International Relocation Documents Checklist: Validate the File

This article is for information only and is not legal advice. Regulatory references are accurate as of 4 October 2026 and describe Canada unless stated. Immigration rules change often: confirm against the official source before acting on an individual file.

An international relocation documents checklist lists the papers an employer must collect and check before an employee starts work in a new country: identity, permission to live and work, the employment contract and proof of qualifications. Each document must be valid on the start date, issued by the right body, and consistent with the others. This guide gives the checklist, the validation logic, and how the Canadian rules compare with the United Kingdom, the United States and France.

What belongs in an expatriate file?

An expatriate file has four core blocks (identity, work authorization, contract, credentials) plus a fifth for local registration. The table below is a starting point to adapt to the role and the province.

Ask only for what the role and the law justify. The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) applies to federally regulated employers, while most provincially regulated employers fall under provincial law: Quebec's Law 25 amendments, and the Personal Information Protection Acts in Alberta and British Columbia. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner publishes guidance on limiting collection.

How do you validate each document?

Validation is three checks: completeness, validity on the start date, and cross-document consistency. Completeness means every page and field is present and readable. Validity means dates, issuer and format are acceptable on the day the person starts. Consistency means the same name, date of birth and employer appear everywhere they should.

Most delays come from the third check: a passport reads "Oluwaseun Adeyemi-Clarke" while the contract omits the hyphen. Each gap needs a person to decide before the permit application, not after a refusal. A validation step compares fields and dates and flags the differences. It does not prove a document is authentic; it tells the reviewer where to look.

Our platform supports more than 3,200 document types and OCR in 24 languages across 32 jurisdictions, so the same comparison logic applies to any passport, degree or work permit.

Canada: work permits, LMIA and employer compliance

Canadian employers must hire only foreign nationals who hold valid authorization for the job, and they must keep records that prove it. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) issues work permits. An employer-specific permit names the employer, the position and often the location. An open work permit lets the holder work for almost any employer, so the file should record the permit conditions rather than assume them.

Two routes lead to an employer-specific permit:

• Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The employer first obtains a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). The Global Talent Stream is a faster LMIA-based stream for certain high-skill roles. The LMIA, job offer and permit must agree on employer, wage and duties.
• International Mobility Program. Roles that are LMIA-exempt skip the labour market test. The employer instead submits an offer of employment through the IRCC Employer Portal and pays the employer compliance fee, and the worker then applies with the offer of employment number.

Employer duties are set out in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. Employers must keep specified records, must be able to show that the working conditions match the offer, and can be inspected. Non-compliance can lead to administrative monetary penalties, bans from hiring foreign workers and, in serious cases, prosecution. Penalties can be substantial and change over time, so check the current schedule on canada.ca.

Quebec adds a layer. A foreign worker who will work in Quebec generally needs a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) issued by the ministry known as MIFI before the federal permit, and the Quebec immigration portal explains the sequence. A Montreal hire therefore has two approvals to match.

Local registration: SIN, payroll and banking

The Social Insurance Number and the TD1 forms are the local identifiers that connect the immigration file to payroll. Temporary residents receive a SIN that begins with 9, with an expiry date that matches the work permit. The Canada Revenue Agency sets the payroll rules, and the new employee completes the federal TD1 and a provincial TD1 form to determine tax withholding.

Banks follow a different rulebook. Under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, supervised by FINTRAC, a bank must verify identity using one of the prescribed methods, for example a government photo ID method or a credit file method. Newcomers often lack a Canadian credit history, so a valid passport and work permit carry the weight.

How does Canada compare with the UK, the US and France?

Each destination country sets the filing that must happen before or just after arrival, and that filing decides which documents you need.

How do you check a foreign credential in Canada?

A foreign degree is checked in two steps: confirm that the institution issued it, then establish what level it equals in Canada. The second is an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) from a designated organization such as World Education Services (WES), the International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICAS) or the International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS).

For regulated professions, such as engineering, nursing, teaching or the trades, the decision belongs to the provincial or territorial regulator, not to an ECA organization. The file should say which of the two applies. Certified translation and an apostille may also be needed.

Our guide to HR diploma and right-to-work verification covers the credential check in more detail, and the new hire document checklist covers the local-hire baseline that an expatriate file builds on.

What do HR teams and newcomers ask most?

The recurring questions are about order of operations, name mismatches and deadlines. Can the person start before the permit arrives? What if the surname differs between passport and degree? Who pays for the credential assessment and how long does it take?

The short answers: no, if the permit is required before work begins; submit a name-variation note and have it approved before the permit application; and the employer usually pays under the relocation policy, but allow several weeks for assessments and translations.

A last practical point concerns order. A digital file that validates each item on upload and flags permits and SINs expiring within 60 days is easier to defend in an inspection. For the wider map of industry file types, see the industry verification pillar guide, and for storage of personal data see the security page.

To run these checks on your own relocation files, start from the CheckFile solution for HR teams, which compares fields, dates and registers across the documents in a file, or see the pricing page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What documents do I need to relocate an employee to Canada?

You need proof of identity, a work permit or other authorization that allows this job, the signed contract or assignment letter, and credentials where the role or permit requires them. Add the LMIA or offer number, the Quebec CAQ, the SIN and the TD1 forms.

How long before the start date should the file be validated?

Complete the legal checks before the first day, and start the credential assessment, translation and apostille steps as early as possible because they often take weeks. Re-check the permit and SIN expiry dates 60 days before they end.

Does a Canadian employer need an LMIA for every foreign hire?

No. Many roles are LMIA-exempt under the International Mobility Program, in which case the employer submits an offer of employment through the IRCC Employer Portal. Others require a positive LMIA from ESDC.

Does validating a document prove it is genuine?

No. Validation compares dates, formats and fields across documents and against reference data, and highlights inconsistencies for a person to review. It complements the legally required check and does not replace it.

Is the checklist different for a short secondment?

The blocks are the same, but a secondment adds the assignment letter and the intra-company or social security documents that apply. Build the checklist by place of work.