doing business in canada - Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Temporary Entry and PermanentResidenceAnyone other than a citizen of Canada who wishes to work in Canada has two options: temporary entry orpermanent residence. Every applicant for admission to Canada must meet Canadian federal governmentrequirements. However, if it is contemplated that an applicant will be employed in or will reside permanently inQuébec, an applicant must satisfy Québec immigration criteria as well. In recent years, other provinces ofCanada have negotiated so-called "Provincial Nominee Programs" with the federal government. Theseprograms enable provinces to streamline the federal government's processing of the applications of workers andpermanent residents if provincial authorities are persuaded that a local employer's need for an applicant willyield economic benefit.The following discussion is intended to outline generally the rules facilitating the admission of business personsto Canada, as well as cross-border movement in North America under NAFTA, and among WTO member nationsunder the General Agreement on Trade in Services ("GATS").TEMPORARY ENTRYGENERALAny company carrying on business in Canada must assist employees who are neither permanent residents ofCanada nor Canadian citizens to obtain employment authorizations before they can be lawfully employed inCanada. In most cases, this is done by obtaining a job offer validation from a Human Resources and SocialDevelopment Canada ("HRSDC") office. In some cases, it will not be necessary to obtain a job offer validationfrom HRSDC. For example, senior management of a company can be admitted to Canada under the intracorporatetransfer policy, which does not require that a company obtain a job offer validation in respect of suchpersonnel.To obtain a validation of an employment offer the company, in most cases, would be required to satisfy Canadianauthorities that employment opportunities for Canadians will not be adversely affected if it employs the nonresident.This will entail convincing Canadian authorities that the company has attempted to hire Canadians forthat position and either no Canadian fulfilled the job requirements or no Canadian responded to the company'sadvertisement. However, HRSDC recognizes that there are some economic sectors in which shortages ofqualified Canadians are long-standing, and accordingly, companies seeking to hire such employees will not berequired to attempt to find qualified Canadians. For example, information technology workers in sevenspecialized categories can be admitted without the employer having to demonstrate that it has attempted toattract and hire Canadians.With a few exceptions described in the next paragraph, all persons who have obtained permission to worktemporarily in Canada will be issued an employment authorization document, commonly called a work permit, ata port of entry, upon their arrival in Canada. Employment authorizations are usually issued for an initial periodof six months to one year but may be extended for several years following the initial date of entry.Some people need not obtain an employment authorization: for example, diplomats, employees of a corporationwho come to a Canadian affiliate for less than 90 days for the purpose of consulting with other employees ofthe corporation and governmental, or business representatives who come to Canada to purchase or sell goodsfor that business or government for less than 90 days, provided they do not sell directly to the general public.68 Temporary Entry and Permanent Residence