The Intra-Company Transferee Program allows International Companies to send executive or senior manager level employee to Canada and work for their Canadian parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate.
If you qualify for the Intra-company transferee program, you will be eligible to apply for a work permit that is exempt from the strict requirements of a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA).
In order to be eligible to apply for a work permit under the Intra-company transferee program, you must meet the following requirements:
| Company requirement | Employment requirement | Position Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| You must be currently employed at the multi-national company |
You must have been employed on a continuous basis in a full-time position with the foreign company for a period of at least 1 year in the last 3 years preceding the date of your application. |
You must be employed in and being transferred to one of the following positions:
|
| You must be seeking a permit to work at a parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate of the foreign company located in Canada |
You must be offered full-time employment from the Canadian Company. |
Executive and Senior Managers
|
| The Canadian Company and the Foreign company must be legal entities. |
There must be an employer-employee relationship with the Canadian Company, whereby the Canadian Company should be able to order and control the performance of your work. |
Functional Managers
|
| Both the companies must be actively doing business, which means they must be continuously providing goods and services to the public. |
It is recommended that you are paid by the Canadian Company, however this is not mandatory. |
Specialized knowledge worker
Let YIC help you gather the necessary evidence to establish you have the necessary knowledge to |
| You must be able to transfer back to your employment with the foreign company at the end of your assignment in Canada. |
Business relationships based in the following arrangements are non-qualifying, for the purposes of ICT:
If you are not sure whether your business relationship with the Canadian company qualifies you for |
If you are not sure whether your job duties fall within one of these three classes of employees, get in touch with our immigration specialists, who have experience helping all sorts of applicants. |
| You must be offered employment at a legitimate and continuing establishment of the Canadian company |
This Program is also available to employers of start-up businesses. However, if the employer being transferred falls under the specialized knowledge category, the employer must secure physical premises for their operation in Canada. In all other cases, the employer is free to list their counsel’s address in their application, until a premise is secured.
As an employer of a start-up business you must demonstrate that:
Applicants who are successful under this program, can be granted a work permit of up to 3 years. If you are coming to Canada to establish a new business for your employer, you will only be issued a work permit for a year.
As an executive or manager, you are allowed to renew your work permit for a 2-year period at a time, as long as you don’t stay in Canada for longer than 7 years. As a specialized worker, you can similarly renew your work permit for a 2-year duration but are only allowed to remain in Canada for a maximum of 5 years.
You apply for this work permit online and your employer must submit a job offer on your behalf. If you are starting a new business in Canada, it is highly recommended that you submit a business plan with your application. We at YIC can help you gather all necessary documentation, assist you with drafting of all job-related documents and put together a strong application.
