working remotely from within Canada |
Post Reply |
Author | |
benderson
New Member Joined: 12 Jun 2013 Status: Offline Points: 1 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: 12 Jun 2013 at 10:44am |
I am Canadian and if I am sponsoring my Common Law partner (British) for Permanent Residency from within Canada, can she legally work for a US company remotely during the application process?
|
|
dpenabill
Top Member Joined: 29 Nov 2009 Status: Offline Points: 6407 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Technically, temporarily, yes, a visitor in Canada can continue to work for their abroad employer so long as . . . well that is where it gets a little complicated, and enough complicated that even if the individual is fully complying with the technicalities of the law a CBSA or CIC officer may interpret things differently. I used to be more familiar with the details of this, in part because I had done this some many years ago. I have not kept up with the practical side of how this tends to go, so I cannot offer much more than what I just did. I can say, however, there is a lot of room for differing inferences in this area, so it can be a bit tricky. If the sponsorship application has already been submitted, your partner is visiting while the application is being processed, and there is no Canadian connection to the work other than the fact that your partner is doing the work while temporarily present in Canada, there should be no problem. But, if a person is entering Canada and tries to explain this to the officer at the POE, odds are high that it causes problems, which, again, is due to differing inferences . . . POE officers tend to approach this simplistically, as in visitors simply cannot work while in Canada -- part of the problem is that even though the entering Foreign National (visitor) describes a situation in which the law allows them to do such work, the POE officers tend to infer that regardless of what the individual is saying, there is a likelihood the individual will "work" illegally while in Canada and thus does not qualify for admission as a visitor. Once the PR visa is issued, and your partner lands, if the employer abroad wants to continue employing your partner even though your partner is working remotely, from across the pond, that is not a problem at all as far as Canada is concerned. Of course as a resident of Canada the individual must file a Canadian tax return. Impact relative to country of employer, depends on laws of that country. |
|
Bureaucracy is what bureaucracy does, or When in doubt, follow the instructions. Otherwise, follow the instructions.
BTW: Not an expert, not a Can. lawyer, never worked in immigration |
|
computergeek
Senior Member Joined: 07 Jan 2012 Location: Vancouver BC Status: Offline Points: 573 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
The tax consequences - independent of permanent residency - would benefit from consulting with someone familiar with such situations.
In your case your partner will have to worry about the US/Canada tax treaty, because any payment by a US company to a foreign company (or individual) are subject to a 30% withholding unless otherwise covered by a tax treaty. The US/Canada tax treaty does cover this and there is no withholding, but she will need to file a W8-BEN form with the US company and specifically cite to the US/Canada tax treaty. Personally, I hate asking my own tax counsel about anything related to this treaty because every time I do it proves rather expensive to get an answer - and usually its a qualified answer at that. Thus, it often pays to self-educate on these issues. Note: Once your partner has been in Canada for 183 days, she is a tax resident of Canada and is legally obligated to file a tax return in Canada. She can obtain an ITN from CRA to file her return. Edited by computergeek - 12 Jun 2013 at 11:20pm |
|
FSW applied 6/09, denied (med inadmissible) 12/11. JR leave granted 7/12, discontinued 9/12. Spousal app PPR 9/12. Landed 13 October 2012
|
|
Post Reply | |
Tweet |
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |