Canada offers attractive work permit options for employers hiring or transferring key employees to Canadian operations.

This is a major practice area for our firm. We offer expeditious work permit strategies and solutions for individuals and companies ranging from start ups to some of the world's largest multinational corporations.

Human Resource Professionals with urgent situations or compliance issues are invited to e-mail us directly to: HR Inquiry or to contact Joy Sisca (ext 112) or Elise Bell (ext. 103) by telephone or e-mail for immediate assistance.

For foreign employees working in Canada in high skill professions, Canada offers concurrent open work permits for accompanying spouses and study permits for children, access to universal health care, and other benefits. Canada also offers temporary foreign workers a potential pathway to permanent residence and ultimately citizenship.

Generally speaking, work permit approvals first require a "Labour Market Impact Analysis" (LMIA) approved by Service Canada, which takes into account a number of factors including the employer's previous recruitment efforts, compliance with previous LMIA/work permit terms, and new expedited processing options under the Global Skills Strategy.

However, there are numerous specific exemptions from the LMIA process offering more expeditious processing, including for qualified "intra-company transferees", and exemptions under multinational treaties such as NAFTA and GATS. Also, there are "work-like" situations including for example certain "after-sales service" or warranty work situations, and limited short term work scenarios that may be exempt from the need for a work permit altogether.

Concurrently seeking permanent resident status while in work permit status is permitted, and encouraged.

For more information about the options that might best fit your circumstances, please visit our Getting Started page and complete our free on-line questionnaire.