My employer is based in the US (startup) and I currently work remotely for them here in Ontario. I hold an open work permit. They do not have a physical office here in Canada but they outsourced their payroll through Professional Employer Organization Canada. Thus, I will receive Canadian Payroll deposited in a Canadian Bank Account along with Canadian Tax Deductions paid to CRA. I am working full time and being taxed under this set up which means that I’ll have a T4 and NOA by end of year.
Does this experience, given that it is a job carried out IN Canada with taxes withheld, qualify for CEC despite my employer being in the US?
There is no clear cut answer to this question. We see it posted all of the time but no one has recently come back with a success story.
By the rules, this probably should not count since effectively this is creating a loop hole to make it look like the employment is in Canada when it is not. By IRCC's definition, this really should be classified as foreign work experience. Having said that, it's possible IRCC is allowing these types of situations to slip through for now and some people may be getting through successfully.
If you go ahead and do this, you should assume you are moving forward with a significant risk that IRCC will not classify this as Canadian work experience and be prepared to qualify for PR and score encoungh points to be selected, even without this. As said above, it's possible IRCC is allowing some cases like this through for now. However IRCC is well known for shutting down loop holes (which this is) and in my opinion one day they are simply going to stop accepting this scenario as Canadian work experience. So as long as you're good with that risk and can get PR without relying on the US work experience counting as Canadian work experience, then go for it. If you're dependent on the Canadian work experience points, then the only safe play is to take a job that is actually in Canada.
