British Expats - Tax under a TWP + EE/CEC eligibility

Hi everyone,

I'm in what is probably a fairly niche situation so I was hoping I might be able to get some advice. First just want to say I have lurked here for a long time before making the account and the info I have found here has been extremely useful, so thanks everyone!

Context: I am an early-career academic (currently living and working outside of academia in the north of England) and recently won a grant for a post-doctoral research project with a UK university. The idea of the grant is that you spend two years somewhere outside of Europe at an institution with world class credentials in your field and then a final year back at the UK institution where you finish the project and spread the knowledge you gained from the institution outside of Europe.

In my case this means I will be based in Vancouver for two years from February and then back to the north of England for a year. I have a work permit for myself and my partner currently working its way through IRCC based on an 'offer of employment' from the Canadian university which has no salary/benefits etc. attached to it as I am funded externally. It's a bit weird but from what I've seen is pretty standard practice for externally funded post-doctoral positions in Canada for international candidates like myself. Through this three year period I will be getting a salary from the UK university - they won't send it via the Canadian university (I tried), it has to be paid by them.

I would prefer to pay tax in Canada as I will be living/working there rather than the UK. I am aware there is a treaty and you need to apply to HMRC to stop the PAYE stuff in the UK etc. I am also aware that the advice that is generally given is charge the UK company as a freelancer/consultant. The university has made clear this is not an option but have said if I apply to HMRC to stop the PAYE/NI then that's fine but also they will top up my salary with the money they would have used to pay employer NI contributions as it all comes from the living allowance part of my funding. However, in researching all this stuff I've seen people saying that the UK employer has to register with the Canadian tax authorities - presumably to make payments for the Canadian equivalent of national insurance - I can't remember the name of it right now. Basically is this even worth it? I have no idea what registering with the Canadian tax authorities would entail or whether the university would even agree to do it. Or should I give up and just accept the UK PAYE/NI deductions and declare as foreign income exempt from tax under the double taxation treaty?

EDIT: I have moved the EE/CEC part of this post to Immigration & Citizenship forum as per the mods request.
https://britishexpats.com/forum/immi...ce-cec-934075/

Thanks in advance!