Canada’s intra-company transfer provisions address specific multinational transfers. Express Entry is a separate permanent-residence selection system; an employer transfer does not automatically produce an invitation.
A permit plan for the actual assignment and a separate review of the employee’s longer-term residence options.
Distinct eligibility, documentation, application steps and FAQs for each route.
Move an eligible executive, manager or specialist into a genuinely operating Canadian group company. The significant-benefit ICT route supports defined temporary assignments and qualifying expansion projects. It is an employer-specific work permit route, with a separate assessment for any later permanent residence strategy.
Available · employer and assignment assessment requiredRequirements, process & FAQsA separate permanent-residence strategy for eligible skilled employees and their families. Express Entry manages applications under the Federal Skilled Worker Program, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades Program, with some provincial nominations linked to the system. It is not an intra-company transfer permit.
Available · invitation-based selectionRequirements, process & FAQsThe Global Talent Stream (GTS) is the Temporary Foreign Worker Program's expedited route for highly skilled hires. It is still an LMIA: the employer applies to Employment and Social Development Canada, pays the processing fee and commits to a Labour Market Benefits Plan. In return, ESDC aims to process the LMIA in 10 business days and IRCC aims to process the resulting work permit in two weeks. Employers qualify either through referral by a designated partner (Category A) or by hiring into an occupation on the Global Talent Occupations List (Category B).
Established LMIA stream under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, administered by ESDCRequirements, process & FAQsThe Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement carries forward the professional and intra-company categories of NAFTA. A US or Mexican citizen with pre-arranged employment in one of 63 listed professions, or transferring within a qualifying enterprise as an executive, manager or specialised-knowledge worker, may be issued a work permit without a Labour Market Impact Assessment. IRCC reorganised the instructions in October 2024; the professional code is now T36 and the intra-company codes T37 and T38, replacing the earlier T23 and T24.
Treaty-based work permits under IRPR paragraph 204(a); codes T36, T37 and T38 (formerly T23 and T24)Requirements, process & FAQsThe significant-benefit intra-company transfer is the main route for a multinational to place its own executives, managers and specialists in a Canadian affiliate without a Labour Market Impact Assessment. For years it was known by the exemption code C12. IRCC consolidated and tightened the instructions on 3 October 2024: the codes are now C61 (establishing a new enterprise), C62 (executives and managers) and C63 (specialised knowledge), the foreign employer must already be a multinational corporation, and specialised knowledge is tested more strictly. This page sets out the mechanism; the companion ICT page covers the application in practice.
LMIA-exempt employer-specific work permits under IRPR paragraph 205(a); legacy code C12 replaced by C61, C62 and C63Requirements, process & FAQsStart with your objective, background and intended activity. WG can coordinate the next assessment and the appropriate professional input.