Foreign Income and Visitor Status

[fudgel]

I have been performing contract I.T. work as a sole proprietor for a company based in Ireland. I've been declaring this as self-employed on my Canadian tax return.

I had a work permit however it has expired so I've had to change my status to a visitor so I'm not legally entitled to work in Canada.

I'm trying to determine if I can still continue to receive self-employment income based on the grounds that it would be considered foreign income and have no impact on the Canadian labour market? I've just received an ITA for PR so my intention is to remain in Canada as a visitor until I receive my PR.

Paragraph 186(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations provides:

A foreign national may work in Canada without a work permit ... as a business visitor to Canada within the meaning of section 187.

And section 187 provides:

For the purposes of paragraph 186(a), a business visitor to Canada is a foreign national who ... seeks to engage in international business activities in Canada without directly entering the Canadian labour market.

 

[primaprime]

You're not really a business visitor, that refers more to people visiting on a business trip, not essentially living in Canada on visitor status.

The definition of "work" excludes:

long distance (by telephone or Internet) work done by a temporary resident whose employer is outside Canada and who is remunerated from outside Canada

However, this work should be "incidental to the reason that the person is in Canada." What work permit were you on and how long do you intend to remain as a visitor? At some point you will either need to find a way to apply for PR or another work permit, or leave Canada.

 

[fudgel]

You're not really a business visitor, that refers more to people visiting on a business trip, not essentially living in Canada on visitor status.

The definition of "work" excludes:


However, this work should be "incidental to the reason that the person is in Canada." What work permit were you on and how long do you intend to remain as a visitor? At some point you will either need to find a way to apply for PR or another work permit, or leave Canada.

OK yes I see now that I would not be considered a business visitor.

I think that I could put forward a good argument that what I'm doing would be excluded from the definition of work as you have mentioned. It's work for an entity outside of Canada, renumeration is received from outside of Canada, there is not an opportunity for a Canadian citizen / PR holder to do this work thus it does not have an impact on or compete with the Canadian labour market.

My spouse and I had IEC open work permits that expired in May. We sumbitted applications for a BOWP in April based on the advice of an immigration consultant despite the fact that we had not yet received an ITA for PR (the intention was the attache the AoR as soon as possible to the already submitted BOWP. The BOWP was refused at the end of September (my spouse stopped working immediately). We just received our ITA last week and we have all of the required documents so we will be submitting it in the next day or so. We intend to remain in Canada as visitors until we receive our PR. We feel that due to COVID, this would be a better option instead of trying to move back to Ireland for 6 months and then return to Canada.

 

[canuck78]

OK yes I see now that I would not be considered a business visitor.

I think that I could put forward a good argument that what I'm doing would be excluded from the definition of work as you have mentioned. It's work for an entity outside of Canada, renumeration is received from outside of Canada, there is not an opportunity for a Canadian citizen / PR holder to do this work thus it does not have an impact on or compete with the Canadian labour market.

My spouse and I had IEC open work permits that expired in May. We sumbitted applications for a BOWP in April based on the advice of an immigration consultant despite the fact that we had not yet received an ITA for PR (the intention was the attache the AoR as soon as possible to the already submitted BOWP. The BOWP was refused at the end of September (my spouse stopped working immediately). We just received our ITA last week and we have all of the required documents so we will be submitting it in the next day or so. We intend to remain in Canada as visitors until we receive our PR. We feel that due to COVID, this would be a better option instead of trying to move back to Ireland for 6 months and then return to Canada.

It may end up being longer than 6 months processing time given covid. You will need to purchase private healthcare insurance.

 

[fudgel]

It may end up being longer than 6 months processing time given covid. You will need to purchase private healthcare insurance.

Yes I've been following the threads here and it would appear that it's taking longer than 6 months at present. I'm wondering am I eligible to renew my OHIP coverage once I've received my AoR based on the following:

For applicants for permanent residence

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) letter (IRCC used to be called Citizenship and Immigration Canada, or CIC). The letter must:
  • be on IRCC letterhead, addressed to you as applicant
  • state IRCC has confirmed you are eligible to apply for permanent residence in Canada
• IRCC document (e.g. work permit, visitor record, temporary resident permit or study permit), with a note confirming all three of the following. You have:
  1. applied for permanent residence
  2. met the eligibility requirements to apply for permanent residence
  3. have not been denied

It would appear that if you are a visitor that has applied for PR you are eligible for OHIP?