Multinational companies often need to move key personnel into a Canadian parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate. This may include sending an executive to oversee Canadian operations, transferring a more senior manager to support business growth, or bringing a specialized employee to Canada to share proprietary knowledge, systems, products, or processes. These types of employees may be able to apply for an intra-company transferees (ICT) work permit.

The ICT work permit category can be helpful to multinational companies and their employees because the Canadian entity is not required to first obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to support the foreign national’s transfer to Canada and their work authorization application.

Normally, a Canadian employer seeking to hire a foreign national must obtain an LMIA, which is an employer-driven application that generally requires the company to show that there is a need for the foreign worker and that efforts have been made to recruit Canadians or permanent residents first.

However, some work permit categories are LMIA-exempt, such as the ICT work permit, meaning that employers can support a foreign national’s work permit application without first obtaining an LMIA.

The ICT work permit can therefore provide a more direct and often more efficient pathway to bring key personnel to Canada.

Which Employees May Qualify?

The ICT work permit category is not meant for every employee of a multinational company. It includes three types of workers:

• Executives – individuals who primarily direct the management of the enterprise, or a major component or function of the business.
• Managers – individuals who manage all or part of the business, supervise other managers or professional employees, or exercise significant authority within the organization.
• Specialized knowledge workers – individuals who have advanced expertise and proprietary knowledge of the company’s products, services, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other important business processes.

For example, if an overseas company with a Canadian parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate, was looking to transfer a junior hire with general experience to the Canadian entity, the employee would likely not qualify for the ICT work permit.

Important Considerations 

An ICT work permit application is highly fact specific. Before relying on this category, employers should carefully assess whether the corporate structure, the foreign national’s employment history, and the proposed Canadian role support the transfer.

Key considerations include:

1. Is there a qualifying relationship between a multinational company and the Canadian enterprise?

A multinational company is one that has a revenue generating business operations in a least one country other than its home country and that generates revenue beyond its borders. The existing business operations may already be established in Canada.

There will also need to be a corporate relationship between the foreign employer and the Canadian business. A qualifying relationship is one of a parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate relationship.

2. Is the Canadian position executive, senior managerial, or specialized knowledge?

Only key personnel from the foreign enterprise are eligible. And notably, when considering if an overseas employees can be classified in an executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge role, the job title will not be enough. The actual duties, reporting structure, decision-making authority, and business purpose of the transfer are all important, as are the wages being offered to the transferee. Although there is a mandatory wage floor for specialized knowledge workers only, it will be expected that wages are reasonable for executive and managerial transferees as well.

3. Has the foreign national worked for the foreign company in a similar position for a sufficient period of time?

In many cases, the applicant must have been employed by the foreign company on a full-time basis for at least one year within the previous three years.

4. Is the Canadian business actively operating or being established?

Where a company is transferring an employee to help establish a new Canadian office, additional evidence is normally required to show the business plan, premises, financial ability, staffing plans, and operational need for the transfer.

Intra-company transfers can be particularly useful where a foreign company is expanding into Canada. However, applications involving a new Canadian office often require careful preparation. Evidence will need to be included that the Canadian business is real, operationally viable, and capable of supporting the position.

It will also be important to explain why the duties must be performed in Canada, rather than remotely, and to provide evidence that the Canadian enterprise has a physical commercial presence.

The Employer Portal Step

Because ICT work permits are LMIA-exempt, the Canadian employer will need to submit an Offer of Employment through IRCC’s Employer Portal before the overseas employees applies for work authorization.

This Offer of Employment submission includes information about:

• the Canadian employer;
• the foreign worker;
• the job title and duties;
• wages and benefits;
• work location(s); and
• an explanation why the employee qualifies for this LMIA-exempt category.

The employer will also generally be required to pay the employer compliance fee unless a specific exemption applies.

Once the Employer Portal submission is completed, the employer receives an Offer of Employment “A” number, which the foreign worker will include in their work application.

Common Grounds for Refusals

The most frequent issues that surface with ICT applications include:

• unclear corporate relationships between the foreign and Canadian entities;
• generic job descriptions;
• insufficient evidence of executive or managerial authority, or specialized knowledge work;
• unclear business operations in Canada; and
• failure to properly complete the Employer Portal submission.

It is worth noting the high threshold for applicants seeking to transfer to the Canadian enterprise as a specialized knowledge worker. It is not enough to say that someone is “important” or “experienced.” To qualify for an ICT work permit as a specialized knowledge worker, the work application will need to include evidence of the foreign national’s advanced expertise and advanced proprietary knowledge. This means the application should explain what the person knows, why that knowledge is unusual or important within the overseas company, and why it is needed in Canada.

How We Can Help

If your company is considering transferring personnel to Canada, and/or perhaps establishing a new qualifying enterprise in Canada, Green & Spiegel’s Corporate Immigration team would be happy to advise on ICT eligibility criteria and important immigration considerations when establishing your business in Canada.

The Corporate Immigration Team assists multinational companies, Canadian employers, and foreign nationals with all types of Canadian work authorization applications, including intra-company transfers under the International Mobility Program (IMP) and international agreements. Contact us to discuss your situation and book a consultation.