The general Permanent Residency Obligations is that one has to be in Canada for at least 730 days during the last five-year period prior to the PR status being evaluated (for a new PR card or PRTD for example).
However, according to IRCC and the forms for PR card renewal, it also counts towards the 730 days if, while living outside of Canada, one is working for a Canadian business or organisation full time.
Does anyone know the exact details and specific rules and requirements around this "working for a Canadian business" abroad?
A) What qualifies as a Canadian business, are there specific requirements about the ownership, size, age, type and legal structure or any other requirements?
Can it be a local foreign subsidiary of a Canadian business?
B) Is there a limit as to how many days one might claim this way or could it be the entire 730 days (i.e. could one live and work abroad for a Canadian Business 'permanently')?
C) Is there a possible construct/setup where as a Permanent Resident, one would incorporate a business in Canada (say federally incorporated) as fully (or at least majority) owned entity, and then work for this Canadian business from abroad, and through such a setup fulfil and prove the Permanent Residency Obligations?
In general, overall:
Credit for days working outside Canada for a Canadian business is only available for TEMPORARY assignments to do the work outside Canada. Thus, for example, while there is no particular restriction on the number of days a PR can qualify for this credit, working at a permanent position abroad will NOT qualify. Both the form and substance of employment relationship matter; that is, naming it or calling it a temporary assignment will not work if substantively it amounts to a permanent position abroad.
That is, IRCC and CBSA tend to easily see through and pierce the veil when a PR is ostensibly employed in Canada for a Canadian employer and assigned abroad, but the crux of their work (or its core or focus or whatever) is outside Canada.
Also note that even if the "
Canadian business" qualifies in all other respects, if it is primarily set up to facilitate the PR meeting the RO while living abroad, that specifically excludes the business; no credit. This is a specific provision in the regulations, section 61(2) IRPR, which is here:
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/page-9.html#h-686425 Note that the other particular requirements governing this credit are also set out here, in section 61 in the regulations.
More generally, if the set-up or arrangement is essentially designed to facilitate the PR meeting the RO while living abroad, that is not specifically excluded (unless the business itself has that purpose, in which case, again, it is specifically excluded) BUT the odds are very high that it will fail to get credit for one reason or another. Again, IRCC and CBSA can and will, at least later if not right away, see through the veil.
For quite recent discussion specifically about establishing a business in Canada and trying to qualify for credit for time working abroad for that business, see
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...time-towards-pr-renewal.823993/#post-10632859 and I have posted many citations, references, and links to primary sources, and discussed the application of this credit in depth, in the topic titled "
Working Abroad RO credit including business trips; an update" which is here:
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i...it-including-business-trips-an-update.607559/
I have also been doing some homework in order to post a further update in the latter discussion, to specifically address in more depth the small business scenarios (such as sole proprietorships but family and other closely held businesses as well), but that's still a work-in-progress. As noted elsewhere, there is no rush to get that done since in general working abroad as an owner/operator (and family or other personal alternatives similarly) of a business is NOT going to work.
Caveat: many times various schemes or arrangements appear to work, for awhile, until IRCC or CBSA figures it out. This is one of the subjects for which reports like "
it worked for me" need to approached very skeptically, as they often are really "
it has worked for me so far . . . " which is not likely to last a whole lot longer.
Manuals:
For relevant Operational Manuals see
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigratio...ns-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals.html and follow links for particular manuals. Operational Manuals relevant to
working-abroad-credit include:
OP - 10 "Permanent Residency Status Determination," especially sections 6.5 (Employment outside of Canada) and 12 (Procedure: Guidelines for examining the residency obligation); this is mostly for visa offices processing PR Travel Document applications
ENF - 23 "Loss of Permanent Resident Status," especially Section 7.4 "Employment outside Canada" which includes guidelines about suggested information and documentary evidence which is useful in determining if the working-abroad-for-Canadian-business-credit is allowed.
