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Prashant
Ajmera & Associates |
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New Canadian Intra-Company Transfer of Employees Similar to the US, Canada has a L-1 visa provision
that is known as Intra-Company Transfer of Employees. Before 28th
June 2002 (under the old Immigration regulations), only senior company
managers were allowed to come to Canada. The new immigration regulations
allow foreign companies to transfer managers as well as specialized
employees to Canada. Furthermore, foreign companies can open new
operations in Canada and transfer their executives.
This provision can be very useful for foreign
companies who wish to establish a presence in North America but have
failed to obtain a L-1 visa to USA. Low operating costs and greater
government benefits in Canada such as government loans, grants and
subsidies compared to USA can immensely benefit companies in the IT,
manufacturing and R& D industry. Intra-Company transfer allows foreign companies, who
are already operating in Canada or who plan to start new business
operations in Canada, to transfer certain key persons to their Canadian
operations. The transferee must meet the following requirements. i.
The person to be transferred to Canada must hold a
position as an Executive, Manager or Specialist in a qualified company
in the member nation. ii.
He must be working for the foreign company for a
period of at least one year. iii.
Managers and senior executives must be working as
Managers rather than performing their professional duties. iv.
Executive transferee must be performing the duty of
managing the company, establishing goals and policies for the company or
for its major components or functions and should have wide decision
making powers with little senior supervision. v.
Manager
transferee must be performing duties to direct the company and/or one of
its departments or sub divisions and supervise the work of other
supervisory, professional or managerial employees. He should have
discretionary power in the management of the company including the power
to hire and fire employees. vi.
Specialist transferees must have an advanced level of
expertise and proprietary knowledge of the company’s products,
services, research equipments, techniques or management. This type of
knowledge should not be available in Canada and his position should be
critical to the well being of the enterprise. vii.
Transferees do not need to apply for job validation
but must apply for employment authorization at the visa office abroad or
port of entry if no visitor visa is required. viii.
Length
of stay granted initially is one year with extension for another two
years, thus maximum for a period of three years. Requirements
for the company / employer: i.
The Canadian company and foreign company must have
affiliated, branch, parent or subsidiary relationship and must have
substantive business in both locations to support executive or
managerial functional personnel. a.
Affiliated relationship between two companies means
common ownership of the home based company and Canadian company by a
third entity or group of companies. b.
Branch relationship means the Canadian operation is an
operating division or office of the same organization housed in a
different location. c.
Parent relationship means a firm, corporation or other
legal entity, which has a subsidiary. d.
Subsidiary
relationship refers to a firm, corporation and other legal entity owned
directly or indirectly by a parent company. ii.
If the operation in Canada is new, it must show proof
that it is already established and can reasonably be expected to grow
large enough to a size that will need employees of senior levels. iii.
New operation must also show that it can reasonably be
expected to grow to be a substantive size with financial strength and
must be doing business regularly, systematically and continuously in
both countries. A mere virtual office in Canada will not qualify for
Intra-Company transfer. This
is an ideal provision for Indian and other Asian companies who wish to
expand their business beyond Asian markets. Starting new business
operations in Canada will not only save costs for the company (as
compared to the US) but will enable it to enter the Canadian and US
market at the same time.
For More
Information about Canada immigration Please Contact : |
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