Intra Company Transfers

Intra Company Transfer (ICT) is a part of Canada’s International Mobility Program (IMP) and is a program used by various Canadian companies to get a temporary full-time work permit for their employees without the need for a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). A foreign national, working at an international location of his/her company may be able to get a work permit under ICT if the company also has an operational base set up in Canada and the company is willing to aid and support the employee’s move to Canada. Accordingly, entrepreneurs/business owners looking to explore business immigration can also potentially use ICT by creating a position for themselves in a Canadian business that they establish or invest in.

One of the most attractive aspects of ICT is the LMIA exemption which helps in bringing down the processing time for a work permit application thereby bringing down the time required for a company to move an employee into Canada. A successful work permit application under ICT can even be processed in as low as 2 weeks.

Prerequisites of the program:

• The applicant must have been employed by the same company (including subsidiary, affiliate, or branch) at a foreign location and he/she should have gained at least one year of full-time experience in a similar position with the company over the three years immediately preceding the date of application submission.
• Three kinds of company employees are eligible to use the ICT program to apply for Work permits in Canada, namely: Executives, Senior Managers, and Employees with “Specialized Knowledge”
• For all three categories of employees, evidence should be furnished as proof of the employee’s abilities to perform the tasks and duties involved. This can include proof of one’s education, past work experience, previous positions held in a company project, etc.
• If the Company is already established in Canada, then a physical workspace should already be setup
• In the case of a new startup, a blueprint for the company’s growth in Canada should be submitted along with proof of available funds required to fuel the company’s future plans which could include acquiring premises, hiring employees, buying machinery, and raw material, etc.

A work permit issued through an ICT is generally issued for a period of three years which can then be renewed in increments of two years. Employees with “Specialized Knowledge” can get a cumulative extension period of five years and Executives and Senior Managers can get extensions for a maximum of seven years.

After an employee avails of the cumulative maximum extensions available, he/she must complete one year of full-time employment outside Canada before re-applying for a work permit under the ICT program.

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