09/25/2026
🇨🇦🚨You could be fully compliant and still get fined. Here’s how.
Hiring a foreign worker is more manageable than most employers expect, the process is well documented and thousands of Canadian businesses complete it every year. But staying compliant is harder than they expect, because doing the right thing isn’t enough, you have to prove it on demand, going back six years.
In September 2025 alone, 23 Canadian employers were fined between $5,000 and $15,000 each. Not for underpaying workers. Not for unsafe conditions. For failing to produce documents when an inspector asked, with no other violation noted.
And inspections are not rare. ESDC completed 1,488 employer compliance inspections between April 2025 and March 2026, found roughly 12% non-compliant, and issued more than $10.2 million in monetary penalties.
Here’s what needs to be in your file, organized and retrievable, today:
1. Your approval documents.
→ LMIA-based hire: the LMIA and all its annexes.
→ LMIA-exempt hire: the offer of employment submitted through the IRCC employer portal.
Everything you promised in those documents is a binding condition. Inspectors compare your reality against them line by line.
2. Payroll that matches the promise.
Pay stubs, time sheets, and proof of hours and wages that align with what was approved. A raise for a Canadian colleague that quietly widened a wage gap, or unpaid overtime that crept in during a busy season, is exactly what inspectors find.
3. The employment agreement.
Signed, provided to the worker on or before their first day, and matching the occupation, wages, and conditions in your application.
4. Recruitment records.
If you needed an LMIA, keep the job ads, the postings, and the applicant summaries that showed you tried to hire Canadians first.
5. Proof of the extras.
Private health insurance until provincial coverage begins for low-wage workers. The government’s worker rights document, provided in the worker’s chosen official language. Housing and transportation records where required.
Not sure what’s missing from your file? Our immigration team can walk you through your record-keeping obligations before an inspector does.
