Employer Fines Double to $10.2M as TFWP Non-Compliance Climbs to 12%
ESDC found 12% of 1,488 inspected employers non-compliant in 2025-2026, up from 10%, while fines more than doubled to $10.2 million amid a sustained TFWP crackdown.
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Key Takeaways
- Employer non-compliance in the TFWP rose to 12% of 1,488 inspections in 2025-2026, up from 10% a year earlier.
- Employer fines more than doubled to $10.2 million, from $4.5 million.
- The findings follow a sustained tightening of the program since 2024, alongside sharply lower admissions.
A larger share of employers are breaking the rules of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Of 1,488 compliance inspections completed between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, 12% of employers were found non-compliant — up from 10% in 2024-2025 — according to a July 9, 2026 release from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).
Fines more than double
Over the same period, employer fines climbed to $10.2 million from $4.5 million. Penalties were issued for violations spanning workplace health and safety, employment-standards legislation, and job-offer integrity. ESDC restated the government's position that the TFWP — under scrutiny amid rising unemployment — should serve only as "a last resort option for employers who cannot find qualified Canadians and permanent residents to fill job vacancies."
Every TFWP work permit and renewal must be authorized by ESDC, which issues a positive or neutral Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) once satisfied that hiring a foreign worker should not harm the domestic labour market.
Part of a broader crackdown
The release is ESDC's latest report since it tightened compliance in 2024 — the same year it introduced an annual admissions target for temporary residents and a moratorium on low-wage LMIAs in higher-unemployment regions. A role falls under the low-wage stream if it pays less than 120% of the regional median: $36 per hour in Alberta or Ontario as of writing. Earlier this year, the government began requiring LMIAs to show youth-recruitment efforts and doubled the minimum advertising period from four to eight weeks, while officers must now apply stricter standards to high-risk sectors.
At last September's Liberal caucus, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the TFWP "must have a focused approach that targets specific, strategic sectors, and needs in specific regions." In March, Ottawa approved an expansion of the low-wage stream in rural areas: within participating provinces and territories, rural employers across all sectors can now hire foreign workers for up to 15% of their workforce, up from 10%.
Admissions down sharply
This year's TFWP admissions have more than halved against 2024 — from 31,565 to 14,655 for January through April, the most recent data available. The 2026 admissions target is 60,000, about a quarter of the top-line goal of 230,000 worker admissions. The remaining 170,000 are earmarked for the International Mobility Program (IMP), which does not require an LMIA and operates under a mandate that includes cultural development. IMP admissions have fallen 69% this year versus 2024, from 142,805 to 43,705.
What This Means for Applicants: Rising fines and stricter inspections signal that employers sponsoring foreign workers face real scrutiny — so workers should confirm their prospective employer's LMIA and job offer are fully compliant before relying on them. With admissions cut sharply and enforcement intensifying, LMIA-supported roles are becoming scarcer and the paperwork behind them more consequential.
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