Intra-Company Transfer Work Permits / C11
An intra company transfer Canada work permit moves an existing employee into a Canadian branch, subsidiary or affiliate without a Labour Market Impact Assessment. IRCC grants the exemption on Canadian interests grounds, because the transfer brings a significant benefit rather than because the labour market has been tested.
Send us the corporate structure, the employee’s role and their employment history with the group. We assess at no charge whether the transfer qualifies, which category fits, and what the alternative would be if it does not.
Why an intra company transfer Canada permit needs no LMIA
The exemption is not a loophole and it is not automatic. IRCC lists intra-company transferees with specialized knowledge among the categories where hiring a foreign national delivers a significant social, cultural or economic benefit to Canada, and that is the ground the permit is issued on.
Because the exemption rests on benefit rather than on a labour market test, nothing about the Canadian job market is assessed. There is no advertising requirement, no recruitment file and no wage threshold to clear. What is assessed instead is the corporate relationship and the substance of the role, and those are examined more closely than most employers expect. See IRCC on LMIA-exempt job offers.
The relationship between the companies is checked first. Parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate: the ownership and control has to be documented, not asserted. A loose commercial relationship, a shared brand, a distribution agreement or a common director is not a qualifying relationship.
Who can be transferred
Three categories, and the category decides both the evidence and how the file is assessed. In every one of them the employee must already have been working for the foreign company for a qualifying period immediately before the transfer.
| Category | Who it covers | What has to be proved |
|---|---|---|
| Executive | Sets the direction of the organisation or a major component of it. | Authority over policy, not day-to-day supervision. An organisation chart that shows the seniority actually claimed, and decisions the person made without seeking approval. |
| Senior manager | Manages the organisation, a department, a subdivision or a function, and supervises professional staff or manages an essential function. | Who reports to them, what they decide without approval, and that the role is managerial rather than a senior individual contributor with a manager’s title. |
| Specialized knowledge | Holds knowledge of the company’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management at an advanced level of expertise, and that knowledge is proprietary to the company. | Both halves. IRCC’s wording for this category is knowledge at an advanced level of expertise and proprietary knowledge of the company’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management. Demonstrating one without the other is the single most common reason this category is refused. |
IRCC sets the qualifying period of prior employment with the group and the maximum length a transferee may hold this status, in program delivery instructions that are updated from time to time. We confirm both against IRCC’s current instruction when we assess the transfer rather than quoting a figure that may have moved. A wrong number here changes the whole workforce plan.
Start-ups: opening a Canadian operation with a transfer
A company with no Canadian presence yet can use a transfer to open one, but the bar is different and the first permit is shorter. What is being assessed is whether the Canadian entity will actually operate, not whether it has been registered.
- Physical premises secured for the Canadian operation: a lease or a purchase, not a mailbox address and not a co-working desk taken the week before filing.
- A business plan with realistic staffing and financial projections for the Canadian entity, that a reviewer can check against the group’s actual capacity.
- Evidence the foreign company is itself viable: trading, staffed, and able to fund the expansion out of something other than the transferee’s own money.
- For an executive or senior manager, evidence that the Canadian entity will actually grow large enough to be managed. A one-person office does not support an executive transfer.
- For specialized knowledge, evidence that the Canadian entity has work requiring that knowledge from day one.
The first permit in a start-up transfer is issued for a shorter term than one into an established Canadian entity, and the extension is where the plan gets tested against what actually happened: the premises, the hires, the revenue and the role. Companies that treat the first year as a formality tend to fail at that extension, and a refused extension is far harder to recover from than a refused first application.
Transfer or labour market assessment?
If the employee genuinely qualifies, an intra company transfer Canada permit is almost always faster and cheaper than the alternative, because there is no advertising requirement, no recruitment file and no CAD 1,000 assessment fee. The question is whether they genuinely qualify.
| Intra-company transfer | LMIA-based work permit | |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitment advertising | Not required | Required before filing: 4 consecutive weeks for a high-wage position, 8 for a low-wage one, across a set number of channels |
| Government fee to the employer | None for the exemption itself | CAD 1,000 per position requested |
| Who the employee can be | Only an existing employee of the related company | Anyone the employer selects |
| What is assessed | The corporate relationship, the category, and the substance of the role | The Canadian labour market, the wage against the regional threshold, and the recruitment record |
| Common failure point | Specialized knowledge that is described rather than differentiated | Advertising done in the wrong order, for too few weeks, or against the wrong occupation classification |
If the transfer does not qualify, the employer route is the alternative. See LMIA and work permits for employers. There may also be a treaty route, depending on nationality: CUSMA, CETA and CPTPP each contain their own provisions for business people, including specialized knowledge workers and, under CETA, graduate trainees. We will tell you which one applies before you commit to any of them.
What the government charges, before anything we charge
These are IRCC’s own fees for the worker and any family coming with them.
| IRCC fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Work permit for the transferee | CAD 155 |
| Employer compliance fee, payable by the employer when the LMIA-exempt offer of employment is submitted through the Employer Portal | CAD 230 |
| Open work permit for an accompanying spouse, if eligible | CAD 155 plus the CAD 100 open work permit holder fee |
| Study permit for an accompanying child | CAD 150 |
| Biometrics, one person or a family of two or more | CAD 85 / CAD 170 maximum |
Taken from the IRCC fee list on 5 September 2026. There is no ESDC assessment fee on this route, which is the main reason the government cost is lower than an LMIA hire.
What an intra company transfer Canada permit costs
These are our professional fees, on top of the government fees above. The transfer engagement covers the corporate evidence, the category argument and the permit itself.
| Service | What it covers | Professional fee |
|---|---|---|
| Assessment of the transfer | We review the corporate structure, the employee’s role and their employment history with the group, and tell you whether the transfer qualifies and under which category. | Free |
| Intra-company transfer, full representation | The corporate relationship evidence, the category argument, the offer of employment through the Employer Portal, the work permit application, and family applications filed alongside. | CAD 45,000 |
| Paid consultation | 20, 40 or 60 minutes with a senior RCIC, for a decision on whether a transfer or an LMIA is the right route. | from CAD 120 |
Fees are professional fees only. They do not include IRCC or ESDC government fees, biometrics, medical examinations, translations, or applicable taxes.
Your journey with Canada Shaws
The same seven steps apply to every matter we take, whichever programme it is. The first two cost nothing, and the third is optional.
- Free preliminary assessment. You complete our client intake form with your background, your goals and your current circumstances. An RCIC reviews what you have provided and carries out a preliminary assessment to identify the immigration programmes or pathways that may be relevant to your situation on the information available at this stage.
- Assessment follow-up and information review. Our client representative contacts you to introduce the pathways the RCIC identified, explain our service process and professional fees, and understand your circumstances better. They may also review what you submitted, clarify anything incomplete or unclear, and confirm whether more information is needed. You can ask questions and see the available next steps.
- Optional paid RCIC consultation. After the assessment and follow-up, you decide whether you want to speak directly with an RCIC before proceeding. If your questions are complex, or you want a detailed professional discussion of the options identified, you may book a paid consultation. It is optional. You can also proceed straight to signing up if you are ready.
- Sign up with your RCIC. If you decide to proceed, you enter into a formal service agreement directly with the RCIC who will be professionally responsible for your matter. Once it is in place, the file moves into formal case preparation.
- Detailed information and document preparation. Our team collects and reviews the detailed information and supporting documents your matter requires, and guides you through preparing them.
- Application preparation and RCIC final review. The case team prepares your application package under the supervision of your RCIC: forms, supporting documents, submission letters and any other required materials. Your RCIC carries out the final professional review before submission.
- Submission, updates and next steps. After submission we keep you informed of material developments. If immigration authorities request further information or issue a decision, our team guides you through the response, the result, and what happens next.
Who will handle your file
Every file is prepared under a named licensed consultant, and you can verify either of us on the CICC public register before you pay anything.
Frederick Li
RCIC-IRB · Level 3 · College ID R506683
Authorised to represent clients before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Immigration Law Professor in the Immigration Law Program at Queen’s University (Faculty of Law) and instructor for CPD programs at Ashton College.
Jin (Cellia) Xiao
RCIC · Level 2 · College ID R512398
Founder and President of Canada Shaws since 2015, leading the team that prepares applications across the practice.
Both consultants are listed as Entitled to Practise on the CICC public register. Verify any Canadian immigration consultant at register.college-ic.ca.
Questions employers ask before they transfer someone
How long does the employee have to have worked for us?
A continuous period of full-time employment with the related foreign company immediately before the transfer. IRCC sets both the length of that period and the window it must fall in, and updates the instruction from time to time, so we confirm the current requirement against IRCC before you plan around it. Recent hires and contractors are the two situations that most often fail this test, and both are visible early.
How long can the employee stay on this basis?
IRCC applies a maximum length to intra-company transferee status, and the limit is different for executives and senior managers than for specialized knowledge workers. Because that instruction is updated periodically, we confirm the current maximum at assessment rather than working from a figure that may have changed. It affects when a permanent residence application has to start, so it is worth getting right at the beginning.
Do we need an LMIA?
No. An intra company transfer Canada work permit is exempt from the Labour Market Impact Assessment, which is what makes it faster and cheaper than an employer-sponsored hire. There is no advertising, no recruitment file and no CAD 1,000 assessment fee.
Can the employee’s family come?
A spouse can generally apply for an open work permit and children for study permits, filed alongside the principal application. Spousal eligibility now depends on the transferee’s occupation being at TEER 0 or 1, or a listed TEER 2 or 3 occupation, and on 16 months remaining on the transferee’s permit. See open work permits.
Does this lead to permanent residence?
Not by itself, but the Canadian work experience it produces feeds directly into the main permanent residence routes. Note that since 25 March 2025 a job offer adds no points to a Comprehensive Ranking System score, so it is the experience that counts, not the offer. See Express Entry and permanent residence, and how work experience converts to residence.
We were refused on specialised knowledge. Can we reapply?
Often yes, but not with the same evidence. Specialized knowledge refusals almost always mean the knowledge was described rather than differentiated. The file showed expertise but not that it was proprietary to your company, or the reverse. Send us the refusal letter with the assessment form.
What other options exist for moving staff to Canada?
Several, depending on nationality, trade agreements and the role. Employers who want to skip the LMIA should also read the francophone mobility stream is one employers frequently overlook.
Find out whether your transfer qualifies
Send us the corporate structure, the employee’s role and their employment history with the group. There is no charge for the assessment: you will get back whether the relationship qualifies, which category the role fits, what evidence it will take, and what the alternative is if the transfer does not stand up.
Requirements described on this page are taken from the published criteria of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (and, where a page says so, Employment and Social Development Canada or the relevant province) and were checked on the date below. Immigration rules change, and the official criteria govern, so confirm the current requirement before you act on anything here.
No representative can guarantee an immigration outcome, and we do not promise one. What we commit to is a complete, correctly prepared application and a named licensed consultant responsible for it. Canada Shaws Consulting Inc. provides immigration consulting services as Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants; we are not a law firm and do not provide legal services.
Page last verified: 5 September 2026.
