What has to be true before you move anyone
An intra-company transfer is exempt from the labour market test, which makes it the fastest route into Canada for a business that already has one abroad. It is not exempt from scrutiny, and almost everything an officer examines sits on your side of the file rather than the employee's.
- The relationship is decided by ownership and control. The Canadian and foreign entities must be parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate. Ownership means the right of possession with full power and authority to control. Control means the right and authority to direct management and operations. A contract, a licensing arrangement, a franchise agreement, a supplier or client relationship, a small shareholding, a shared director or a consortium is expressly not a qualifying relationship, however close the commercial reality feels.
- Both businesses must be real, and stay real. Each must be doing business on a regular and systematic basis, continuously providing goods or services, for the whole of the intended stay. An agent or an office is not enough. An entity that exists in name only, without revenue, employees or commercial premises, does not qualify.
- One year full time, inside the previous three. Continuous employment with the enterprise abroad in a similar full time position, for at least a year in the three years immediately before the initial application. The instruction states that the year cannot be assembled out of part time work. Payroll or direct contract both count, and a contractor should be working only for the qualifying enterprise.
- The job abroad has to stay open. The transferee must be able to go back to their position at the end of the assignment. This is a condition of the category, not a courtesy, and it is documented in the letter of introduction.
- The occupation must match on both sides. The occupation in the offer of employment must be in the same capacity as the person's current occupation abroad. A promotion on arrival is a problem rather than a reward, because a transferee performing duties at a level other than the occupation on their permit puts both of you in breach.
- Significant benefit is the actual legal test. The exemption sits in paragraph 205(a) of the Regulations. Every applicant has to show that the work will generate significant economic, social or cultural benefits or opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the validity period of the permit being sought. The department describes these categories as supporting the movement of highly specialised workers, managers and executives for specific temporary business needs, and not as a means of transferring a general workforce.
The three categories, and what each one buys you
| Code | Who it covers | Initial permit | Renewals | Ceiling |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C61 Establishing a qualifying enterprise | An executive, a manager or a specialised knowledge employee sent to open a new branch, subsidiary or affiliate. The enterprise abroad must already be a multinational | Maximum 1 year | None under this code. One further 6 months only where the delay in becoming actively engaged was outside the applicant's or the employer's control, with evidence of premises secured, continuing effort and financial capacity | Counts towards the 7 year total |
| C62 Executives and managers | Executive capacity at TEER 0 or managerial capacity at TEER 1. The Canadian operation's size and structure must justify the function | Maximum 3 years | 2 year renewals | Total stay may not exceed 7 years |
| C63 Specialised knowledge | Advanced proprietary knowledge and an advanced level of expertise, both. No TEER requirement, though the department expects TEER 0, 1 or 2 and reviews anything lower in greater detail | Maximum 3 years | 2 year renewals | Total stay may not exceed 5 years |
The instruction states that the total period of stay as an intra-company transferee is strictly limited to seven years, and that this applies even where the person switches between the general provisions under paragraph 205(a) and a free trade agreement route under paragraph 204(a). Plan the exit at the start. A transferee who is going to stay is a permanent residence conversation, and it is cheaper to have it in year two than in year six.
The specialised knowledge category is the one most often misused, and the department says so. Both limbs have to be met. Skill in implementing an off the shelf product does not qualify unless the product is new or customised to the point of being a new product. If the knowledge can be picked up through a short period of in-house or on the job training, it is probably not specialised. And a transferee cannot be trained in Canada in a way that would displace a Canadian worker.
The start-up transfer, where most refusals happen
You cannot become a multinational by opening in Canada
To move someone in under C61 to establish a new Canadian enterprise, the enterprise abroad must already be a multinational with revenue generating business operations in at least two countries, being the country of incorporation and at least one other, before it establishes in Canada. The instruction states that an enterprise outside Canada cannot become a multinational by using this category to establish its first foreign enterprise here. A business trading only where it is incorporated is refused on that ground alone, whatever the quality of the rest of the file.
The same instruction closes the obvious workaround. A foreign national, or an immediate family member of one, who owns a controlling interest in the foreign enterprise and is coming to Canada to start a new business is not eligible unless the multinational test is met. The department directs those applicants to the business owner category for a temporary purpose instead.
- Four things beyond the general requirements. The employee must be at executive or management level or hold specialised knowledge. They must be entering to secure physical commercial premises for the new enterprise, and the business may use its counsel's address only until premises are bought or leased. They must bring reasonable human resources plans showing the Canadian entity will be large enough to support an executive, managerial or specialised knowledge function for the whole of the permit. And they must bring a business plan and financial documentation showing the enterprise abroad can fund both the set up and the ramp up.
- A timeline is required, not optional. The applicant must give a timeline and supporting evidence establishing when the new enterprise will begin doing business. Articles of incorporation, a business licence, a lease, profit and loss statements, corporate tax returns and a registered payroll account with the Canada Revenue Agency are the examples the department gives of evidence that an enterprise is actively engaged.
- One year, and then you move category. The expectation is that within the one year permit the enterprise becomes actively engaged in providing a good or service in Canada, and that the person then transitions to the executive and manager code or the specialised knowledge code for any extension. Build the extension application into the first year rather than treating it as a later problem.
- An extension under C61 needs extenuating circumstances. The instruction says an application to extend under this code should not be approved unless there are extenuating circumstances beyond the applicant's or the employer's control that delayed establishing the enterprise, and gives a delay in obtaining construction permits or approvals as its example. Where an officer accepts that, all other requirements still have to be met, and the extension available is six months.
- Moving into a different category has its own trap. A transferee can apply in a different intra-company category on extension, but only if they held one year in a similar full time position with the enterprise abroad inside the previous three years, and only if the position they hold abroad matches the new Canadian role. The department's own example is an employer that promoted someone to manager in Canada while the enterprise abroad continued to hold open a specialised knowledge position, which fails the at-level test.
No labour market test does not mean no obligations
The permit is employer specific. That single fact carries the whole of the employer compliance regime with it, and it surprises employers who assume the exemption from the labour market impact assessment is an exemption from something larger.
- You file the offer of employment and pay the compliance fee. In most cases the offer goes through the Employer Portal and the employer compliance fee is $230, unless the worker falls inside a published fee exemption. You get a seven digit offer of employment number, which the worker needs before they can apply. The fee is not simply spent. Under subsection 303.1(6) it is remitted and must be repaid to you if the work permit is refused, or if you withdraw the offer of employment and request a remission before the permit issues. The withdrawal remission has to be asked for, and asked for in time.
- The conditions in section 209.2 of the Regulations attach to you. Among them, that you remain actively engaged in the business, comply with the employment and recruitment laws of the province where the person works, provide employment in the same occupation as the offer with wages and working conditions substantially the same and not less favourable, make reasonable efforts to provide a workplace free of abuse, and give the worker the Government of Canada's information on their rights in their chosen official language on or before their first day.
- Six years of records. You must be able to demonstrate that the information you provided was accurate, and retain any document relating to compliance with those conditions. What the six years runs from is stated differently on two government pages, which is set out on our compliance page.
- A promotion or a duty change is a compliance event. The department's own example is that a person on a specialised knowledge permit cannot perform the duties of an executive or manager, and that doing so may result in both the employer and the worker being found non-compliant. Changing what someone actually does is not an internal decision here.
- Where more than one company is involved, one of you carries it. The employer that submitted the offer of employment is contacted, must provide the officer with all requested documents including those held by other employers involved, and is held accountable for any non-compliance. All the employers must still meet their responsibilities and all may be inspected.
The obligation side is the larger commercial risk and it is set out separately. Penalties run to $100,000 per violation and $1 million a year, bans run from one year to permanent, and the naming is public. What an inspection examines and what non-compliance costs.
Does this transfer qualify
A structured way to see where you stand against the published criteria. It returns an indication only, not an eligibility decision, not legal advice, and not a prediction that you will be invited.
Your situation
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