Do I need work permit if I am not employed by Canadian company?

[skilia]

Hello,
I am software developer. I am going to visit Canada for approximately 2 months. The main purpose of this visit is several business meetings with partners and clients of my employer. But in between of the meetings I will continue working on my company projects. I will receive my salary and I will pay my taxes in my home country while I am in Canada.
Do I need work permit in this case?

 

[canuck78]

Hello,
I am software developer. I am going to visit Canada for approximately 2 months. The main purpose of this visit is several business meetings with partners and clients of my employer. But in between of the meetings I will continue working on my company projects. I will receive my salary and I will pay my taxes in my home country while I am in Canada.
Do I need work permit in this case?

Do you have a business visa?

 

[skilia]

Do you have a business visa?

Not yet. I am applying for a temporary visitor visa with the main purpose of the travel is business. I am just wondering if I need to apply for work permit.

 

[scylla]

Not yet. I am applying for a temporary visitor visa with the main purpose of the travel is business. I am just wondering if I need to apply for work permit.

It depends. If you are going to be working for or doing any work towards projects for clients who are in Canada or who are Canadian - then yes. Otherwise no.

 

[skilia]

It depends. If you are going to be working for or doing any work towards projects for clients who are in Canada or who are Canadian - then yes. Otherwise no.

Thank you for your reply. To ensure that I understood you correctly, here is a simple example:
1. I write code for several software projects
2. My employer pays me for this work
3. My employer sells this software to his clients, who are in Canada (and many other countries).
So, my projects are for my employers' clients, some of which are in Canada. In this case I need to apply for work permit. Is that correct?

 

[scylla]

Thank you for your reply. To ensure that I understood you correctly, here is a simple example:
1. I write code for several software projects
2. My employer pays me for this work
3. My employer sells this software to his clients, who are in Canada (and many other countries).
So, my projects are for my employers' clients, some of which are in Canada. In this case I need to apply for work permit. Is that correct?

Yes - you would need a work permit in order to work from Canada. However it's not realistic to think that you will be able to get a work permit. So unfortunately you'll need to change your plans and not do this work from Canada.

 

[Rayan75]

I don't think you need a work permit., you ara a Business Visitor.

Business Visitor
Before you jump onto this bandwagon make sure you know what a business visitor is. Business visitors must visit Canada for official business purposes on behalf of their employer without entering the Canadian labour market. A business visitor’s place of work and the source of his or her income must both be located outside of Canada.

This is because you mentioned that 1) You will work for your company which is located in your home country, therefore, the job is done purely with your company. 2)Your income isn't paid in CDN nor does it credited to a Canadian bank account. 3) Your work in Canada consists of 'meetings' with perspective clients only.
The fact that your employer 'sells' your software to clients in Canada has nothing to do with your job; "Selling" is different than "making". You should not sell them , and you are not involved with clients in Canada in anyway other than 'meetings'.
For example, if you start to document your meetings to come up with official requirements document, that's work, and that needs a WP. So make sure your 'meetings' are merely meetings and you're not involved in Business Analysts or any job related responsibility. Once you fall under a job responsibility with Canadian clients, you MUST acquire a WP.


As long as you're not 'selling' your software by yourself, and you're not elicitation software requirements to transfer them to your making work, you should be fine.


I think you should first list ALL your tasks in details, and the outcome/output of each task to determine whether you need a WP or not.

 

[skilia]

Thank you for your responses.
Here is more details.
1. Going abroad while working is a benefit package from my employer. Our company is quite young, so I am the first one to try it.
2. Our product consists of software and hardware. Our clients are other companies.
3. My tasks:
- meet our clients. Meetings may include training for clients staff, verifying that the product works properly, fixing problems if any was found. Everything mentioned here is a part of warranty service which is included with the product purchase. If I wasn't going to Canada, we would just use videocalls and emails for this purpose. Outcome of this task - good customer relationship, good company image.
- write code for projects I am involved in. Clients do not participate in this case. All requirements and documentation goes from within the company. Outcome of this task - new better software, new features, and so on.

 

[scylla]

3. My tasks:
- meet our clients. Meetings may include training for clients staff, verifying that the product works properly, fixing problems if any was found. Everything mentioned here is a part of warranty service which is included with the product purchase. If I wasn't going to Canada, we would just use videocalls and emails for this purpose. Outcome of this task - good customer relationship, good company image.

You can do all of the above as a business visitor. No need for a work permit.

- write code for projects I am involved in. Clients do not participate in this case. All requirements and documentation goes from within the company. Outcome of this task - new better software, new features, and so on.

This requires a work permit. You cannot engaged in the above work in Canada without a work permit.

 

[skilia]

Thank you for your explanation.
I am a bit confused with this one:

This requires a work permit. You cannot engaged in the above work in Canada without a work permit

How does it work in case of freelancers? For me this case looks exactly the same if I was on a vacation and was doing freelance projects for clients from my country. As I don't have any work or financial relationships with Canadians.

 

[Rayan75]

I think you are not being clear enough, you're not helping yourself. You must be very clear and explicit in your intention( this is not for me, this is for CIC officers and your visa approval). When I said list all the output/outocmes I mean literally the documents and piece of work that will be produced as a result of your contribution.

These documents if you have any input in them, then YES A WP IS REQUIRED.

(doesn't matter who creates them could be you or someone in your company).

If meetings can be done online/remotely I suppose your company should not pursue sending someone for such business task unless it involves additional work not explicitly stated.

Judging from your listed tasks, I now agree with @scylla, you must acquire a work permit otherwise you could be in real trouble.

 

[Bs65]

There are extracts of this here but here is the official link where under the type of activities crossing over to anything 'hands on' for a Canadian client could be considered the break point. So technically writing new code whilst in Canada for a Canadian client could be considered 'hands on' work, Attending meetings, gathering requirements, training and even working remotely but not for Canadian clients would likely be ok but anything else would be a grey area .

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/business/eligibility.html

Ultimately guess is up to you what you declare as the purpose of your visit but be warned that you could get a hard time from CBSA if you give any hint of working plus arriving for 2 months of business meetings or training could raise a few questions that it is not a simple business meeting trip.

Once in the country then of course what you do will be upto you given the chances of being discovered are probably remote but that is for you to decide and guess your company who will be sponsoring your trip then I guess would be a shame to drag them into anything outside of the rules.

Above just my view adding to the already many views posted