Ravi Jain is the Principal at Jain Immigration Law. He was presented with the Diamond Jubilee Medal by command of Her Majesty the Queen in recognition of “significant contributions to Canada” and has been recognized in Chambers and Partners, The Canadian Lexpert Directory (in the highest category of “most frequently recommended”), Who’s Who Legal (as a “Thought Leader”) and Best Lawyers in Canada (as “2022 Lawyer of the Year”). He is certified by the Law Society of Ontario as a Specialist in Immigration Law and has been invited to address committees in both the Canadian Senate and Canada’s House of Commons on several occasions. He is a past President of the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association (www.cila.co) and Past National Chair of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) Immigration Law Section.
As many readers will know, the normal process when seeking to bring a foreign physician to Canada to work on a temporary basis is to first obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment (“LMIA”). This is done by recruiting appropriately on several different platforms for one month and then applying to our Department of Labour (also known as Service Canada or ESDC).
I have been advising the physician recruiter community and the immigration law bar of a way to skip this cumbersome process. At the Back to the Future Canadian Association of Physician Recruiters (CASPR) conference in April 2023, I gave a presentation relating to C10 Work Permits. These are work permits based on an submission that ‘significant benefits’ would accrue to a community in Canada therefore the LMIA process can be skipped. I made a similar presentation a few years later on January 23, 2025 in a webinar for the Canadian Immigration Lawyers Association: https://cila.co/events/practical-tips-strategies-for-c10-c11-c12-work-permits/.
Suffice it to say, word definitey got out that there was an alternative to the dreaded LMIA process. Some physician recruiters may do a simple math calculation in terms of government processing fees. It is $1,000 for the employer to apply for an LMIA and only $230 for the employer portal process relating to a significant benefits work permit. So the employer can save $770 and also several months of processing by the Department of Labour. Indeed, why do two application processes with two separate Canadian government department when one will do?
However, as I have been at pains to say in my presentations, the C10 significant benefit work permit should only be used in situations of dire emergency. If there is a small rural community with a single physician who is about to retire, there could be an argument to make. If an operating room will shut down without a new doctor coming in, and this can be substantiated letters from the Chief of the hospital, etc, then again, an argument can be made.
But there are several other considerations. If the doctor is driving in from the United States and is a US citizen, the inconvenience is perhaps not so great if they’re told they really do need that LMIA after all. (And I will often counsel starting the LMIA process concurrently just in case). But if the physician is coming from overseas and flying in with the family, I would be seriously worried about a possible refusal. Remember, this is a discretionary application. An officer can say no. In contrast, it is not the case that an officer would refuse a physician showing up at the border with a valid LMIA and a medical which the CBSA officer can clearly see has been done. That just does not happen (assuming no other inadmissibilities).
My concern is that hospital officials or physician recruiters who are paid commissions and are not directly employed by hospitals or municipalities, may inadvertently engage in activities that could be interpreted as unauthorized practice of immigration law. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. In fact, it is illegal to practice immigration law without a proper license. The Immigration Department (IRCC) regularly detects when this has occurred and they will send a letter asking the applicant if anyone assisted with their immigration application (in this case, a work permit). A physician would likely be forthcoming with this information and unbeknownst to them, they would be found inadmissible for using a representative without disclosing it. This is a form of misrepresentation in our legislation and can result in a five year bar.
IRPR section 10(2) states:
The application shall, unless otherwise provided by these Regulations,
(c.3) if the applicant has been advised, for consideration in connection with the application, by a person referred to in any of paragraphs 91(2)(a) to (c) of the Act, include the information referred to in paragraphs (c.1) and (c.2) with respect to that person;
(d) include a declaration that the information provided is complete and accurate.
The very serious penalties for advising on immigration law without a license are set out below in our Immigration and Refugee Protection Act:
ss. 91 (1) Subject to this section, no person shall knowingly, directly or indirectly, represent or advise a person for consideration — or offer to do so — in connection with the submission of an expression of interest under subsection 10.1(3) or a proceeding or application under this Act.
Persons who may represent or advise
(2) A person does not contravene subsection (1) if they are
(a) a lawyer who is a member in good standing of a law society of a province or a notary who is a member in good standing of the Chambre des notaires du Québec;
(b) any other member in good standing of a law society of a province or the Chambre des notaires du Québec, including a paralegal; or (c) a member in good standing of the College, as defined in section 2 of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act.
Penalties
(9) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable
(a) on conviction on indictment, to a fine of not more than $200,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years, or to both; or
(b) on summary conviction, to a fine of not more than $40,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-2.5/section-91.html
Are heavy fines and prison time really worth it?
In my view, the best form of representation involves hiring an immigration lawyer who has a great deal of experience working with physicians. There are certain issues that less experienced immigration lawyers may not be familiar with. Perhaps the physician has done a medical, but is it in the system? Those of us to decades of experience know to call contact at the border to see if the client is safe to travel to the port of entry for work permit issuance. We also ask about any criminality in case someone has a DUI. Perhaps a spouse is from a visa requiring country and applied for visas in the past and has refusals. Again, not disclosing this results in the five year bar. These are just some of the issues I have seen.
Moreover, lawyers have significantly greater training than immigration consultants. It’s not easy to get into law school in Canada, for instance. Typically the number of years in university total around seven: four years for a Bachelors and three years for a law degree. And then there is the typical articling (internship) year and bar admission exams.
While I do not regret sharing knowledge of the existence of the C10 work permit given I know it has been used in circumstances that entirely warrant it, as one can tell from the foregoing, I am concerned about non-lawyers ‘assisting’ in this area. Not only could physicians receive refusals and inconvenience, but also, the non-licensed person who assisted could be charged criminally, fined and jailed and sued for years of lost income by the doctor.