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Penalties, Bans and Public Listing
A finding of non-compliance is not just a fine. It can stop your company hiring foreign workers for years, invalidate permits your existing staff are relying on, and put your business name on a federal list that clients and lenders can read.
Administrative monetary penalties under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations reach $100,000 for a single violation, subject to a $1,000,000 maximum per employer per year, and can be accompanied by a ban of one, two, five or ten years, or a permanent ban.
Employer Penalties
100,000$
Maximum Penalty Per Violation
1M$
Annual Maximum Per Employer
10Years
Longest Fixed-Term Ban
3Types
Violation Categories A, B and C
Quick Answer
What penalties can a Canadian employer face for immigration non-compliance?
A finding of non-compliance under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations can produce a warning, an administrative monetary penalty of up to $100,000 for a single violation subject to a $1,000,000 annual maximum per employer, a ban on hiring foreign workers for one, two, five or ten years or permanently, and publication of the employer name, address, violation and consequence on a public federal list.
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Work permits, permanent residence, sponsorship, refugee claims and appeals
THE CONSEQUENCE SCHEME
What a Finding of Non-Compliance Costs
Since December 2015 the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations have carried an administrative monetary penalty scheme for employers who breach the conditions in sections 209.2 to 209.4. The consequences available are a warning, a monetary penalty, a ban from hiring foreign workers for a fixed period or permanently, and publication of the employer name and address together with the violation and the consequence. More than one consequence can apply to a single finding, and separate violations are assessed separately.
The ceiling is $100,000 for a single violation, and $1,000,000 in total per employer in any one year. Bans run for one, two, five or ten years depending on the seriousness of the violation and the employer history, and the most serious violations attract a permanent ban. The commercial effect of a ban usually exceeds the penalty itself: under section 200(3) of the Regulations an officer must not issue a work permit where the employer is ineligible, which means existing foreign staff cannot renew and pending applications fail.
Publication is the consequence employers least expect. The list of employers found non-compliant is public and searchable. It is read by counterparties in due diligence, by lenders, by procurement teams and by journalists, and it does not disappear when the penalty is paid.
HOW PENALTIES ARE SET
A Points Framework, Not a Fixed Fine
The amount is not chosen at large. Section 209.99 of the Regulations and the tables that accompany it classify each violation as Type A, Type B or Type C, and then assign points against defined criteria. The criteria are the employer compliance history, the severity of the violation, and, for Type A and Type B violations, the size of the business, with small businesses assessed on a lower scale than large ones. Points are reduced where the employer voluntarily disclosed the non-compliance before an inspection began and where the employer took steps to mitigate or reverse the effects on the foreign national.
Violation type
Nature of the condition breached
Consequence range
Type A
Largely administrative and recordkeeping obligations, including the failure to retain documents for six years and failures to provide information
Warning through to monetary penalties at the lower end of the scale, with short bans at higher point levels
Type B
Substantive employment obligations, including wages, working conditions and occupation not being substantially the same as offered, and failure to comply with employment or recruitment law
Mid-range monetary penalties, with bans available as points increase
Type C
The most serious obligations, including failure to make reasonable efforts to provide an abuse-free workplace and failure to comply with an inspection
The highest monetary penalties, up to $100,000 per violation, and the longest bans including permanent ineligibility
Because points accumulate across criteria, two employers with the same underlying error can receive very different outcomes. A large company with a prior finding that produced no remediation sits far higher on the scale than a small business with a clean history that identified the shortfall itself, paid the worker and disclosed. That difference is not luck. It is the product of decisions made in the months before and during the inspection.
REDUCING EXPOSURE
Where Outcomes Actually Move
1
Before any inspection
Audit each foreign worker file against the offer as filed. Quantify any wage or hours shortfall, pay it, document the correction, and consider voluntary disclosure. This is the single largest lever on the eventual points assessment.
2
On the document demand
Produce a complete, organised record with a covering explanation. Gaps in production are themselves a violation and they also invite the inspector to draw the least favourable inference about the missing period.
3
On the preliminary finding
Within the 30-day window, challenge the factual findings where they are wrong, advance any statutory justification with evidence, and demonstrate remediation. Address the points criteria expressly, including business size and compliance history.
4
After a final determination
Consider an application for leave and judicial review in the Federal Court under section 72 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Deadlines are short: generally 15 days for a decision made in Canada and 60 days for one made outside Canada.
5
Living with a ban
Plan for existing staff whose permits cannot be renewed while the employer is ineligible, review contractual commitments that assumed those workers, and build the compliance record that will support future applications once the ban expires.
Judicial review is a genuine remedy but a narrow one. The Federal Court asks whether the decision was reasonable and whether the process was fair. It does not re-weigh the evidence. That is precisely why the 30-day response to the preliminary finding matters so much: it is the last stage at which the factual record can still be built rather than merely reviewed.
RELATED EXPOSURE
Offences Beyond the Administrative Scheme
The administrative penalty scheme is not the only risk. Section 124 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act makes it an offence to employ a foreign national in a capacity in which the person is not authorised to work, and section 126 makes it an offence to knowingly counsel a person to make a misrepresentation. Section 127 addresses misrepresentation directly, including directly or indirectly making a representation that could induce an error in the administration of the Act. These are prosecutorial provisions with substantially higher maximum penalties than the administrative scheme, and they are used in serious cases.
Employers should also remember that the immigration finding rarely arrives alone. The same wage variance that produces a Type B violation can support an Employment Standards Act, 2000 claim, a Ministry of Labour order and, where recruitment fees were charged, liability under the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009. Directors face their own statutory exposure for unpaid wages. The response strategy has to be built with all of these in view.
Do not respond in isolation
An explanation offered to an immigration inspector can become an admission in an employment proceeding, and a settlement with a worker can become evidence in an inspection. Before answering any regulator, work out what the same facts mean under every statute that touches them.
THE VIOLATIONS THEMSELVES
What Employers Are Actually Penalised For
The conditions in sections 209.2 and 209.3 break down into a list of discrete obligations, and each is a separate violation. Failing to be able to demonstrate that information provided in the offer or the LMIA was accurate is one. Failing to retain documents for six years is another. Failing to provide employment in the same occupation, or wages and working conditions substantially the same as but not less favourable than those offered, are separate again. Failing to comply with federal or provincial employment and recruitment law is its own violation, as is failing to remain actively engaged in the business.
Because they are discrete, a single underlying problem can generate several findings. An employer that quietly reduced a worker's hours during a downturn, did not record the change, could not produce the original schedule and had also failed to pay public holiday pay under the Employment Standards Act, 2000 has not committed one violation. It has arguably committed a working conditions violation, a recordkeeping violation and an employment law compliance violation, and the points are assessed for each.
At the top of the scale sit the abuse-related and inspection-related obligations. Failing to make reasonable efforts to provide a workplace free of abuse, and failing to comply with the inspection obligations in section 209.4, are treated as the most serious category. They are also the ones where an employer's instinctive reaction, defensiveness towards the worker or reluctance to open the books, does the most damage.
PLANNING AROUND RISK
Governance That Prevents a Finding
Employers who hire internationally at any scale should treat immigration compliance the way they treat health and safety or privacy: an owner, a written procedure, a retention schedule and a periodic review. The owner is a named person who holds the register of foreign workers and their permits. The procedure specifies who approves any change to a foreign worker's wage, hours, duties or location, and requires that change to be assessed before it takes effect. The retention schedule ensures six years of records survive staff turnover, payroll system migrations and office moves.
Corporate transactions deserve special attention. Buyers should ask, in due diligence, whether the target has ever been inspected, whether it appears on the public list of non-compliant employers, how many foreign workers it employs, and whether the offers as filed match the payroll as run. Sellers should expect those questions. An asset transaction that moves workers to a new legal entity can also invalidate employer-specific permits, which is a workforce continuity problem as much as a compliance one.
None of this is expensive relative to the exposure. The maximum penalty for a single violation is $100,000, the annual ceiling is $1,000,000, and a ban stops the company hiring foreign workers and prevents existing staff from renewing. Measured against that, an annual internal audit and a maintained register are inexpensive insurance.
Insurance is unlikely to help. Administrative monetary penalties imposed by a regulator are generally not insurable, and most commercial general liability and employment practices policies exclude fines and penalties. Employers should assume the penalty is a direct cost to the business, and should think about the ban the same way: there is no policy that restores the ability to hire foreign workers or that renews the permits of staff who cannot work while the employer is ineligible.
Where several group companies employ foreign workers, consider how findings travel. A penalty is assessed against the employer that breached the condition, but a purchaser, a lender or a counterparty conducting due diligence will search the public list by name and will ask questions about affiliates. Groups that centralise immigration compliance in one function, with one register and one set of procedures, are both less likely to generate a finding and better able to explain one.
HOW WE ACT
Defending the Employer
We advise on exposure before an inspection, respond to preliminary findings, prepare remediation and voluntary disclosure packages, and assess whether a final determination is reviewable. Where a ban is imposed, we help plan the workforce consequences and the record that will support the company when it is eligible again. Where the underlying facts also raise employment law issues, we run both analyses together rather than sequentially.
Penalty work is quoted by phase, and preventive reviews are quoted per worker file. Employers who come to us before an inspection almost always end up in a better position than those who come after a preliminary finding, because the most effective arguments depend on evidence that has to exist before the officer asks for it. If you have received a preliminary finding, note the 30-day deadline first and call us second. To discuss a finding, a penalty or a ban, contact our business immigration group.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What penalties can a Canadian employer face for immigration non-compliance?
A finding of non-compliance under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations can produce a warning, an administrative monetary penalty of up to $100,000 for a single violation subject to a $1,000,000 annual maximum per employer, a ban on hiring foreign workers for one, two, five or ten years or permanently, and publication of the employer name, address, violation and consequence on a public federal list.
How is the penalty amount calculated?
Section 209.99 of the Regulations classifies each violation as Type A, B or C and assigns points based on the employer compliance history, the severity of the violation and, for Type A and B violations, the size of the business. Points are reduced where the employer voluntarily disclosed before an inspection began and where it mitigated or reversed the effects on the worker.
What does a hiring ban actually stop us doing?
An ineligible employer is listed publicly, and under section 200(3) of the Regulations an officer must not issue a work permit for employment with that employer. In practice existing foreign staff cannot renew permits tied to the company, pending applications fail, and no new foreign workers can be hired until the ban expires or, for a permanent ban, at all.
Will our company name be published?
Yes, where a monetary penalty or a ban is imposed. The federal list of non-compliant employers includes the business name and address, the date of the finding, the violation and the consequence. It is publicly searchable and it is routinely consulted in commercial due diligence and procurement, so the reputational cost often outlasts the financial one.
Can we appeal an administrative monetary penalty?
There is no administrative appeal tribunal for these decisions. The remedy is an application for leave and judicial review in the Federal Court under section 72 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which generally must be filed within 15 days of a decision made in Canada. The Court reviews reasonableness and fairness rather than rehearing the evidence.
Does voluntary disclosure reduce a penalty?
It is expressly relevant. The points framework takes account of whether the employer voluntarily disclosed the non-compliance before an inspection commenced, and of steps taken to mitigate or reverse the effects on the foreign national. An employer that identifies a shortfall, pays it with documentation and discloses it is in a materially better position than one that waits.
Can directors or officers be personally liable?
The administrative penalties are assessed against the employer. However, section 124 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act creates offences relating to employing unauthorised workers, and sections 126 and 127 address counselling misrepresentation and misrepresentation. Separately, Ontario law imposes director liability for certain unpaid wages, so individuals are not always insulated from the consequences of the same conduct.
How far back can a violation reach?
Employers must retain compliance documents for six years beginning on the first day of the foreign national employment, and inspections routinely review historical periods within that window. A variance that occurred years ago can still found a violation today, which is why periodic internal audits and remediation are more valuable than reactive defence.
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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.
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★★★★★
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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.
