You have an office in Canada and a key employee abroad you need there. An intra-company transfer to Canada is usually how that move happens, and it does not require an LMIA. Here is what qualifies, what changed in 2024, and where files are being refused now.
Most global companies reach the same moment eventually: there is an office in Canada, a key person sitting in another country, and a real business need to get them here. The intra-company transfer, or ICT, is built for exactly that.
Because the ICT work permit sits inside Canada’s International Mobility Program under paragraph 205(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, it lets you move qualifying staff without a Labour Market Impact Assessment. Removing the LMIA removes the longest and least predictable step in most Canadian work permit files, which is why intra-company transfers remain the default route for multinational employers.
It is also a category that has tightened. If your internal playbook was written before October 2024, it is describing a program that no longer exists in that form.
Do you actually qualify for an Intra-Company Transfer?
This is the part teams get wrong most often. The ICT is designed for multinational enterprises: one corporate group doing business in more than one country through related entities. What an officer is really testing is the link between your foreign company and your Canadian one. They must be genuinely related, in one of these ways:
- Parent and subsidiary
- A branch of the same company
- Affiliates under common ownership or control
Notice what this is not about: size. A small firm with one office abroad and one in Canada can qualify for an intra-company transfer, while a large multinational with no Canadian entity cannot, at least not until it opens one.
The second gate is the employee. The person you move must already work for the group abroad. The ICT cannot be used to make a brand-new external hire, and it cannot be used to regularize someone who was engaged as a contractor rather than employed.
The three roles the ICT work permit covers
Only three categories of employee fit the intra-company transferee category, and matching your person to the right one is half the job:
- Executives: who direct the company or a major component or function of it, set goals and policy, and operate under only general supervision.
- Senior or functional managers: who supervise professional staff, or who manage an essential function of the organization at a senior level within the hierarchy.
- Specialized-knowledge workers: who hold proprietary, uncommon knowledge of the company’s products, services, research, techniques, or management. That knowledge must be genuinely difficult to source in the Canadian labour market.
Whichever category applies, the employee needs at least one continuous year of full-time employment with the company abroad within the three years immediately before the application.
What changed in 2024: Update your templates
IRCC retired the old all-purpose ICT exemption code (C12) and replaced it with three separate codes. Applications filed under C12 are no longer processed under that code. The replacements are:
| Code | Who it covers | Duration |
| C61 | Transfer that establishes a new Canadian office | 1 year; no routine extension |
| C62 | Executives and senior managers joining an existing Canadian office | Up to 3 years initially, 2-year renewals, 7-year maximum |
| C63 | Specialized-knowledge workers joining an existing Canadian office | 5-year maximum |
It sounds administrative. It is not. Each category is now assessed against its own, stricter standard, and the duration limits differ materially. A specialized-knowledge worker you expected to keep in Canada for seven years is capped at five.
Opening your first Canadian office? Meet C61
If you are not transferring into an existing Canadian office but sending someone to set one up, you are in new-office territory, exemption code C61. This is where most refusals happen, because the officer is testing whether the Canadian operation is real rather than aspirational. Before you file, be ready to show:
- The foreign company is established, actively trading, and has been doing so for a meaningful period
- A realistic business plan for the Canadian office, with revenue and headcount projections that can support the role
- Secured, operational physical premises, not a mailing address, a virtual office, or a home office
- Financial capacity to launch the business and pay wages from day one
- Evidence the transferee will actually perform the executive, managerial, or specialized role described, not general start-up labour
The first permit is issued for one year, and there is no automatic renewal. To continue, you will need to prove the office genuinely got off the ground: people hired, premises in use, real commercial activity, and the executive or specialist doing the role you described in the original application. Plan the evidence you will need at month twelve before you file at month zero.
The wage rule employers keep missing
Compensation is now a live refusal risk. The transferee’s base wage must meet or exceed the prevailing wage for the occupation and the work location. In practice, that is the median wage published on Canada’s Job Bank for the applicable NOC code and region.
The trap is what does not count. Housing allowances, cost-of-living adjustments, travel benefits, tax equalization and similar mobility top-ups are not added to the base figure. A package that looks generous overall can still fail if the base salary sits below the regional median. If your assignee is being paid on a home-country payroll, check the converted base figure against Job Bank before you build the file, not after.
Where ICT files fall down today
Three issues account for most of the refusals now landing on companies that used to sail through:
1. Specialized knowledge that reads as generic
This is the single most common problem under C63. The knowledge has to be genuinely proprietary and uncommon within the industry, tied to your systems, your processes, your product. A letter describing someone as senior, experienced, highly regarded, or hard to replace does not meet the standard. Show what they know, how few people inside the group know it, how long it took them to acquire it, and why the Canadian operation cannot function without it.
2. A new office with nothing real behind it
Under C61, a signed lease for usable premises, evidence of fit-out or occupancy, and a funded bank account do more work than any amount of narrative. Officers are looking for an operation, not an intention.
3. Thin documentation and a below-market salary
Organizational charts that do not show the reporting lines you claim, support letters that restate the regulation rather than the facts, missing proof of the qualifying year abroad, and a wage below the going rate: individually survivable, collectively fatal.
| Bottom line The intra-company transfer still works beautifully when it is built to today’s standard. The fastest route to a refusal is assuming nothing has changed. |
Frequently asked questions about Intra-Company transfers to Canada
Does an intra-company transfer to Canada require an LMIA?
No. The intra-company transferee category sits inside the International Mobility Program under paragraph 205(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, so it is exempt from the Labour Market Impact Assessment. That exemption is the main reason employers use it: the LMIA is usually the slowest and least predictable step in a Canadian work permit file.
How long does an ICT work permit last in Canada?
It depends on the code. A new-office permit under C61 is issued for one year, and there is no routine extension. Executives and senior managers under C62 are generally issued up to three years initially with two-year renewals, to a maximum of seven years. Specialized-knowledge workers under C63 are capped at five years total.
What is the difference between C61, C62 and C63?
C61 covers a transfer that establishes a new Canadian office. C62 covers executives and senior managers moving into an office that already operates. C63 covers specialized-knowledge workers moving into an existing office. Each is assessed against its own criteria, and using the wrong code is a common processing problem.
Can we hire someone new and transfer them under the ICT?
No. The employee must already have worked for the foreign entity for at least one continuous year within the three years before the application. The intra-company transfer moves existing staff inside a corporate group; it is not a hiring channel for external candidates.
Does the transferee’s salary have to match Canadian wages?
Yes. The base wage must meet or exceed the prevailing wage for the occupation and work location, generally the median wage published on Canada’s Job Bank for the applicable NOC code. Housing allowances, cost-of-living top-ups and travel benefits are not counted toward that figure.
Can a small company use the intra-company transfer?
Yes. The category tests the corporate relationship, not company size. A firm with one office abroad and one in Canada can qualify, while a large multinational with no Canadian entity cannot until it establishes one.
What causes most ICT refusals?
Three patterns dominate: specialized knowledge described in generic terms rather than proprietary ones, a new Canadian office with no genuine premises or business plan behind it, and thin supporting documentation paired with a wage below the going rate.
Planning a transfer to your Canadian office?
Whether you are moving one executive into an established Canadian entity or opening your first office here, a short review before you file beats a refusal that resets your timeline by months.
Write to me at vishal@grayjaylaw.com
Disclaimer: This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules change and every case is different; consult a licensed immigration lawyer before acting on anything here.
