Intra Company Transfers is an open channel for international workers looking to move to Canada. The Intra Company Transfers Program can help you get a work permit for Canada in case there exists a parent company, subsidiary, branch, or affiliated company of the company you currently work for. Foreign Nationals are expected to have a work permit for Canada if they want to work in the country.
These Foreign Nationals who are highly skilled have the opportunity to work in Canada as Intra-Company Transferees. And if they are working somewhere outside Canada then they have a chance to attain a work permit devoid of LMIA and an option of transferring to a location related to the company within Canada.
Selected applications are approved and applicants can acquire a temporary work permit through the Intra Company Transfers Program.
Canada places a high value on the work experience obtained in Canada. Therefore, work experience in Canada under the Intra Company Transfers Program can be counted on for attaining permanent residency status in Canada.
Intra Company Transferees are very important as they can contribute economically to Canada’s labor market with their high-end skills and expertise. The country they belong to doesn’t matter. They can even help in getting the international staff as they don’t require LMIA (Labor Market Impact Assessment), which is a costly and tedious process. Excluding the LMIA makes the process easier, fast-paced, and cost-effective.
Different classifications under the Intra Company Transfers Program
There are three categories under the Intra Company Transfers Program which determine the eligibility for foreign workers interested in working in Canada. The categories are elaborated below:
Executive Level
The position of Executives primarily deals with the direction of management of an enterprise or organization. They also work in alignment with the goals of the organization and focus on the major component and functions of the organization. There are other high-level executives such board of directors, who generally supervise and assist them if and when required.
Managerial Level- Senior Managers
Senior Managers deal with the supervision of other employees at the managerial level and professionals. They have the authority to hire or reject employees.
Workers acquiring Specialized Knowledge
NAFTA covers this aspect of Specialized Knowledge in terms of Proprietary Knowledge and Advanced Expertise. Proprietary Knowledge demands expertise in company-related products and services whereas Advanced Expertise means an even higher level of expertise concerning the processes in the company or enterprise and demands a longer experience of say about 5 years.
Those workers who are transferred to Canada must have a full-time working experience of a minimum of 1 year.
What is the Work permit duration of the Intra Company Transfers to Canada?
IRCC has approved the work permit duration for 1 year, that is the initial work permit. These work permits can be renewed later on based on the following essential factors:
- There has to be an existing qualifying experience between the companies of Canada and other foreign companies.
- The new workplace has had the experience of continuously engaging with goods and services for the recent past year.
- The new workplace must have appropriate and proper staff recruited.
Intra Company Transferees- Process of Permanent Residency
The popularity of the Express Entry Program has certainly and visibly increased the chances of economic immigration to Canada. This immigration system is based on the Comprehensive Ranking System which calculates scores and the Intra Company Transferees looking for Permanent Residency status can also go ahead with the CRS points without LMIA. They can even enhance their CRS scores which in turn will also increase their chances of attaining permanent residency status with increased chances of receiving the invitation to apply (ITA).
Apart from the Express Entry, another way out for permanent residency status is the Provincial Nominee Program.
Once an Intra Company Transferee attains permanent residency, he is liable to attain Canadian Citizenship or become a Naturalized citizen in Canada.
Conclusion
On the whole, if an applicant qualifies all the factors under the eligibility criteria, he or she will be able to submit the work permit application devoid of LMIA.
You might be wondering about the location where these work permit applications need to be submitted. Well, this depends upon the country where the foreign national is residing or his citizenship. The applications need to be submitted to a suitable VAC (Visa Application Centre), Canadian Port of Entry (POE), or maybe online.
Several countries have collaborated with Canada and made trade agreements offering a wide range of alternatives to Intra Company Transferees.