Employed abroad by a Canadian company owned by foreign company owned by Can Cit

[laratamamey]

Hello,
My wife has been offered a full time job abroad by a Canadian company but although it is owned by Canadian citizens, it is sort of owned indirectly. I explain, the Canadian company is owned by a foreign company and that company is owned 100% by Canadian citizens (I imagine for tax purposes). As per the CIC, a Canadian company includes enterprises "in which a majority of voting or ownership interests is held by Canadian citizens, permanent residents or Canadian businesses". In this case, I see the majority of voting being held by Canadian citizens but not so sure about the majority of ownership but on the other hand, while I am no law expert, I would understand that either the majority of voting or majority of ownership will suffice to qualify as Canadian company. Are my assumptions correct?

Finally, the definition for Canadian businesses says it includes 3 scenarios. I would also understand here that with either of these 3 scenarios met, the company wouldl qualify a company as Canadian, is that accurate? Because I have no doubt about 1 and 3 being met, just #2 which is the one above. I paste here from CIC:

6.2 Canadian business
The definition applies to both large and small businesses, and includes:
 federally or provincially incorporated businesses which have an ongoing operation in
Canada;
 other enterprises that have an ongoing operation in Canada, are capable of generating
revenue, are carried out in anticipation of profit and in which a majority of voting or
ownership interests is held by Canadian citizens, permanent residents or Canadian
businesses;
 enterprises which have been created by the laws of Canada or a province.

It may be possible they focus more on the restriction of businesses created to primarily for keeping the status which is not the case, this is a profitable business that's been operating for about a decade.

I guess I could do a summary with 3 questions:
1.- For a business to be considered Canadian, does it suffice to meet one of the 3 scenarios?
2.- For scenario #2. Does it suffice that voting majority is held by Canadian citizens or does it also need that ownership is held by Canadian citizens?
3.- If a Canadian company is owned by a foreign company which is owned 100% by Canadian citizens, is ownership considered to be held by Canadian citizens?

Has anyone been through a similar situation or has any knowledge or experience? Thanks

 

[zardoz]

You should probably be more concerned about the employment terms than the company.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/guides/5445ETOC.asp#appendixA

Situation 2. Employment outside Canada

You may count each day you were employed outside Canada if your employment meets the following requirements:

you are an employee of, or under contract to, a Canadian business or the public service of Canada or of a province or territory and
as a term of your employment or contract, you are assigned on a full-time basis to:
a position outside Canada
an affiliated enterprise outside Canada or
a client of the Canadian business or the public service outside Canada; and
you will continue working for the employer in Canada after the assignment.

Your description indicated that this is a new job, exclusively outside Canada and that this is not an assignment from an existing position, of a "temporary" nature. There was no reference to returning to a position in Canada. On this basis, the exemption may not apply.

 

[laratamamey]

You should probably be more concerned about the employment terms than the company.

Your description indicated that this is a new job, exclusively outside Canada and that this is not an assignment from an existing position, of a "temporary" nature. There was no reference to returning to a position in Canada. On this basis, the exemption may not apply.

That is useful information, thank you.