Freelancing for non-Canadian clients

[levap]

Hi there,
I'm from a visa exempt country. Would I be able to come to Canada and continue my freelance translation work from there without a work permit?
According to the cic website, "journalists who work for a print, broadcast or Internet news service (journal, newspaper, magazine, television show, etc.), if the company they work for is not Canadian." My work would fall into the journalism category, but my job does not consist of reporting on Canadian events. Would that be a problem?
Ideally, I would just continue doing what I do now. The only difference is that I would be living in Canada and, of course, paying my taxes there.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[zardoz]

I think that if you pay taxes in Canada as a "visitor", you will be considered to be working illegally. Maybe you should contact CIC at the call centre and ask for a formal ruling?

 

[levap]

Thanks. But I have read elsewhere on this forum that the call centre (+1 888 242 2100) cannot be reached from outside of Canada. The embassies seem to go out of their way to be unhelpful, so is there any other way of getting answers to questions too specific to be covered in any FAQs?

 

[scylla]

You're not allowed to live in Canada - even if you're visa exempt. All you're allowed to do is visit temporarily. So you won't be a resident in Canada and won't file your taxes here.

While you visit temporarily, you can continue your freelance work in Canada without a work permit provided none of your clients are Canadian and none of your translation work is being used in Canada.

 

[levap]

Thanks so much. That's the answer I was looking for