Working remotely for a Canadian company abroad

[cedros123]

Hi,
I'm trying to renew my PR card.
I have been travelling a lot for my Canadian company (large well know IT company) during my 5 years PR.
I also travelled a lot for tourism and to escape the cold (I did a tour around the world), I can work remotely so I can be basically anywhere in the world but I have always been paid in Canada and did my taxes in Canada during the 5 years.
My question is, how do I have to report these out of the country time in the work history and residence history (location of work/residence and reason of travel) ?
I was working remotely but was travelling for tourism/family so that's a bit confusing ...
Could the time abroad count for PR time because I was working for a Canadian company ?

Thanks for your help.

 

[zardoz]

Hi,
I'm trying to renew my PR card.
I have been travelling a lot for my Canadian company (large well know IT company) during my 5 years PR.
I also travelled a lot for tourism and to escape the cold (I did a tour around the world), I can work remotely so I can be basically anywhere in the world but I have always been paid in Canada and did my taxes in Canada during the 5 years.
My question is, how do I have to report these out of the country time in the work history and residence history (location of work/residence and reason of travel) ?
I was working remotely but was travelling for tourism/family so that's a bit confusing ...
Could the time abroad count for PR time because I was working for a Canadian company ?

Thanks for your help.

If, and probably only if, you were formally assigned to work abroad by your company for temporary assignments, you may be able to claim the days towards the residency obligation requirements. If you were away for tourism etc and just happened to be able to work remotely, my guess is that it won't be counted.

 

[spyfy]

Working for a Canadian company in itself is not enough to have the days count. As zardoz already said: You need to be formally assigned to work abroad. Saying "I work for a Canadian company and I can do if from anywhere in the world" in itself is no justification for having those days count.
Otherwise everyone who works mostly on a computer could claim their vacation time as "I simply worked from abroad".

See section 6.5 here
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/manuals/enf/enf23-eng.pdf

You must be assigned to a position outside Canada with that business.

So unless you actually were assigned to a position outside Canada (e.g. they sent you to work in the, say, New York office, an you had a desk there and everything), your days outside Canada simply count as that: days outside Canada and therefore not days as part of your RO.

Quote:
The regulations enable permanent residents to comply with the residency obligations while working abroad, provided that:

•  they are under contract to, or are full-time employees of a Canadian business or in the public service, where the assignment is controlled from the head office of a Canadian business or public institution in Canada;
  
•  they are assigned on a full-time basis as a term of their employment or contract, to a position outside Canada with that business, an affiliated enterprise or a client;
  
•  they maintain a connection to a Canadian business;
  
•  the are assigned on a temporary basis to the work assignment; and
  
•  they will continue working for the employer, in Canada, after the assignment.
  

 

[scylla]

I agree with the comments above. Based on the information you've provided, none of the time you have spent outside of Canada can be counted towards the residency obligation. It will all be counted as time spent outside of Canada.

Don't apply to renew your PR card unless you have at least 730 days of physical residence in Canada in the last five years.

 

[cedros123]

Hi,
Thanks for your fast reply.
I did my calculation and I have more than 1000days of presence in Canada, so I will not have to claim the days abroad and will be able to renew my PR card without it.
Now to fill the forms, that is another story and quite confusing.
For instance, I was working remotely from Florida from Nov 2014 to May 2015 for 6 months.
In the list of residential addresses do I have to fill my Florida address or Canadian ? ( I didn't have a lease in Canada during 6 months)
In the work history, for location of work, do I have to fill USA or Canada ?
And in the travel section for reason of travel, do I have to fill vacations or work ?
Thanks

 

[scylla]

Sounds like you're absolutely fine to apply for a PR card renewal.

For the times you were working remotely in Florida - list your Florida address. For work location, I would say US as well.

For the travel section - if you were outside of Canada for vacation - I would say "vacation". If you were outside of Canada working, I would say "work" or "remote work". I don't think there's any need to make it too complicated. You have more than enough days to meet RO.