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What's new

Feature updates and data refreshes for LMIA Check.

May 26, 2026 · Pass 8
  • New: Knowledge & Prevention footer — 5-step accordion guide for foreign workers learning about LMIA fraud, fake job offers, and red flags. Each accordion is visually compact but fully expanded in HTML for search crawlers and AI scrapers. Topics: What is LMIA fraud?, How to spot fake offers (green/red comparison boxes), Common red flags checklist (10 items, color-coded by risk), Why employers get banned, Where to report fraud. Links directly to Service Canada, ESDC, Labour offices, IRCC, and police reporting channels.
  • New: PGWP-to-LMIA Progress Auditor — Interactive 3-step wizard for international students and PGWP holders verifying if their employer is genuinely processing an LMIA or just stringing them along. Step 1: Did you get a 7-digit LMIA file number? (red flag if no — "Your employer hasn't officially submitted"). Step 2: Was your job posted on Job Bank for 30+ days? (red flag if no — "Legally impossible without recruitment period"). Step 3: Unusual wage/title changes? (caution if yes — "Wage anomaly detected"). Results display with actionable next steps and direct links to verify with Service Canada. Entry card matches "Full offer check" green theme.
  • Placement: Auditor appears between "Browse all employers" card and Knowledge & Prevention footer — acts as a visual bridge from app utilities (top 60%) to reference content (bottom 40%). Red enforcement report card serves as the final "exclamation point" before transitioning to quiet reference content.
May 24, 2026 · Pass 6
  • New: Monthly enforcement reports now include an email signup — enter your address to get the report delivered to your inbox each month. New bans, expiring bans, provincial trends, free.
  • Reports page: email signup widget placed above the report list so it's the first thing visitors see — indigo card with a single email field and "Notify me" button. Confirms with a green success state on submit.
  • Infrastructure: new /api/monthly-subscribe endpoint stores emails in Supabase with deduplication — signing up twice with the same address silently succeeds without creating duplicates.
May 24, 2026 · Pass 5
  • UX: "Did you receive a job offer from this employer?" — RED results no longer assume the user is a victim. A two-path question replaces the immediate ESDC call button. "Yes, I got an offer" reveals the report button with clear guidance. "No, just checking" shows a calm green "You're protected" card instead of an alarm.
  • UX: Latest ban banner promoted above the fold — the most recently banned employer now appears between the activity ticker and the search form, visible on first load without scrolling. Previously buried below the search card, stats bar, and offer check CTA.
  • Design: Unified primary button colour — all submit buttons are now bg-gray-900 across the site. The /check form previously used red ("Run all checks") which alarmed users before anything had happened.
  • Design: /check feature cards redesigned as a 2-column tinted grid. Each check now has its own colour: LMIA records (blue), Banned employers (red), Fee detection (amber), Offer source (purple), Duration match (gray), Web presence (green). Previously six identical white rectangles.
  • Design: /check disclaimer replaced — removed border-l-4 left-border band, now an amber tinted card with an info icon. Consistent with Apple card language.
  • Design: Fraud banner slimmed to a single-line strip at half the previous height. Less aggressive, stays out of the way of the hero.
  • Design: Disabled button opacity raised from 40% to 60% — was reading as broken rather than inactive.
  • Design: Next steps on RED and YELLOW results now use numbered circles (1, 2, 3, 4) instead of ✕ icons. "Contact a licensed RCIC" no longer looks like an error state.
  • Mobile nav rewritten — fixed overflow bug and added active-state highlighting for current page.
  • text-balance applied to all h1 headlines sitewide for even line wrapping on mobile.
May 23, 2026 · Pass 4
  • New: Browse all banned employers at /banned — full searchable, filterable list of every employer found non-compliant by ESDC. Filter by province (13 options), status (currently banned / previously banned / all), and search by name. Paginated 50 per page. Click any row to see the full result. Linked from the homepage stats card, RecentlyBanned, and the latest-ban banner. Big value for foreign workers wanting to verify scale, researchers, and journalists
  • Homepage reorder: search card moved above stats and CTAs. Users who land on the site with an employer name in hand can now type immediately — the primary action is the first thing below the hero. Stats moved below, with the "Banned" tile linking to /banned
  • Design consistency: FAQ, About, and Spot LMIA Fraud pages now share the same gray-50 background, card-elevated style, and blue link color used on /results and /banned. Site no longer feels split between "polished" and "old" sections
  • Color: standardized red usage across content pages — red reserved only for warnings, phone numbers, and danger states. Underlined RCIC / report / generic links converted to blue (system link color)
May 23, 2026 · Pass 3
  • Polish: Cards now have a 1px hairline edge (ring-black/[0.04]) in addition to their shadow. Apple's actual cards have BOTH — pure-shadow cards look like blobs without definition. Combined with a refined multi-layer shadow (tight contact + soft ambient) so cards feel physical instead of computer-generated
  • Polish: Recently-banned employer list now uses human time-relative dates — "Banned 3 weeks ago", "Banned today", "Banned Mar 30" — instead of robot dates like "Banned Apr 30, 2026". iOS Mail / Messages style
  • Polish: External links across the site (canada.ca, ESDC, BuildCreditCanada, "Report fraud") now have a small ↗ arrow indicating they leave the site. Apple consistently marks external destinations
  • Polish: Replaced 🇨🇦 emoji with a properly-shaped designed maple-leaf SVG. Emoji renders differently on every operating system (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung); a designed mark is consistent everywhere. Same treatment in nav logo and hero badge
  • Polish: Replaced 🔢 emoji on the "LMIA number" link with a clean SVG number-pad icon
  • Accessibility: Bumped tertiary body copy from gray-400 (fails WCAG AA contrast at ~2.9:1 on white) to gray-500 (passes at ~4.6:1). Affects subtitles in How-it-works, Recently-banned rows, the LMIA-number link
  • Polish: Refined "New ban" banner — ring-based edge, animated pulsing dot (matching the data-freshness indicator), tighter color hierarchy
  • Polish: Hero typography responsive scale — text-3xl on phone, text-5xl on tablet+. Previous text-4xl was too aggressive at iPhone width
May 23, 2026 · Pass 2
  • New: Ready-to-send messages on banned-employer results — three pre-written templates (reply to a recruiter, report to Service Canada / ESDC, tell your family) auto-populate with the employer name and ban date. One-tap copy to clipboard. Users no longer have to figure out what to say to a fraudulent recruiter — professional words ready to send
  • New: Trust signal — "Updated [date] · Direct from canada.ca" now appears with a live green dot next to the search form on both the home and results pages. Shows users explicitly that data is current and where it comes from
  • New: Sticky condensed result header — when you scroll past the verdict on a result page, a thin frosted bar slides in at the top showing back arrow + risk dot + verdict + employer name. Matches iOS scroll-to-condense pattern
  • New: Loading skeleton on results page — instead of a blank flash while checking, users see a shimmer card with "Checking government records…" indicator
  • New: Improved empty state when visiting /results without a query — clean card with icon and a clear "Go to search" call-to-action instead of a sad line of text
  • Polish: Apple-tier typography — added SF Pro Display to the font stack, font-feature-settings for SF-style numerals, tabular-nums on stat numbers (so digits align across rows), tighter -0.02em tracking on display headlines
  • Polish: Subtle verdict entry animation — the result word (Banned / Verified / etc) fades and slides in over 360ms when the page loads. Respects prefers-reduced-motion
  • Polish: Stats card now shows real "This week" search count when data is available, instead of always showing the "Free / Always" placeholder
May 23, 2026
  • Redesign: full Apple-style UI overhaul across the site — every card now floats on a light gray background with no borders, status is communicated through a single large icon, and the result verdict ("Banned", "Verified", "Caution", "Not found") appears as a 48–56pt headline so the answer hits you first
  • Redesign: the "Government Violation Record" no longer reads like a database dump — it's now a single plain-English sentence (e.g. "On April 30, 2026, the Government of Canada found this employer non-compliant... A fine of $25,250 and a 1-year ban was issued"). The raw label/value record is still available behind a "View raw record" disclosure
  • Redesign: the "Found in government records" card on verified employers also rewritten as prose — "Sunrise Farms Limited was approved to hire 1 worker as Harvesting labourers (NOC 85101) in Ontario under Primary Agriculture..." instead of an Address/Province/Stream/NOC label grid
  • Redesign: banned-employer result page now has a full-width "Report this to ESDC · 1-800-367-5693" button as the single primary action, instead of burying the phone number in a small callout
  • Redesign: share zone consolidated — QR code and 4 social buttons (Copy link, WhatsApp, Facebook, Email) now live together in one card instead of two separate sections
  • Redesign: color discipline — red is now reserved only for actual warnings (fraud banner, the danger icon, ESDC phone number, banned status pill). The "Verify offer" button, primary CTAs, and hero text are now neutral black/gray so the eye lands on what actually matters
  • Redesign: fraud warning banner at the top of every page slimmed down to one line and made dismissable for the session — was previously a heavy 2-line bar that dominated every screen
  • Redesign: homepage hero scaled up — "Got a Canadian job offer? Check the employer first." is now a 48–56pt headline with a quieter gray accent, instead of small red text
May 17, 2026
  • New: Financial tools for newcomers — LMIA Check now links to buildcreditcanada.ca at 7 key touchpoints across the site. Foreign workers who verify a legitimate employer can immediately access free, bilingual tools to set up banking, plan their first paycheque, build Canadian credit, and find the cheapest way to send money home.
  • New: GREEN verified results now show a “Planning your move to Canada?” card with chip links to Banking Comparator, Money Transfer Calculator, and Spending Plan — shown on both the simple results page and as step 3 of the “What to do next” list.
  • New: Guide page now ends with an “After You Arrive: Financial Setup” section — 4 steps covering banking, budgeting, credit building, and remittances for newly arrived workers.
  • New: FAQ has a new “🏦 Life After LMIA: Financial Setup” section — 3 questions covering financial preparation, cheapest remittance options, and why your foreign credit score doesn't transfer to Canada.
  • Fix: Spot LMIA Fraud page subtitle changed from "9 red flags before you pay" to "9 red flags in any job offer" — employees never pay for an LMIA, the employer does. CTA updated from "Verify Before You Pay" to "Verify Before You Accept".
May 16, 2026
  • New: Wage benchmarking on the full offer check — if you enter a job title and offered wage, the tool now compares it against typical Canadian rates for 17 common LMIA occupations (sourced from StatsCan Job Bank). A $12/hr "restaurant manager" offer flags RED; a wage below the typical starting rate flags YELLOW with a link to the official Job Bank wage report
  • Improved: "Employer not found" result card now uses calm, accurate language — not being in the database is common (legal name, numbered company, new employer) and does not automatically mean the offer is fraudulent. The card directs users to the 5-step verification checklist below
  • Improved: "Employer not found" next steps replaced with 5 specific, ordered actions: find the legal/numbered company name, ask for the LMIA number, call Service Canada directly (1-800-367-5693), check the federal business registry, and a clear reminder that any fee request is illegal
  • New: "Have a job offer in hand?" prompt on the homepage — routes users who have received an offer into the full /check flow which analyzes fee, wage, delivery source, and duration in addition to the employer database check
May 11, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list re-synced from Canada.ca — 1,329 total records (5 new additions since May 5): Royal Paan (Surrey, BC), Cheema Agro Farms & Lands Development (Delta, BC), Les Entreprises Agricoles André Desroches Inc. (Abercorn, QC — banned until May 2027), Wildflower Greenhouse Ltd. (Surrey, BC), and AAI Canada (Trois-Rivières, QC)
May 5, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list re-synced from Canada.ca — 1,327 total records (1 new addition since May 4)
Apr 3, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list re-scraped from Canada.ca — 1,296 total records (2 new additions since Apr 1)
  • New: Result cards now show the employer name and check date — screenshot and share directly to WhatsApp so a friend or family member can see exactly what you found
  • New: QR code on every result page — scan or screenshot it, send via WhatsApp, and the recipient lands directly on the same result without typing anything
  • New: "Recently Banned" feed on the homepage — shows the 5 most recently banned employers pulled live from the database, each linking directly to their result
  • New: Latest ban callout banner between the hero and search form — shows the most recently banned employer at a glance so first-time visitors see real data immediately
  • New: April 2026 TFWP rule changes added to the Guide — advertising period doubled to 8 weeks, mandatory youth recruitment, rural low-wage cap raised temporarily to 15%
Apr 1, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list re-scraped from Canada.ca — 1,294 total records (32 more than original load of 1,262), including 5 new additions since Mar 24: Aumeir Printing and Design Ltd. (Kelowna, BC), Lumberjacks Diner (Roddickton, NL), Marché La Gazelle (Verdun, QC), ROCKY VIEW TIRES LTD (Calgary, AB — newly banned until Mar 2027), and Singapore Trucking Inc. (Calgary, AB — banned until Aug 2035)
Mar 30, 2026
  • Search fix: employer names with possessives (e.g. "Tim Horton's", "McDonald's") now match correctly — the possessive 's is stripped before matching so it no longer breaks trigram search
  • Search fix: accented characters in employer names (é, à, â, etc.) are now normalized — "Montréal" matches "Montreal" and French employer names resolve correctly regardless of how the accent is typed
  • Search fix: truncation fallback now applies to violator lookups as well as positive LMIA — typing "Afghan Chopan Kebab Restaurant" correctly finds "Afghan Chopan Kebab" on the non-compliant list
  • Search fix: city comparison is now accent- and punctuation-aware — "St. John's" matches "St Johns" and "Montréal" matches "Montreal" in location-filtered results
  • Search fix: employers with Permanent Resident Only stream LMIAs now correctly return a YELLOW warning (not GREEN) when province filtering is applied — previously they could bypass the PR-only stream check
  • Fix: search activity logging was missing for violator matches — RED and YELLOW results from the non-compliant list are now recorded correctly
  • Fix: data ingestion and sync scripts now normalize employer names identically to the search engine — possessives and diacritics are stripped at index time, ensuring stored values match what searches produce
Mar 27, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list re-synced live from Canada.ca — 1,294 records (5 newly added), including 1 newly banned employer: Rocky View Tires Ltd. (Calgary, AB — banned until Mar 2027)
  • Search fix: province filtering now works correctly — the DB stores full province names and the search was comparing against 2-letter codes, causing all province-filtered searches to incorrectly return a location mismatch warning
  • Search fix: compliant employer (positive LMIA) fallback search now checks both operating name and legal name — numbered companies like "1234567 Ontario Inc" are now found in both violators and positive LMIA lookups
  • Search fix: when multiple violation records match an employer, the most serious compliance status now takes precedence — previously only the first match was evaluated
  • Search fix: violation record shown on results page now always displays the most serious match first
  • Fix: address mismatch warning now clearly explains that a scammer may be impersonating a real employer rather than implying the employer simply doesn't exist in a given province
  • Fix: navigating to a search result now always scrolls to the top of the page — previously the browser would restore the previous scroll position, hiding the risk result
Mar 24, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list re-scraped from Canada.ca — 1,289 records confirmed current (no new additions since Mar 21)
Mar 21, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list re-scraped from Canada.ca — 1,289 records confirmed current (no new additions since Mar 18)
Mar 18, 2026
  • Data refresh: non-compliant employers list updated — 1,289 total records (27 new since Mar 7), including 3 newly banned employers: Clearport International Inc. (Calgary, AB), Sameet Kaur Gill Professional Corporation (Calgary, AB — 5-year ban until Mar 2031), and NPP Pleasant Software Producer Inc (North Vancouver, BC — banned until Mar 2027)
  • Removed employer trust checklist from results page
Mar 17, 2026
  • New: LMIA Guide at /guide — comprehensive educational resource explaining what LMIA is, who needs it, the 4-step work permit process (3–6 months), legitimate costs in CAD, and red flags to watch for. Helps foreign workers understand the journey from job offer to arrival in Canada.
Mar 15, 2026
  • New: "Is my LMIA real?" checker at /check — runs 7 checks on your job offer including employer records, fee detection, delivery source, and duration mismatch, with a plain-language traffic light result and shareable URL
Mar 14, 2026
  • Non-compliant employers list now syncs automatically every Monday — data stays current without manual intervention
  • Search now checks both trade name and legal name simultaneously — typing "2771482 Ontario Inc" finds the employer even if you only know the numbered company name
  • Violation records now show the matched employer name and legal name together on every result card
  • Added "Where do I find the name?" collapsible help tip on the search form — explains where to find the right employer name (offer letter, T4, pay stub) and how numbered companies work
  • Added crowdsourced name mapping: when a search returns no results, users can submit an alternate name they know for that employer — contributions are reviewed before going live
Mar 10, 2026
  • Fixed search returning "not found" for valid employers — partial name matching now works
  • Added smart autocomplete: typing a trade name (e.g. "Tim Hortons") now suggests the registered legal name
  • Added fraud warning banner on every page
  • Added employer trust checklist with 6 checks and a trust score meter on results page
  • Added numbered company guide on "not found" results
Mar 9, 2026
  • Added "How it works" section on home page — based on user feedback
  • Added feedback form on results page so users can report missing employers or errors
Mar 8, 2026
  • Site launched at lmiacheck.ca 🎉
  • Data loaded: 11,000+ approved employers from ESDC Q3 2025 data
  • Data loaded: 1,262 non-compliant employers tracked
  • GREEN / YELLOW / RED / GREY risk results live
  • Email notification signup live