I worked for a company that was not registered for quite some time.. but is registered now. Will it be a problem?

[Raj69]

I was working for a Malaysian team which from Feb 2022. However, it got registered as a company only on 12th of January this year (2023)

I did receive sporadic payments from my boss.

First in Feb 2022, Second in June 2022 and third in October 2022.

Feb - 300 MYR
June - 100 MYR
October - 100 MYR

I received a few payments this year as well:
Jan 2023 - 600 MYR
Feb 2023 - 600 MYR

Now, my question is... can I claim this as work experience and list the total amount I earned in the last 12 months?

As in "He was paid MYR 1400 during the last year".

 

[Pdm_ca]

You can’t claim working for a non-registered company as an employee to gain points.
This scenario makes you self-employed in that time frame.

regular monthly payments + job offer contract + experience letter are official documents and not sure how a non-existing entity can provide it for that timeline. It’s misrepresentation on papers in a way.

 

[Raj69]

shall I list it as self-employed during that time or do you suggest claiming only from January this year?

 

[Raj69]

regular monthly payments + job offer contract + experience letter are official documents and not sure how a non-existing entity can provide it for that timeline. It’s misrepresentation on papers in a way.

I didn't have regular monthly payments. It was previously registered as a 'team'. The experience letter can be gotten on the letterhead soon. My boss is willing to vouch for me. My boss literally asked me to draft it for him

I'm thinking of saying something like "He worked 30 hours / week.. and he was paid MYR xxx during the last year."

How exactly do they scrutinize? I know they call the company, they may ask for proof of having received payments. Anything else?
Do they actually go through the registration details of the company?

 

[Pdm_ca]

Well, they can and in some cases do go thru registration or check the presence of the company. Such things are easily available online nowadays. So, its a risk you have to decide. Not having regular monthly payments & lack of paystubs also could be a point of concern. This doesn’t sound like a case of a permanent employee of >1 year work ex you see.

So, i feel be truthful & claim points of job from January this year. Prior to that you should show yourself as self-employed and paperwork of a self-employed is different. If you are falling short of points - best is to consult a RCIC in helping you devise strategy and paperwork around it. All the best!

 

[sukhman_mann_]

You can’t claim working for a non-registered company as an employee to gain points.
This scenario makes you self-employed in that time frame.

regular monthly payments + job offer contract + experience letter are official documents and not sure how a non-existing entity can provide it for that timeline. It’s misrepresentation on papers in a way.

Well, they can and in some cases do go thru registration or check the presence of the company. Such things are easily available online nowadays. So, its a risk you have to decide. Not having regular monthly payments & lack of paystubs also could be a point of concern. This doesn’t sound like a case of a permanent employee of >1 year work ex you see.

So, i feel be truthful & claim points of job from January this year. Prior to that you should show yourself as self-employed and paperwork of a self-employed is different. If you are falling short of points - best is to consult a RCIC in helping you devise strategy and paperwork around it. All the be

You can’t claim working for a non-registered company as an employee to gain points.
This scenario makes you self-employed in that time frame.

regular monthly payments + job offer contract + experience letter are official documents and not sure how a non-existing entity can provide it for that timeline. It’s misrepresentation on papers in a way.

You can’t claim working for a non-registered company as an employee to gain points.
This scenario makes you self-employed in that time frame.

regular monthly payments + job offer contract + experience letter are official documents and not sure how a non-existing entity can provide it for that timeline. It’s misrepresentation on papers in a way.

Thread 'Employer’s company dissolved.'
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-i.../threads/employer’s-company-dissolved.871062/

Please respond to this

 

[Pdm_ca]

Thread 'Employer’s company dissolved.'
https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/employer’s-company-dissolved.871062/

Please respond to this

Hey Sukhman,

If the company you’ve worked for has provided you all documents like employment contract + offer letter + paystubs + is deducting your taxes and reporting it to CRA (i.e you have T2) and can give you experience letter on letter head, then how the company operates (any missing paperwork or any filing deadlines/ lapses) is not quite concerning. But with IRCC esp. nowadays, you never know.
In any case, i am opinion you can claim work experience of a dissolved corporation but for the paperwork & correct cover letter so you don’t loose your ITA please consult a RCIC.

Btw, companies in Canada dont get dissolved by not paying only fees.
This can happen either administratively, if a corporation fails to meet certain requirements, or through a court order.
The govt. an levy heavy penalties here and sends multiple reminders. Maybe your employer has ignored the warning letters and has been non-compliant.

 

[sukhman_mann_]

Hey Sukhman,

If the company you’ve worked for has provided you all documents like employment contract + offer letter + paystubs + is deducting your taxes and reporting it to CRA (i.e you have T2) and can give you experience letter on letter head, then how the company operates (any missing paperwork or any filing deadlines/ lapses) is not quite concerning. But with IRCC esp. nowadays, you never know.
In any case, i am opinion you can claim work experience of a dissolved corporation but for the paperwork & correct cover letter so you don’t loose your ITA please consult a RCIC.

Btw, companies in Canada dont get dissolved by not paying only fees.
This can happen either administratively, if a corporation fails to meet certain requirements, or through a court order.
The govt. an levy heavy penalties here and sends multiple reminders. Maybe your employer has ignored the warning letters and has been non-compliant.

Thanks for replying.

>reporting it to CRA (i.e. you have a T2)

Do you mean a T4?

>companies in Canada dont get dissolved by not paying only fees.

Source please? The registry says that it was dissolved for non-compliance under Section 212. I checked the section 212 of CBCA and it says:

212 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), the Director may

• (a) dissolve a corporation by issuing a certificate of dissolution under this section if the corporation
  
  
  • (i) has not commenced business within three years after the date shown in its certificate of incorporation,
  • (ii) has not carried on its business for three consecutive years,
  • (iii) is in default for a period of one year in sending to the Director any fee or any notice, document or other information required by this Act, or
  • (iv) does not have any directors or is in the situation described in subsection 109(4); or

Check point (iii) please. It says that a director can dissolve a corporation if for not paying fee.

 

[Pdm_ca]

Yea sorry T4 for employees.
T2 is for employers.

Not everything is source dependent, i am a business owner i know lol. What i meant was dissolution isn’t straight like you think it is - that someone didnt pay fees and boom the govt. dissolved it.
Like i said "This can happen either administratively (by employer/ govt.), if a corporation fails to meet certain requirements, or through a court order.” And these can take some amount of time.

As far as your employers company, circumstances or who is party of dissolution is between him & the govt. Others can only speculate. Technically, if his company is dissolved he doesn’t have right to operate without license.

I recommend don’t be bogged down by his status. Although it doesn’t seem problematic but consult a RCIC on claiming points in this regard.

 

[sukhman_mann_]

Yea sorry T4 for employees.
T2 is for employers.

Not everything is source dependent, i am a business owner i know lol. What i meant was dissolution isn’t straight like you think it is - that someone didnt pay fees and boom the govt. dissolved it.
Like i said "This can happen either administratively (by employer/ govt.), if a corporation fails to meet certain requirements, or through a court order.” And these can take some amount of time.

As far as your employers company, circumstances or who is party of dissolution is between him & the govt. Others can only speculate. Technically, if his company is dissolved he doesn’t have right to operate without license.

I recommend don’t be bogged down by his status. Although it doesn’t seem problematic but consult a RCIC on claiming points in this regard.

Thanks for responding.

Everything is actually source dependent, what varies though is the nature of that source. A source could be something in written form that can be sent via a link, or a source can be a vague intertwined set of experiences, perceptions, reasoning, logic, and probabilities, an example of which is “business experience” as you mentioned.

Yes. I am sure that they must have sent notices to his address, and it’s him who didn’t read it. It’s definitely not something that happened in a boom. He didn’t pay his annual fee for 2 years, got notices, didn’t pay still, and then they dissolved it. It’s also possible to revive it; I told him but he doesn’t care.

Your logic is sound, that if it’s not my fault, why would I be penalized? But according to the same logic, hypothetically speaking, if a candidate works for a company, receives all his paystubs and other documents, and then it turns out that the company was never even registered, faked the paystubs and refused to give the T4 at the end of the year (how would they without being registered?), would IRCC consider that work experience valid even though it wasn’t employee’s fault? The requirement by IRCC is to “work for an employer”, but they don’t define the word “employer” anywhere. Because it all depends on the definition of that word. If the definition includes it being registered, then I violate IRCC’s conditions, if it doesn’t, then maybe I do not.

This is the same employer who gave me all the paystubs and T4 at 7:30pm on 30th April, 2025 (last date of tax filing). Even then the amounts were wrong and I had to send it back for correction, which I received at around 9:00pm. He wasn’t even remitting my deductions to CRA on monthly basis, says that he did all that on April 30 itself. As for 2025, I still have no paystubs

What could he possibly gain from all this? The answer is: Nothing. There’s no plan to gain. There’s no PLAN. It’s just mismanagement. It takes 0 effort to not be stupid as after all, how hard could it be? But there you go!

I have no choice, I’m stuck with him. I’m getting no jobs :’(

By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, what business do you have?

 

[Pdm_ca]

I feel for you. I know this must be stressful for no fault of yours.
Thats a very bad way to operate business. Maybe his business isn’t doing well soooo, but in no way it should equate to bad reporting. These are basics for all employers. He’s being lackadaisical & CRA can come hard at him. Maybe thats why dissolution.

I hope the paystubs and T4 & all employer documents are not fake. Please consult a knowledgeable RCIC on your case in gaining points when legitimacy of your employer is such a big question mark. I didn’t know he’s defaulting at so many levels, and is not coming clean to you.

All the best to you, and I run a commodity trading business.

 

[sukhman_mann_]

I consulted RCICs (and lawyers) but they don’t know shit. All they know is how to tell what’s already on the website (that too half the times wrong); no skill in interpreting laws. Some say it will be considered and some say it won’t be, and both of those types do not have any underlying reasoning/source for that. At the end I’m only going to get some half baked opinion without any reasoning or justification, and when I ask them for source or “why do you think that?”, they are blank and are like “Ah idk. It just is.” I’m not even looking for an answer, I’m just looking for good arguments and derivations.

I can explain you with examples what exactly I mean by reasoning/source/justification that I’ve been babbling about for so long. So It’s really not that hard to derive this information from similar information.

For example, if there is a case where a person worked as self employed but didn’t have a firm to their name, and the immigration officer sends them a PFL saying “Send more proofs that your work is real” instead of “You didn’t have a firm registered so your work experience is not valid”. That alone points to the indication that they just require work to be real, independent of whether it was registered or not.

This is just one example. So many sources like these can be used to derive what’s the “right thing” in the eyes of law. One very very very distant (probably irrelevant but gets the point across) example being a person who killed a person with his car which was not registered, but was still charged for murder instead of passing the ruling “As the vehicle was not registered, it technically did not exist, and murder did not happen.” If they won’t say that in this case, why would they say that in my case, that as my employer wasn’t registered, it did not exist, and my work experience isn’t valid?

You see? That’s how you derive it. By using thousands of sources. It’s not that hard. If I could somehow get a zip file of 1000 pfls, I’d figure it out in a day.

That seems like an interesting business to run. So you just do trading on computer? You don’t need employees for that, right? How did you come to Canada? (I’m just a curious person and like to learn about people)