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Work experience period while working from Canada but in the US payroll

Chris74

Newbie
Oct 13, 2014
2
0
Hello,

I understand that one of the requirements to apply under the Canadian Experience Class is to have one year of work experience in Canada.

Here is my situation: I was working for company A in the US, and got my Canadian work permit via a inter-company transfer in March of 2014.

I arrived in Canada and started working in April of 2014 for company A in Canada, but I remained in the US payroll until end of September. I was finally transferred to the Canadian payroll in October of 2014.

Would I be able to include the months between April and September of 2014 while the US payroll, but working from Canada, as part of the work experience period under the Canadian Experience Class?

Any pointers will be highly appreciated.

Thanks!
 

canadacec123

Hero Member
Feb 10, 2014
546
30
Toronto - Ontario
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ICT workers in Canada are eligible to apply for the PR under CEC. However, I don't know the detail but somebody from ICT must be able to help you.

Thanks...
 

gates1580

Star Member
May 13, 2013
60
2
Chris74 said:
Hello,

I understand that one of the requirements to apply under the Canadian Experience Class is to have one year of work experience in Canada.

Here is my situation: I was working for company A in the US, and got my Canadian work permit via a inter-company transfer in March of 2014.

I arrived in Canada and started working in April of 2014 for company A in Canada, but I remained in the US payroll until end of September. I was finally transferred to the Canadian payroll in October of 2014.

Would I be able to include the months between April and September of 2014 while the US payroll, but working from Canada, as part of the work experience period under the Canadian Experience Class?

Any pointers will be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

You will have to substantiate your 1 experience mentioned in the application using different things such as:

1. Employment reference letter stating your
a. date of hire
b. start date if it is different from hire date
c. current salary
d. benefits
e. duties and responsibilities of your role

2. Pay statements for last 12 months proving you worked in Canada - Certainly recommended to submit along with application but not required
3. Notice of Assessment for previous tax year showing your gross salary and deductions

You have several things not going in your favor.
First - Will your company HR provide you a letter with start date as April 2014 ? Given the information you provided, I would assume your HR will put the start date as 10/2014.
Second - You do not have Canadian paychecks for the period from April to September
Third - Even if you managed to submit an application with April 2014 as your start date, your Notice of Assessment (Tax statement) for 2014 will only show your gross salary for the period starting 10/2014 to 12/2014. That would raise a red flag regarding your period of work vs gross income.

This is certainly something to discuss with an immigration lawyer. Find a good lawyer. Most immigration lawyers usually do 1 hour consulting sessions where you can ask all the questions and get them clarified.
 

Chris74

Newbie
Oct 13, 2014
2
0
Thanks!

gates1580 said:
You will have to substantiate your 1 experience mentioned in the application using different things such as:

1. Employment reference letter stating your
a. date of hire
b. start date if it is different from hire date
c. current salary
d. benefits
e. duties and responsibilities of your role

2. Pay statements for last 12 months proving you worked in Canada - Certainly recommended to submit along with application but not required
3. Notice of Assessment for previous tax year showing your gross salary and deductions

You have several things not going in your favor.
First - Will your company HR provide you a letter with start date as April 2014 ? Given the information you provided, I would assume your HR will put the start date as 10/2014.
Second - You do not have Canadian paychecks for the period from April to September
Third - Even if you managed to submit an application with April 2014 as your start date, your Notice of Assessment (Tax statement) for 2014 will only show your gross salary for the period starting 10/2014 to 12/2014. That would raise a red flag regarding your period of work vs gross income.

This is certainly something to discuss with an immigration lawyer. Find a good lawyer. Most immigration lawyers usually do 1 hour consulting sessions where you can ask all the questions and get them clarified.
 

jes_ON

VIP Member
Jun 22, 2009
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12-Jul-2011 (received 25-Jul-2011)
LANDED..........
03-Sep-2011
Chris74 said:
Here is my situation: I was working for company A in the US, and got my Canadian work permit via a inter-company transfer in March of 2014.

I arrived in Canada and started working in April of 2014 for company A in Canada, but I remained in the US payroll until end of September. I was finally transferred to the Canadian payroll in October of 2014.

Would I be able to include the months between April and September of 2014 while the US payroll, but working from Canada, as part of the work experience period under the Canadian Experience Class?
It all depends on your company's point of view and what you can document. If the person you report to will write your letter of reference (does not have to be HR), say you started working for the Canadian office in April 2014, explain the delay in trasnferring payroll, then it might be accepted.

Of course you will have to report that income as income earned in Canada (regardless of location of payroll) to the CRA (as well as the IRS, binational taxes are SO much fun), if you were residing here since April. (BTW, if you were residing in Canada, you would have to pay Canadian taxes on that, and if you had deductions paid to the IRS, you should get that back...) According to
this, the US company would have to issue a T4 to you as long as you were living and working in Canada.

http://www.pwc.com/ca/en/tax/podcast/episode-59-payroll-issues-for-cross-border-employees-receiving-incentive-compensation.jhtml

Now, it all depends on how the US company sees it - were you there on an extended business assignment, or were you actually transferred in April?

But even if you don't get the T4, as long as you report the income to the CRA, it will show on your Notice of Assessment...

Repeat - it all depends on what you can document...