Overview

Intra Company Transfers (ICT) is an efficient mechanism designed to provide work-permits for specialized knowledge workers, managers, and executive team members. It falls under the International Mobility Program. The plan rests on the idea that a company having a subsidiary, parent, affiliate, associate, or branch in Canada wants to call one of its employees, who operates at a foreign but related entity in a foreign location, to come and work in Canada.The Intra Company Transfers program has been exempted from the Labour Market Impact Assessment process under paragraph R205(a) of the Exemption Code C12. Hence, as far as the business and the applicant filing for the Intra Company Transfer permit are both eligible and accepted for the program, the individual immigrating to Canada will be able to do so without going through the LMIA process. This can potentially expedite and streamline the process.

Eligibility Criteria

Both the company and the employee requesting the permit under an Intra Company Transfer have to be eligible for the program.

The role of a specialized knowledge worker, manager, and member of the executive team has been defined using the following definitions:

1.Specialized Knowledge Worker:

• The employee possesses proprietary knowledge or specialized knowledge that has been acquired by working for over 5 years with the company, its processes, and the industry it operates in.

2. Manager

• The individual is responsible for managing a department or a team, oversees the work produced by other professionals at the firm, has the capacity to operate with discretion on an everyday basis, and is endowed with the rights to recruit or terminate or recommend the recruitment or termination of an employee.

3. Executive

• The individual leads a function or department, sets its goals & strategic plans, has a wide decision-scope, and is supervised only by the board of directors, shareholders, or the senior management team.

Benefits

1.One of the fastest ways to get a Canadian work permit.

The ICT Program can unfold from application to acceptance or rejection in 2 to 10 weeks, making it one of the fastest programs of getting a Canadian work permit. Since the application involves an already established or registered business in Canada, the vetting process becomes easier.

2. Exemption from the LMIA step to expedite the process.

LMIA helps the Canadian authorities understand the human capital value-addition of having the applicant actively participate in the economy. Hence, the step can often be resource and time-consuming. Intra Company Transferees are exempted from the LMIA, making the process frictionless for most of the applicants.

3. Both long-term and short-term durations are acceptable, even with breaks.

The work-permit issued under the Intra Company Transfer plan is expected to last 12 months with renewal options available. Cumulatively, the program can help a professional stay in Canada for anywhere between 5 to 7 years with extensions on the higher end and at least 1 to 2 years on the lower end. The program also permits breaks or gaps in the period to a certain extent, using which the employee can visit economies outside Canada.

4. Open to almost all countries of origins along with CETA and NAFTA countries.

Employees coming whose country of origin or employment is listed under CETA or NAFTA are welcome under the ICT program. However, even the employees working in the countries not mentioned in any of the two major trade agreements are acceptable for the program.

5. Streamlined Route to Permanent Residence.

Post the Express Entry Program's launch in 2015, the accepted applicants of the Intra Company Transfers program who are residing in Canada have had a great chance of getting invited to apply for the Provincial Nomination Program and eventually become a naturalized Canadian citizen. This is possible because ICT applicants get to work in Canada and fulfill requirements to get a considerable CRS score.

Application Process

Aggregate the documents showing that a foreign citizen is working with a global enterprise on one of its locations outside Canada and is planning to work at the parent, subsidiary, branch, or associated company in Canada

Provide proof like payslips and the employment contract that provide sufficient evidence for proving that the employee has been working at the foreign business for at least 1 out of the last 3 years of her/his/their employment.

Create a structured plan for the employee to get absorbed in the Canadian entity as an executive, a functional manager, or a specialized knowledge worker along with the location of work, primary responsibilities, title, and other critical information. The plan must also include the tentative tenure of stay in Canada for the employee.

If the applicant is arriving as a specialized knowledge worker, the documents must also provide reasonable proof detailing the presence, acquisition, and deployment of such knowledge in a professional capacity.

Documents establishing the relationship between the foreign entity and the Canadian business must also be provided.

For startups and new businesses being established using the Intra Company Transfers program to transfer human capital, the Canadian authorities will also expect a strategic business plan to assess its viability.