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Self-employed for a foreign company under a Young Professionals visa

nand0BC

Full Member
Jan 15, 2024
20
5
Hi there!

I wonder if somebody might be able to shed some light on my conundrum.

Currently, I am in Canada under a Young Professionals visa, working for my Canadian employer on their payroll. This is an employer-specific visa that does not allow me to work for another Canadian employer.

At the same time, I am working remotely for an employer in the United Kingdom on their payroll too. The work I do for them does not serve the Canadian market, or has anything to do with Canada at all - purely UK-based. As far as I understand, this is not a problem so long as I declare my UK income in my personal tax declaration as 'foreign income' here in Canada.

My problem is the following: my UK company wants to change things so that I become self-employed and I invoice them instead of being on their payroll. My concern is that my Young Professionals visa does not allow for self-employment.

What I would like to understand is whether I can be self-employed for an overseas employer under the Young Professionals visa, so long as the work I do for them has nothing to do with Canada.

I fear that I could breach my Young Professionals visa if I invoice them as self-employed and that I would have issues later on when I file my taxes in Canada.

Does anybody have any insight on this?

Thanks a lot!