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Immigration Support for Your Employees
You spent eighteen months finding this person and two years training them. Their work permit expires in eleven. Employer-side planning is what turns a temporary hire into a permanent resident who stays.
Permit Renewal PlanningReference LettersBridging PermitsNomination Support
An employee who applies to renew a work permit before it expires may continue working under the same conditions while the application is pending. An application filed one day late loses that protection and the employment must stop.
Employee Immigration Support
1Year
Experience for Canadian Experience Class
600CRS
Points From a Provincial Nomination
4Months
Bridging Permit Expiry Window
230$
Employer Compliance Fee, IMP
Quick Answer
How can an employer help an employee get permanent residence in Canada?
An employer supports permanent residence in three concrete ways: by issuing an accurate reference letter stating position, dates, hours, wage and duties aligned to the National Occupational Classification; by supporting a provincial nomination where the business meets the applicable thresholds and can offer permanent full-time employment; and by keeping the employee lawfully working through timely permit renewals while the application is processed.
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Your Legal Team
Lawyers and Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (CICC)
Work permits, permanent residence, sponsorship, refugee claims and appeals
WHY EMPLOYERS GET INVOLVED
Retention Is an Immigration Problem
Most work permits are temporary by design, and most employers discover this too late. A post-graduation work permit cannot normally be extended. An employer-specific permit expires on a fixed date. A CUSMA professional permit is renewable but repeated renewals invite scrutiny of whether the stay is still temporary. In every case, the employee's ability to keep working for you depends on a step being taken months before the expiry date, and the employee usually cannot take it alone.
The employer contribution is specific and limited. You control the employment record: the offer letter, the payroll data, the hours, the duties, the job title, and the reference letter that describes them. You control whether a permanent full-time position exists for a provincial nomination. You control the calendar. What you do not control, and should not attempt to control, is the employee's personal application, their disclosures to the government, or the advice they need about their own eligibility.
Getting this right is also a compliance question. An employee working after their permit expires exposes the employer under section 124 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and the employer's own conditions under sections 209.2 and 209.3 of the Regulations continue for as long as the employment does. Retention planning and compliance planning are the same exercise viewed from different ends.
DIVISION OF ROLES
What the Employer Does, What the Employee Does
Step
Employer responsibility
Employee responsibility
Work permit renewal
Provide the offer, the portal submission or LMIA where required, and confirm continuing employment
File the application before expiry and pay the applicable fees
Employer reference letter
Issue a letter stating position, dates, hours per week, wage, and duties aligned to the occupational classification
Submit it and be prepared to answer questions about it
Provincial nomination
Meet employer thresholds, issue a permanent full-time job offer, complete employer forms
Meet stream criteria, register the profile, file the application
Express Entry profile
None; the profile is personal to the employee
Create and maintain the profile, keep documents current
Bridging open work permit
Confirm continuing employment; no filing required for an open permit
Apply while the permit is within the eligibility window and a PR application is in progress
Legal advice on eligibility
Should not be given by the employer
Obtain independent counsel where interests may diverge
That last row matters more than it looks. An employer and an employee usually share an interest in the employee staying, but not always: the employee may want an open permit that frees them to leave, or may need to disclose something the employer would rather not know. Where interests may diverge, the employee should have their own lawyer. Employers who blur that line create both a professional problem and, if things go wrong, an evidentiary one.
THE REFERENCE LETTER
The Single Most Useful Document
Almost every economic permanent residence application turns on proving skilled work experience, and the proof is an employer reference letter. A letter that says the employee is hardworking and valued is worthless for this purpose. A useful letter is on company letterhead, signed by someone identifiable with a title and contact details, and states the exact position title, the period of employment with start and end dates, the number of hours worked per week, the annual salary or hourly wage plus benefits, and a list of the main duties actually performed, written so they correspond to the lead statement and main duties of the relevant National Occupational Classification code.
Two cautions. First, the letter must be accurate. Inflating a title, overstating hours or copying duties from a classification description the employee did not actually perform is a misrepresentation, and section 127 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act reaches representations that could induce an error in the administration of the Act. The consequences fall on the employee, who may face a finding of misrepresentation and a period of inadmissibility, and can reach the employer under section 126. Second, the letter should be consistent with the payroll records and with anything previously filed in an LMIA or the Employer Portal, because those documents can be compared.
Build the letter template once
Employers who hire internationally at any volume should adopt a standard reference letter format, populate it from payroll data rather than memory, and have it reviewed once by counsel. It removes the risk of a manager writing something helpful, inaccurate and irreversible.
THE CALENDAR
Working Backwards From Expiry
1
Twelve months before expiry
Identify the permanent residence route: Canadian Experience Class or another federal programme, a provincial nomination, or a category-based selection. Confirm language testing and credential assessments are in hand, because these take time and cannot be rushed at the end.
2
Nine months before expiry
Issue the reference letter, confirm the occupational classification, and where a nomination is intended verify employer eligibility and the wage level for the position.
3
Six months before expiry
Decide whether a work permit extension is needed as a bridge, and start any LMIA or Employer Portal step. An LMIA route needs at least four weeks of advertising before it can even be filed.
4
Before the expiry date
The extension application must be filed before the permit expires. Filed in time, maintained status allows the employee to keep working under the same conditions while the application is pending. Filed late, that protection is lost and work must stop.
5
Once the PR application is in progress
Where the permanent residence application has been submitted and the current work permit is nearing expiry, a bridging open work permit may keep the employee working while the application is decided.
The one date that cannot slip is the expiry date. Employers should maintain a register of every foreign worker, the permit type, the expiry date, the employer and occupation conditions printed on the permit, and the planned next step, reviewed at least quarterly. It takes an hour and it prevents the most damaging and most avoidable outcome in this area: a valued employee who has to stop working because a form was filed a week late.
THE ROUTES
How Employees Actually Become Permanent Residents
Most employees in Ontario reach permanent residence through one of three routes. The Canadian Experience Class, within Express Entry, requires at least one year of skilled work experience in Canada within the preceding three years, which an employer-sponsored work permit produces almost automatically. Category-based selection draws from the Express Entry pool by occupation, education, language or work experience characteristics, and the categories are set periodically, so an employee who is not competitive on score alone may still be invited if their profile matches a targeted category.
The third route is provincial nomination. Under the Ontario Workforce Priority stream an Ontario employer initiates the process through the employer portal before the candidate registers an expression of interest, and a provincial nomination remains the single largest score enhancement available to a candidate in the Express Entry pool. Because IRCC removed additional Comprehensive Ranking System points for arranged employment in 2025, the nomination route has become the principal way an employer can materially improve an employee's federal prospects.
Which route applies is a matter for the employee's own assessment of their score, language results, education and experience. The employer's job is to know roughly where the employee stands, so that the permit calendar can be built around a realistic plan rather than a hope. An employee who is thirty points below every recent draw and has no nomination prospect needs a different conversation from one who is competitive today.
BOUNDARIES
Support Without Overreach
There are things an employer should not do. Do not hold a worker's passport, work permit or other documents. Ontario's Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, 2009 prohibits it, and the same conduct will be read federally as an indicator of abuse, which sits in the most serious violation category. Do not charge the employee for recruitment costs, and do not attempt to recover the $1,000 LMIA processing fee, which by law is the employer's cost.
Be careful with repayment agreements. Employers sometimes fund an employee's immigration or relocation costs and require repayment if the person leaves within a defined period. Whether such a clause is enforceable in Ontario depends on how it is drafted, on whether it operates as an unlawful deduction from wages, and on whether it survives the Employment Standards Act, 2000. A clause that in substance ties a worker to the employer through financial penalty is also unattractive when read by a federal inspector.
Finally, do not give the employee legal advice about their own application. Confirming facts, providing records and issuing an accurate reference letter is support. Telling an employee what to declare, how to characterise a gap in their history, or whether they need to disclose something is advice, and it is advice the employer is not positioned to give. Where the employee needs it, they should have their own lawyer, and the employer should be glad they do.
Confidentiality is the other boundary. In the course of supporting an application an employer may learn about an employee's family circumstances, medical history or previous immigration difficulties. That information is personal, it was disclosed for a limited purpose, and it should not circulate beyond the people who need it or influence employment decisions. Treating it as ordinary human resources data, accessible to any manager, creates a privacy problem and, if a decision later goes against the employee, an evidentiary one.
There is also a fairness dimension worth naming. An employee whose status depends on continued employment is, in practical terms, in a weaker bargaining position than a colleague who is a permanent resident. Employers should be conscious of that imbalance when negotiating wages, hours or changes to duties, both because exploiting it is wrong and because the federal conditions require reasonable efforts to provide a workplace free of abuse, which expressly includes financial abuse and reprisal.
HOW WE WORK
Employer-Side, Employee-Aware
We act for the employer: we build the permit register, draft and review reference letter templates, assess which employees have a realistic permanent residence route, handle the employer-side filings and forms, and coordinate timing so that nothing depends on a single processing time going well. Where an employee needs advice about their own application, we tell you so and they obtain independent counsel, which protects everyone.
Employer-side support is quoted either per employee file or as an annual retainer for companies with a standing foreign workforce, which usually includes the permit register, the quarterly review and a fixed number of reference letters and portal filings. The retainer model suits employers whose main risk is not a difficult legal question but a missed date, because the value lies in someone outside the business watching the calendar. To discuss retention planning for your international staff, contact our business immigration group.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How can an employer help an employee get permanent residence in Canada?
An employer supports permanent residence in three concrete ways: by issuing an accurate reference letter stating position, dates, hours, wage and duties aligned to the National Occupational Classification; by supporting a provincial nomination where the business meets the applicable thresholds and can offer permanent full-time employment; and by keeping the employee lawfully working through timely permit renewals while the application is processed.
What should an employer reference letter contain?
It should be on company letterhead, signed with a name, title and contact details, and state the exact job title, the employment start and end dates, hours worked per week, salary or hourly wage and benefits, and the main duties actually performed, described so they correspond to the relevant occupational classification. It must be accurate, because inaccuracies expose the employee to a misrepresentation finding.
What happens if a work permit expires before the renewal is filed?
The employee loses the right to work. If the extension application is filed before expiry, maintained status allows the employee to keep working under the conditions of the expired permit while the application is pending. If it is filed after expiry, that protection does not apply, employment must stop, and restoration of status may be required within a limited period.
What is a bridging open work permit?
It is an open work permit that allows a foreign national with a permanent residence application in progress to keep working while the application is decided, where the existing work permit is nearing expiry. Because it is an open permit, the employer does not file anything and pays no compliance fee, though the employer confirms continuing employment as a practical matter.
Does a job offer help an employee in Express Entry?
Not directly any more. IRCC removed additional Comprehensive Ranking System points for arranged employment in 2025. The employment relationship still matters, because Canadian skilled work experience supports the Canadian Experience Class and improves the score, and because a provincial nomination based on a permanent job offer remains the largest single score enhancement available.
Should the employer pay for the employee immigration application?
That is a commercial decision, with limits. The $1,000 LMIA processing fee must be paid by the employer and cannot be recovered from the worker, and Ontario law prohibits recovering recruitment costs from a foreign national. Beyond those rules, employers may pay or not pay for personal applications, but any repayment obligation tied to departure should be reviewed for enforceability.
Can one lawyer act for both the company and the employee?
Sometimes, on straightforward aligned matters, and only with informed consent. Where interests may diverge, for example if the employee wants an open permit allowing them to leave, or has a personal disclosure to make, the employee should have independent counsel. We are retained by the employer, and we say clearly when the employee needs their own lawyer.
How far ahead should we start planning?
At least twelve months before a permit expires. Language testing, credential assessment, provincial nomination rounds, LMIA advertising periods and federal processing times each consume weeks or months, and they do not compress. Employers with several foreign workers should maintain a register of permit types, expiry dates and planned next steps, and review it quarterly.
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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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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.
