OINP Penalties: Ontario Publishes the Names of People Caught Giving False Information

Your name, on a public list

You paid someone to handle your Ontario nomination. They filed the application, and somewhere in it a job, a date or a credential was not what it seemed. Months later, the OINP refuses the application — and then your name, or your employer’s name, or your representative’s name, appears on a public list on ontario.ca, next to the penalty imposed.

That is not a hypothetical. In an update published November 9, 2026, the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) announced it has updated the names of individuals, employers and representatives who have had an administrative monetary penalty or a banning order imposed against them for contravening the Ontario Immigration Act, 2015. Ontario’s message is direct: information given to the OINP must be accurate, correct and not misleading — and publishing the contraventions is, in its words, an important measure to protect the public and further strengthen the integrity of the program.

This post explains what the list is, what the penalties are, what counts as a contravention, and what you need to do to stay off it.

What Ontario published

The OINP keeps a public table of contraventions resulting in an administrative monetary penalty and/or a banning order. For each entry it shows the name of the business or individual penalised, whether they were an employer, an applicant or a representative, the licence number of the immigration consultant or lawyer where applicable, the date the order was issued, the contravention, and the enforcement action taken.

This is a name-and-shame measure by design. The list exists so that future applicants, employers and representatives can see who has been caught — and so that anyone considering cutting corners knows the consequence is public, not private.

OINP penalties: the fines

The financial penalty is an administrative monetary penalty, known as an AMP. If you are subject to an AMP, you must pay it to the Minister of Finance within 60 days of being served. The amount cannot exceed $150,000 for each contravention in the order.

The amount is calculated under section 21 of Ontario Regulation 422/17. For contraventions on or after July 1, 2024, the formula is (A × B × C) + D, where:

• A is $10,000 if the person is an employer, representative or recruiter, or if they acquired a financial benefit from the contravention — and $2,000 in any other case;
• B is the number of administrative penalties imposed against the person in the previous 10 years, or 1 if there were none;
• C is the number of applicants involved, or 1 if only one; and
• D is the money the person received in connection with the contravention.

In plain terms: the fine grows with each repeat offence, with each additional applicant affected, and with whatever money was made from the misconduct. An employer or representative who charged fees for a false application faces the $10,000 base figure, multiplied up — and the money they took is added on top.

OINP penalties: the bans

The other penalty is a ban. The director of the Act can ban an individual or organisation from applying to the OINP or acting as a representative.

For contraventions before December 19, 2024, a banned applicant, employer or representative cannot participate in the OINP for up to five years. For contraventions on or after December 19, 2024, representatives may be banned for a minimum of 3 years and a maximum of 10 years — and permanently, if they were convicted of an offence under the Ontario Immigration Act, the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, the Criminal Code (Canada), or the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) while acting as a representative.

During a ban, applicants and employers cannot apply to the OINP, and representatives cannot advise or assist anyone in relation to an OINP application. A ban is not a pause on one file — it is a lockout from the whole program.

Beyond the fine and the ban, false information can also mean denial of the application, cancellation of any related approvals, and prosecution under the Provincial Offences Act.

What counts as a contravention

The published list shows the reasons orders have been issued. The common ones are:

• A representative failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure the information in the application was accurate, correct, not misleading, and did not reasonably lead to an error in administering the Act. This is the duty under subsection 5(2) of Ontario Regulation 421/17 — and it is the one that catches representatives who file without checking.
• An employer or applicant gave information that was not accurate, correct and not misleading — the duty under subsection 5(1) of the same regulation.
• Someone ignored a disclosure letter — failing to provide information required under a letter issued under section 15 of the Act.
• An unauthorised person acted as a representative — knowingly acting as a representative, or offering to do so, without being authorised under the Law Society Act, licensed and in good standing as an immigration consultant under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act (Canada), or otherwise prescribed. This is the ghost-consultant offence.
• Conditions of an approval were breached — failing to comply with the conditions and restrictions attached to an approval, under subsection 17(2) of the Act.

Notice what is missing from that list: intent. Like federal misrepresentation, the Ontario rules do not ask whether you meant to deceive. They ask whether the information was accurate, correct and not misleading — and whether your representative made reasonable efforts to make sure it was.

The 30-day trap

There is a second change that makes these penalties harder to escape. Under regulatory amendments that came into force on June 25, 2026, the OINP reduced the response time for people issued a Notice of Intent to Issue an Administrative Monetary Penalty or Ban order from 60 days to 30 days. Notices of contravention can now be sent by email, mail or in person — and are deemed delivered, without the OINP needing proof you received them.

Thirty days to respond to a notice that may have arrived by email, with a fine of up to $150,000 per contravention and a ban of up to 10 years at stake, is not a deadline to discover late. If you receive anything from the OINP about a contravention, treat it as urgent and get advice immediately.

The federal picture is the same direction

Ontario is not acting alone. Federally, IRCC’s representative penalties came into force on October 28, 2026: $5,000 for unauthorised paid representation, $15,000 for false or misleading information, and up to $1.5 million for repeat violations, with a registry of penalised names expected in 2027. And at the federal level, misrepresentation under section 40 of IRPA carries a five-year bar — as we explained in our post on how an innocent mistake can cost you five years.

The pattern is consistent across both levels of government: the enforcement is public, the penalties are severe, and the representative’s duty to check the file is now written into the rules in a way that leaves little room for “I didn’t know.”

What to do

If you are applying to the OINP, or your employer is sponsoring you, four things protect you:

• Check your representative. Before anyone files for you, confirm they are licensed and in good standing — a lawyer under the Law Society Act, or an immigration consultant on the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants register. An unauthorised representative is itself a contravention, and their mistakes land on your file.
• Read what is filed. You are responsible for everything in your application, even if a representative completed it. Read the final version against your own documents before it is submitted — every date, every job title, every credential.
• Update the OINP promptly if anything changes. If information in your application changes after you submit it, you must tell the OINP promptly. Staying silent can itself be treated as withholding a material fact.
• Act fast on any notice. If you receive a Notice of Intent to Issue an AMP or Ban order, you have 30 days. Do not wait to see if it goes away — it will not, and the notice is deemed delivered even if you never saw the email.

If you suspect an individual, employer or representative is providing inaccurate, incorrect or misleading information to the OINP, Ontario asks you to report it by email to programintegrityteam@ontario.ca, with names, locations and the reasons for your suspicion.

The practical takeaway

Ontario’s November 9 update is short, but its meaning is not. The province is publishing the names of people fined or banned for false information in OINP applications — with fines of up to $150,000 per contravention, bans of up to 10 years for representatives, and only 30 days to answer a notice that is deemed delivered by email. The duty falls on everyone in the file: the applicant, the employer, and the representative who is supposed to have checked it.

If you are in an OINP process, the cheapest protection is the simplest one: a licensed representative, a file you have read yourself, and information that is accurate, correct and not misleading. And if you have received a notice from the OINP, or you are worried about something already filed, get advice before the 30 days run out. Read our guide on whether to appeal or seek judicial review after a refusal.

How VG Immigration Services can help

If you are applying through the OINP, have received a notice about a contravention, or want your file checked before it is submitted, book a consultation at vgis.ca or message us on WhatsApp at 416-578-9269. As a licensed RCIC-IRB practice, we will review what was filed, help you correct it properly, and respond to the OINP before a penalty is imposed.

This post is general information only and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts, and whether information amounts to a contravention depends on the specific facts and the law in force when the decision is made.