If I have an IT consulting firm that has hired employees of Work Permits to provide services to different clients would I need to reapply WP for each employee when I send him or her off to new client within Province. Facts: The skills of this person are same, type of work is same (say business analysis) and location (province) stays the same and employer (my firm) stays the same. ONLY change is it's new client of ours this person would work for.

Another twist is what if Province changes?

The general rule is that a work permit approval is project specific. Depending on the contracted duration of the project, therefore, the validity of the work permit could be as little as one day. When there is a new project, a new work permit would have to be sought, which would itself be valid for the duration of the project. However, if a contracted project is of a long duration that involves numerous short trips, a single work permit covering the entire duration of the project would allow for these multiple trips without further immigration documentation.

When multiple clients are involved, the same general rule applies. If a work permit is issued for client A, that work permit is not valid for work for client B. This applies regardless of the province in which the clients are based. There are exceptions and circumstances in which a single work permit could cover work for more than one client. For example, this could include a circumstance in which a LMO Confirmation is granted for a single trip involving work with more than one client.

Thanks David,

This was very helpful. Have you heard of any 'incidents' using the same WP for two clients? Just would like to know if it is a best practice or a law.

Thanks again!

It's not a matter of best practice. It is the law. Someone found to be working for an unauthorized Canadian employer can suffer serious consequences, including inadmissibility to Canada for a period of 2 years. If a Canadian company is found to be complicit in this, then that company can also suffer consequences under new, stiffer laws introduced April 1 2011.

Appreciate a quick response. Don't want to drag this topic but think I'm having fundamental challenge to understand who is the employer? To me, employer is us (IT Company) that's based out of Canada and hiring employees on WP to work for us on different projects with our clients. Our clients are not the employers, are they?

The parallel I draw is to say job of a plumber (or any industry that allows WP), if he is hired by a plumbing company on WP are we saying to do a job for every house that plumber has to get a new WP? Want to make sure I'm clear as a lot depend on it at my end. Sincerly appreciate your help.

For the purpose of my statement above, the Canadian employer refers to the beneficiary of the services in Canada, regardless of what entity is responsible for the direct remuneration of the foreign worker.

Thanks David!