do and do not tell you
Case results described anywhere on this site are real and are described accurately, and they are
specific to their own facts. A settlement at three times the original offer happened because of
that employer, that contract and that person’s history. It says nothing about what your
matter is worth.
Client reviews are the views of the people who wrote them. We do not offer anything in return for
a review, we do not write them, and we do not ask only the clients we expect to be positive.
Calculators on this site produce estimates from the figures you enter. They apply published
formulas and they cannot know about the facts that most often change the answer.
Copyright, links and governing law
Copyright
The content of this site belongs to Lexaltico LLP or its licensors. You are welcome to read it,
print it and quote it with attribution. You may not republish it as your own.
Links
We link to statutes, regulations, court decisions and government pages because a reader should be
able to check us. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for them, and a link is
not an endorsement.
Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law permits, Lexaltico LLP is not liable for any loss arising from your
use of, or reliance on, anything published on this website.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of Ontario and the federal law of Canada that applies in
Ontario. Lawyers and licensed professionals at the firm are regulated by the Law Society of
Ontario, and marketing on this site is intended to comply with the
Rules of Professional Conduct.
Every limit on what this website tells you, and every thing it does not do, in one
place rather than in small print at the bottom of each page.
Before you rely on anything here
Four limits, and they matter in this order.
Not legal advice
Everything published on this website is general information. It is not legal
advice, it does not take account of the facts of any particular situation, and reading it does not
create a solicitor client relationship. Do not act, or decide not to act, on anything here without
speaking to a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction about your own circumstances.
Jurisdiction
These pages describe the law of Ontario, and of Alberta only
where a page says so expressly. They do not describe the law of any other province, territory or
country. Law that looks similar across jurisdictions frequently is not.
Currency of the law
Each page states the law as at the review date shown on it. Legislation is amended and case law
develops. A page accurate when written may no longer be.
Generality
These pages describe how a rule usually works. That is not the same as how it applies to your
facts. The exceptions are where most real matters live, and a page written for a general reader
cannot tell you whether you are inside a rule or inside its exception.
If you contact us
If you are in danger
If you or a child are in immediate danger, call 911.
This website is not an emergency service. Enquiries sent through a form here are read during
business hours and a reply may take up to one business day.
Using this website, submitting a form, sending an email or speaking to us on the telephone does
not make us your lawyers. That relationship arises only when the firm has
confirmed in writing that it has agreed to act, a conflict search has been completed, and a
retainer has been signed.
Confidentiality of enquiries
Do not send confidential or sensitive information through this website or by email until we have
confirmed in writing that we can act for you. Information sent before that point is
not treated as confidential and may prevent us from acting for you, or for
someone else, in a connected matter.
Response times
We aim to reply within one business day. Contacting us does not guarantee a reply within any
particular period, does not oblige the firm to act, and does not stop, extend or satisfy
any limitation period, filing date or court deadline.
Our telephone line
Our line is answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Outside office hours calls are taken
by our intake service, who record your details and pass them to the firm. A lawyer responds during
the next business day, or sooner if the matter is urgent. Answering the telephone is not the same
as giving legal advice, and no relationship arises from that call.
Who we are and how we are regulated
Law Society of Ontario
Lexaltico LLP is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario under the
Law Society Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.8. All lawyers practising in
Ontario through the firm are members in good standing.
Law Society of Alberta
Alberta matters are handled by lawyers licensed with, and in good standing with, the
Law Society of Alberta. A lawyer licensed in Ontario is not thereby licensed in
Alberta, and the reverse is also true.
Immigration regulation
Immigration consulting is provided by Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants
in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants under the
College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29,
s. 292.
Lawyers, paralegals and consultants
Not everyone at the firm is a lawyer.
Licensed paralegals in Ontario may act only within the scope the Law Society
permits, which does not include most family, estate or criminal matters.
Immigration consultants are regulated by the College, not by a law society,
and are not lawyers.
Law clerks and managers support files but do not give legal advice.
Each page and biography states which applies. Ask at the outset who will handle your matter and
under which licence.
Languages
We serve clients in thirteen languages. Every page of this website is written and published in
English. Where anything is provided in another language, the English
version governs in the event of a difference. If you need an interpreter, tell us when
you book and we will arrange one.
Fees
The initial assessment
The complimentary 15 minute initial assessment is a brief introductory
conversation. It does not include a review of your documents and does not constitute
legal advice.
The firm charges a fee for substantive consultations, including in civil litigation,
criminal defence and immigration matters. The firm may waive that fee at its discretion.
Any fee is disclosed in advance and credited in full toward your account if you retain the
firm.
Referral fees
Where we refer a matter to another firm, including through LexKonnect, we comply with Rule 3.6-6.1 of the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Any referral fee is set out in the Law Society’s standard referral agreement, signed by you before the referral proceeds, and no fee is payable to us unless and until the receiving firm has been paid for its work. You are never obliged to accept a referral and are free to retain any firm you choose. No referral arrangement affects the independent professional judgment of any lawyer at this firm.
What is published on this site
Calculators and estimators
They produce estimates from what you type and cannot know the rest. They do not
account for the terms of your contract, statutory exceptions, or the discretion a court will
apply. Do not make a decision on a number produced by a calculator.
Past results
Any outcome described happened on its own facts, before its own decision maker,
under the law as it stood at the time. Past results do not predict or guarantee the result of any
other case.
Reviews and testimonials
Reviews shown here are written by third parties and published on platforms we do not control. Each
describes one person’s experience of one matter. They are not a promise, a
prediction or a guarantee about any other matter.
Links to other websites
This site links to regulators, courts, government sources, professional associations and social
platforms, all operated by others. We do not control them, we are not responsible for
their content or accuracy, and a link is not an endorsement.
Other notices
Limitation periods
Failure to start a proceeding within the applicable limitation period may permanently bar
your claim. In Ontario the general period is two years from discovery
under the Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B.
Shorter periods apply to many claims. Seek advice promptly. Nothing on this website extends a
limitation period.
Accessibility
We aim to meet the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
and WCAG 2.1 Level AA. If any part of this site prevents you from reaching us, telephone
+1 416 333 6200 or write to
hello@lexaltico.com and we will provide the information
in another format, at no charge.
