una said:
Hi,
I have clients in the US that I work for and I would like to be able to get paid to canada instead of having to always transfer the money. I´ve been waiting for my visa for 14 months now (my boyfriend is sponsoring me, we chose to apply OUTLAND, I stay here as a visitor. )
Question: Can I get paid here while im waiting for the visa? Do I have to apply for a work permit for this?
Thanks,
Una
It seems like you're mixing two different issues together.
(1) You cannot work in Canada without a work permit; doing business with someone in the US is not generally deemed to be working in Canada, however.
(2) The "get paid in Canada" is what I found peculiar - if you have a customer in the US for whom you do contract work, you should be able to "get paid" wherever you want. I do know from my own experience that banks here in Canada play some serious float games with US cheques (checks) - one bank I use (HSBC) puts a 30
business day hold on them, even when I know they clear the US bank in 1-2 days typically. US Companies cannot easily send EFTs to Canadian banks, but they can (and do) send wire transfers. If your goal is to convert money into Canadian Dollars I'd suggest either working directly with a currency broker (I use xe.com though they aren't as competitive as they used to be) or talk to your bank about getting preferential exchange rates.
Exchange is a bizarre business. The currency broker I walk by most days to/from work here in Vancouver gives better rates (for cash) than I can get from my bank or brokerage with electronic funds (EFT). I have accounts with HSBC on both sides of the border and I get a better exchange rate when I move US<->Canada than when I change funds IN CANADA between my USD and CAD accounts. I have - literally - transferred USD funds from my Canadian account into my US account so I could get a 1.5% better exchange rate.
