Intra-company transfer under the International Mobility Program: C61, C62 and C63 (formerly C12)

Eligibility requirements

• Multinational corporation: the foreign enterprise must have revenue-generating operations in at least one country other than its home country. For a new Canadian enterprise under C61, the foreign enterprise must already operate in at least two countries before expanding to Canada; IRCC states that an enterprise cannot become a multinational by using the ICT category.
• Qualifying relationship: parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate, evidenced by ownership and control, not by customer, supplier, franchise or licensing contracts.
• Prior employment: at least one year of full-time work with the foreign enterprise in a similar position within the three years before the initial application. Part-time work cannot be aggregated to make up the year.
• Executive (C62, TEER 0): directs the management of the enterprise or a major component or function, sets goals and policies, exercises wide discretion and receives only general supervision. Manager (C62, TEER 1): manages the enterprise, a department or an essential function, supervises other managers, supervisors or professionals, and has personnel authority or works at a senior level. Lower-level supervisors and managerial-sounding titles do not qualify.
• Specialised knowledge (C63): both advanced proprietary knowledge of the company's product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management and an advanced level of expertise. IRCC's instructions state that either alone does not qualify the foreign national; positions in TEER 3 to 5 receive closer review and are unlikely to qualify.
• New enterprise (C61): physical commercial premises (a lawyer's address may be used temporarily), a business plan, financial documentation and human-resources plans. Owners or controlling shareholders starting a new business are not eligible unless the enterprise meets the multinational requirement.
• Wages at or above the prevailing wage for the occupation and location, checked against Job Bank, excluding non-cash allowances such as housing or travel.

Legal framework

Build the evidence

Prepare records that substantiate the relevant criteria. The final checklist depends on the applicant, route and filing authority.

• Evidence of the multinational's revenue-generating operations in at least one other country (two for C61): financial statements, contracts, tax filings and office leases by jurisdiction.
• The ownership and control chart with registers and share certificates for each entity in the chain between the foreign employer and the Canadian enterprise.
• The transferee's employment history with the foreign enterprise: contract, payroll and tax records covering the full-time qualifying year within the past three.
• Comparative job descriptions showing the capacity abroad and in Canada, organisation charts, reporting lines and for managers the subordinates' roles and the transferee's personnel authority.
• For C63, a technical account of the proprietary knowledge and the advanced expertise, with evidence of how it was acquired and why the Canadian role requires it.
• For C61, the premises lease, business plan, funding evidence and staffing plan showing that a managerial or specialist role will be supported within the year.

How to apply

1. 01

   Establish that the group is a multinational

   Before anything else, test the October 2024 requirement: revenue-generating operations outside the home country, and for a new Canadian enterprise operations in two countries already. A domestic company opening its first foreign office cannot use C61.

2. 02

   Fix the capacity and the code

   Classify the role honestly as executive, manager or specialised knowledge. A function manager must manage at a senior level; a specialist must satisfy both limbs of the test. The code cannot be changed on the Employer Portal offer once submitted.

3. 03

   Document the qualifying year

   Reconcile the foreign employment record to the application date. Secondments, contractor arrangements and part-time periods need explanation; a direct contractor should have worked only for the qualifying enterprise.

4. 04

   Submit the Employer Portal offer

   The Canadian enterprise submits the offer with the chosen code and pays the CAD 230 compliance fee unless exempt, then gives the offer number to the transferee. The offer's wage, duties and location must match the application.

5. 05

   Apply, and plan the duration

   C62 and C63 permits run up to three years initially with two-year renewals, to seven and five years in total respectively; C61 is limited to one year. Caps are cumulative across ICT categories and across the R204(a) treaty route. Documented periods of 30 days or more not working for the Canadian enterprise may be recaptured.

6. 06

   Record evidence for the officer and for inspections

   IRCC requires officers to keep the reviewed evidence accessible in its system; the employer should keep the same record for six years for the compliance regime and for any later permanent-residence application.

After approval & family planning

• A spouse or partner may be eligible for an open work permit under the high-skilled measure where the transferee's occupation is TEER 0 or 1 and at least 16 months remain on the permit when the spouse applies; dependent children are no longer eligible under that measure.
• The employer must maintain the offered conditions, remain active in the business and retain records; a change of corporate structure, role or location should be reviewed before implementation.
• Twelve months of managerial or specialist work in Canada may support the Canadian Experience Class, and from 3 November 2026 earns Labour Market Integration points in high-wage occupations; senior managers with Canadian experience are a 2026 Express Entry category.

What this route builds, and what it opens

WG assesses every route on three returns: the knowledge it adds, the cognitive capability that sustained work abroad develops, and the institutional opportunity it opens or closes. Real work is the mechanism in each case.

Programme context. Where a participant holds a genuine managerial role with a qualifying affiliate for a year, and the group already has revenue-generating operations in two or more countries, this route may be assessed; the multinational test is applied to the group, not the participant. Read the framework ↗

Frequently asked questions

Points to consider

• The instructions' internal inconsistency on C61 extensions (no extensions in one section, a possible six months for extenuating circumstances in another) means a new enterprise should plan to qualify under C62 or C63 within the first year rather than rely on an extension.
• Officers now record the evidence they relied on; an application that depends on assertions rather than documents is more likely to fail than before 2024.