Global mobility’s compliance blind spots are costing organizations
Greater visibility at the executive level is equally important. Kim uses the example of a travel ban enacted by Canada during a public health emergency in Africa from Ebola to illustrate how a mobility gap becomes a leadership crisis overnight. “If you don’t know where your people are, and if you have a facility in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then you need to know who’s there right now visiting, and that immediately becomes a C-suite issue, whether you like it or not.”
The model Kim advocates is cross-functional by design, integrating immigration, tax, travel management, technology and HR business partners into a unified framework. Organizations building cross-border workforce compliance frameworks that address immigration, tax, and travel risk, as well as balance global hiring with cross-border compliance obligations, are better placed to manage the dependencies that determine whether international moves succeed or stall, he says.
“Those things should be thought of at the front end of decision-making, not at the back end,” Kim says. “Be proactive about these things, increasing visibility within your own companies, having policies in place and game planning, crisis control – because more often than not, as we’ve seen with the wars going on in the Middle East and in Ukraine, there’s some more strategic planning that needs to be done and you cannot be reactive anymore.”
Canada’s regulatory reset and what it means for HR
Canada’s immigration system is itself in transition. Tighter temporary resident targets and the pending transfer of International Mobility Program (IMP) compliance oversight from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) signal a more enforcement-focused posture from Ottawa for employers navigating the process of hiring foreign workers.
Kim describes the recalibration that began in 2024 as “in spirit necessary” – a response to documented system fraud, housing shortages, and strained school capacity. But he warns that the recalibration must be carefully managed. “What we need to do as a country going forward is to think of things in a much more intentional and calculated manner, strategic,” he says.
