aml1982

Hello all,

So myself, my wife and our little boy are taking the plunge and moving back to Canada, this time for good (all being well). My wife has received a contract offer from the Canadian arm of her current employers (a global financial services company), who have specified a start date of on-or-after September 17th, and have not specified an end date. They will be putting us in contact with immigration lawyers once they have processed her acceptance of the contract, hopefully some time in the next week or two.

My questions revolve around the process and timescales involved. Technically my wife is eligible as an intra-company transferee (she has been employed by the same company since 2003 in either the UK or Canada, including the last year in Britain), which to my understanding is LMO exempt and thus is a quicker and arguably easier way to get the TWP. However, my understanding from what I have read is also that intra-company transfers must be "temporary", i.e have a fixed term, even though the worker isn't precluded from applying for PR and eventually making the move permanent.

Alternatively, if the contract does not specify an end date, then an LMO must be issued before a work permit will be approved, because the LMO will represent the end of the employment period, but can be time consuming and doesn't seem in fitting with wanting us out in Canada in 8 weeks.

Does anyone have any insight or comments on this? A friend of ours in Canada mentioned something about expedited LMOs for larger companies who have a positive record in hiring foreign workers, and also that some companies who hire highly skilled workers via extensive recruitment processes or who have global mobility programmes that would allow Canadians similar opportunities to go and work abroad can have "pre-approved" LMOs to hire TFWs. However, said friend is not an immigration expert and couldn't verify the source of these claims, just that he had heard about them.

It's possible I'm overthinking all this right now, and hopefully this all gets cleared up once we talk to the immigration lawyers, I'm just feeling a little uneasy because we're approaching the point where we need to give notice on our lease and start preparing our belongings to be shipped, etc.

Many thanks in advance

Andrew

Siphorous

Regarding expedited LMOs - there is the accelerated LMO which can be issued within 10 business days:

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Accele...Opinion-Canada

The link above links to the factsheet which explains the eligibility factors - one of the main ones being that the company must have been issued a positive LMO in the last two years.

As for pre-approved - in a nutshell, yes - they do exist but in terminology, slightly different.

See here for details:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/work/em...s.asp#approval

In short - the company gets pre-approval to recruit, recruits workers and then positive LMOs are issued for each recruited worker. Work permits still have to be applied for with the LMO.

As for the LMO and end dates there are a couple of dates to bear in mind:

LMO expiry date
LMO duration of employment.

See section 6, page 85/86 about this:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resourc...w/fw01-eng.pdf

In short, the expiry date is the date by which the LMO can be used to apply for a work permit.

The duration of employment is the period of work allowed to work. Say for example the LMO duration was 1 year. The work permit would be issued for 1 year (unless the passport expired before then).

I'll let you absorb section 6 onwards - explains these scenarios and a few more.

aml1982

Thanks v.much for that, Siphorous, certainly makes things a lot clearer. I think either of those scenarios might be possible in our case. The company my wife works for brings in upwards 50 TFWs each year into their Toronto office alone (and sends Canadians on secondments/transfers elsewhere), so I would expect that they would be the type of firm that would fit the criteria for expedited LMOs (as well as using LMO exemptions in many cases, as well). It's also possible given that number of foreign workers that they bring in from abroad that they might plan ahead and try and get LMO pre-approval.

One way or another, if they want us out there in 8 weeks, either they will have to have an LMO in place now or very quickly for the permanent terms on my wife's contract are to be met, or otherwise they would have to re-classify it as a fixed-term contract to bypass LMO altogether. Sound right?

Siphorous

Did you find out any more? e.g. whether the company you mention is eligible for Accelerated LMOs or has applied (and been successful) for pre-approval?

If they want you out there in 8 weeks, it's unlikely to happen given the timescales unless they are eligible for the Accelerated LMO or have pre-approval. If they have to go down the normal LMO application route - that could and probably would take longer.

I wish you the best in your endeavours though!

aml1982

Hi, Siphorous. My wife has a phone call with her company's immigration lawyers this afternoon. Hopefully we get some clarity at that point

Former Lancastrian

Inta Company Transferees are LMO Exempt so no LMO needed.
IRPA Reg 205(a). Work Permit is still required.
Qualified intra-company transferees require work permits and are LMO exempt under R205(a), C12, as they provide significant economic benefit to Canada through the transfer of their expertise to Canadian businesses. This applies to foreign nationals from any country, including under the GATS.

Normally Intra Co Transferees come in on a contract for X amount of time.
See page 62 to 73 of this link. Maximum time allowed is 5 years or 7 years.
Duration of stay:
Executives and Managers: initial maximum three years, unless office start-up (one year); two-year renewals allowable; total period of stay may not
exceed seven years.
Specialized knowledge workers: initial maximum three years, unless office start-up (one year); two-year renewals allowable; total period of stay
may not exceed five years.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resourc...w/fw01-eng.pdf

Siphorous

Keep us updated!

Also, FL is correct on the LMO exemption - I got hooked on "LMO" and should have read your original post more thoroughly. Apologies

aml1982

Hi, Siphorous, FL,

Just spoke to the wife, who had just gotten off the phone to the immigration lawyers. Confirmed that her contract offer is open-ended, and as such they will be getting an LMO for her rather than going down the intra-company transferee route. Their anticipation based on current processing times and their own experience and procedures is that it will take 4 weeks to get the LMO, after which (if I understood this correctly, our chat was brief because she had to get back to work), they will apply for an advanced decision on a work permit, although the work permit itself will be processed upon our arrival at the port of entry. That, they said, should take another two weeks or so. Sounds very tight given that it's now just under 8 weeks until her proposed start date, but I guess we just have to put our trust in them and hope it turns out ok.

Former Lancastrian

Not wishing to rain on the parade but open ended contracts do not always fly with HRSDC/CIC or CBSA. If here temporarily they need an end date.
Ive yet to see an open ended LMO without a specified time frame ie 6, 12, 18months.
I see what they are trying to do but depending what they submit to HRSDC they might end up having the LMO refused.

aml1982

Hmmm, not sure about what they are submitting. I know they are applying for a three year LMO, although the job itself is ongoing, i.e if at the end of the three years they couldn't get another LMO for a renewal, they would have to find someone else to fill the position.

Former Lancastrian

So the LMO has an end date then the 3 years. Sure it can be extended providing they get another positive LMO.

aml1982

Yes. Sorry, think I was confusing people. My wife's official contract with her employer is open-ended, given that the position she is filling will continue to exist whether she is in it or not (so basically it's a standard contract of employment). However the LMO they are applying for in order to get her a work permit will be for three years.

The employment contract was what led to my original queries my first post, because last week it appeared like they were going to bring her over as an intra-company transferee, which as I assumed (and you kindly confirmed), has to be a fixed-term contract because it is LMO exempt.

Hopefully we can get PR sorted asap, so won't need to get an extension on the first LMO.

CanadaJimmy

Something to consider is that LMOs now take 2-3 months to process due to recent more rigorous checking requirements, and government cutbacks. The LMO will also have to have an end date that might not be what you asked for - even if you ask for 3 years, it is likely you will only get a 1 year permit due to these changes which has made everything a lot less generous.

I would reconsider the intra-company route unless you have a good reason to avoid it, since the Intra-Company work permit is more likely to have a longer term (though I have limited knowledge on this - based on what I've read elsewhere). The only downside is an Intra-Company work permit is not HRSDC approved, so you wouldn't be able to apply for PR with that alone, you would have to get the company to apply for an AEO (Arranged employment opinion) and once you had that you could apply for PR under Federal Skilled Worker.

aml1982

Funny you should say that.....

My wife just got off the phone with the HR folk out in Canada, who told her they are going to have to change her move to an intra-company transferee because they don't feel they would meet the requirements for an LMO. Cue added stress for us, although we're going to be talking to the immigration lawyers tonight who will hopefully answer any questions and ease our minds.

In the meantime, quick question - I know to qualify for an ICT move, you have to have worked for a foreign arm of the Canadian company for at least one year in the previous three. Technically my wife hasn't reached that year yet (she will at the end of the month) - can you apply for the advance TWP opinion ahead of that year marker, knowing that the year threshold will be reached before the move is due to occur that you will be able to evidence that employment at the border?

Edit- also, unless I am misunderstanding, I was under the impression (from the CIC website) that if a job was LMO exempt at the time of a TWP application, and the company offered to make it permanent as part of a PR application, that they didn't need an HRSDC decision?

Former Lancastrian

Here are some more raindrops.
What is your position/job title.
Do you qualify as an Intra Co Transferee in the categories mentioned those being Executive, Managers or Specialized Knowledge?
Read pages 62 to 74 of this link

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resourc...w/fw01-eng.pdf