Multinational transfers and the separate federal permanent-residence selection framework.
Route map, corporate transfers, talent and founder routes, family, compliance, timelines and a mobility capital analysis, in one guide with official sources.
Each service area leads to its own programme selection and detailed guidance.
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.
Explore WG Corporate ↗Programme guides with eligibility, evidence, steps and a mobility capital analysis.
Explore WG Private ↗Programme guides with eligibility, evidence, steps and a mobility capital analysis.
Explore WG Signature ↗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 Start-up business class allowed a founding team with a letter of support from a designated Canadian venture capital fund, angel group or business incubator to apply directly for permanent residence. Ministerial Instructions effective 1 January 2026 paused new intake; only applicants who already held a 2025 commitment certificate could file, and then only until 30 June 2026. The government has signalled a successor entrepreneur pathway, but no replacement programme was published on canada.ca at the date of review.
Permanent-residence programme; intake paused by Ministerial Instructions effective 1 January 2026Requirements, process & FAQsC11 is an International Mobility Program exemption for a foreign national who owns and will operate a business in Canada for a temporary period. It is not a residence programme. The applicant must show that the work will create or maintain a significant benefit for Canadians or permanent residents, that the stay is genuinely temporary, and that the person controls the business. IRCC's instructions warn that the authority must not be used for convenience or to avoid the labour-market test.
LMIA-exempt employer-specific work permit under IRPR paragraph 205(a)Requirements, 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 & FAQsEleven provinces and territories nominate candidates whose skills and intentions match local needs; IRCC then decides the permanent-residence application. A nomination aligned with Express Entry adds 600 points to a candidate's score. Each province runs its own streams and allocation, most of them employer-driven, and the rules change often. Quebec and Nunavut do not take part; Quebec selects its own economic immigrants under a separate agreement.
Established permanent-residence class delivered jointly by provinces and IRCCRequirements, 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 student route remains Canada's most common entry for young people in a family, but it changed sharply in 2024 and 2025. Study permits now require a provincial or territorial attestation letter in most cases and higher proof of funds; the Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) now carries a language requirement and, for non-degree graduates, a field-of-study requirement. The 2026 levels plan sets a target of 155,000 new international student arrivals, 49% fewer than the previous year's target. Planned carefully, the route still produces Canadian experience that counts toward permanent residence.
Established temporary routes, substantially tightened in 2024 and 2025Requirements, 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 & FAQsCanada runs three separate day-counts, and a family that travels between Canada and Asia must satisfy each on its own terms. Permanent residents must be in Canada, or in a counted situation abroad, for 730 days in every five-year period. Citizenship requires 1,095 days of physical presence in the five years before applying, with limited credit for earlier temporary residence. Tax residence turns on residential ties and a 183-day rule, not on immigration status. The counts overlap but are not the same, and planning one without the others produces unwelcome results.
Statutory tests under IRPA section 28 and Citizenship Act section 5; tax residence under the Income Tax ActRequirements, process & FAQs