Steel & Glassman, P.C.
  • Home
  • Immigration News
  • About Us
  • Our Attorneys
    • Richard D. Steel
    • Jayson Glassman
  • Contact Us
  • Useful Links

Canada Tightens Work Permit Rules, Increasing Difficulty for U.S. Workers and Businesses

3/4/2015

 
This is a guest post by our friend Jacqueline Bart of BartLAW Canadian Immigration Barristers and Solicitors, a Toronto law firm specializing exclusively in Canadian immigration law. Sign up for their immigration newsletter here.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) has unveiled a new employer compliance form under the International Mobility Program. Based on the new regulations, employers are now required to file employment confirmation information prior to filing a foreign worker work permit application.

As of February 21, 2015, applying for a work permit requires a two-step application process:
  1. An employer immigration compliance filing in Canada; and
  2. The employee work permit application, supported by the employer’s in-Canada application filing.
This new procedure applies to Labour Market Impact Assessment Exempt (LMIAE) work permits. These include intra-company transfers, trade agreement work permits (such as NAFTA, GATS and Canada’s free trade agreements with Peru, Columbia, Chile and South Korea) reciprocal agreements, spousal work permits, open work permits, significant benefit exemptions, provincial/territorial agreements, and others.

This new employer work permit compliance filing process will require employers to provide employment information directly to CIC when hiring foreign nationals under the International Mobility Program. The information provided by employers will form the basis of future compliance assessments when employers are inspected.

Specifically, employers will be required to provide the following information:
  •  Name, address, contact information;
  •  Business number (if applicable);
  •  Relevant employment information;
  •  Information supporting use of the LMIA-exemption;
  •  Offer of employment using the form made available by CIC; and
  •  $230 fee payable by employers for each LMIA-exempt employer-specific work permit application, including renewals, unless exempt by policy.

The $230 fee and employment information must be submitted by the employer before a foreign national makes an application for a work permit. If employers do not meet the above requirements when hiring foreign nationals under employer-specific LMIA-exemptions, officers will refuse the work permit application by the foreign national.

Aside from the government revenue generation of this new program, it is designed to ensure that the government receives information directly from the employer regarding the employment position. This will enable the government to verify compliance with the International Mobility Program regulatory requirements. The Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement from the government indicates that the information will be utilized for government employer compliance processes. The government seeks to bolster their enforcement authority in employer compliance inspections. These regulations will enhance CIC’s legislative authority to inspect employers. The government will conduct on-site inspections without a warrant.

At employer on-site inspections, CIC will require employers to provide documents that demonstrate compliance with the job offer, including payroll and taxation documentation, time sheets, foreign worker activities and responsibilities, location of employment and other types of government and non-government documentation. CIC may also interview foreign workers or Canadian employees to determine employer compliance.

The regulatory penalties for employer non-compliance with immigration filings can include jail terms and fines for the officers and directors of the employer.

Comments are closed.

    News and Updates

    Immigration law news and updates from the attorneys at Steel & Glassman

    Archives

    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All
    B 1
    B-1
    Canada
    Citizenship
    DACA
    DAPA
    Diversity Visa
    DV Lottery
    E 1
    E-1
    E 2
    E-2
    E 3
    E-3
    EAD
    EB-1
    EB-2
    Employment Authorization
    Employment Verification
    Entrepreneur
    ESTA
    F 1
    F-1
    Federal Government Shutdown
    Filing Fees
    Green Card
    H 1B
    H-1B
    H-1B1
    H 4
    H-4
    I 9
    I-9
    Inadmissibility
    Investor
    L 1
    L-1
    LCA
    NAFTA
    Naturalization
    O 1
    O-1
    Parole
    Premium Processing
    Priority Dates
    STEM
    TN
    Travel Ban
    USCIS
    Visa Bulletin
    Visas
    Work Permit

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Immigration News
  • About Us
  • Our Attorneys
    • Richard D. Steel
    • Jayson Glassman
  • Contact Us
  • Useful Links