Employer Portal and Canada Border Services Agency System Experiencing Technical Difficulties
December 8, 2015

Due to the following technical difficulties, employers should be prepared for work permit processing delays and foreign nationals can expect travel delays at Canadian airports:
- The Employer Portal, which employers must use to submit Offers of Employment for Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)-exempt foreign workers, has been down due to technical difficulties since December 4. There is no contingency plan for how Citizenship and Immigration Canada will accept or process work permit applications in the meantime.
- The Canada Border Services Agency is unable to process work permit applications due to technical difficulties.
What This Means for Employers and Foreign Nationals
Foreign nationals traveling to Canada should expect delays at airports and those who seek to obtain their work permits at an airport can expect to have to come back to obtain their work permits.
Employers should start preparing work permit applications well in advance of employees’ intended entry dates to avoid delays due to the current technical difficulties.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].
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