Self-Employed Student, Do I need a work permit?

[lanegrapaisa]

Hello everyone!

I´m a freelance EN<>SP translator and I work online with several agencies and private clients all over the world, in other words, I'm self-employed.

Later this year, I plan on studying French in Montreal for about a year or so and although I have enough money to support myself for the duration of my stay, I can't just drop my clients for a whole year and expect them to be there once I'm done with school. Therefore, I would still need to work while I study and that's where I'm confused; would I need a work permit even though I won't be working for a Canadian employer?

I truly appreciate any light you can shed on this subject.

Thanks.

 

[acemsyed]

Frankly, I have no idea about that and presumably neither does anybody else on this forum. But I think it should be fine (as long as its not affecting your studies for sure) if you engage in self-employment without declaring it for first six months and get Social Insurance Number (SIN) after first six months in order to pay taxes on your income.

Cheers ;-)

 

[aleyfre]

Theoretically you can't work during the first six months of the study permit and that includes self-employment work as well. You are supposed to pay taxes in the country where you physically perform your job (in this case Canada) and you won't be able to do it. At least that's what the law says and I don't know how strict they are and in the future if you submit any other application and they see this gap of six months in your self-employed activity may be they will find it hard to believe. It's your choice I guess because it's probably quite difficult to control teleworkers nowadays.

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hello everyone!

I´m a freelance EN<>SP translator and I work online with several agencies and private clients all over the world, in other words, I'm self-employed.

Later this year, I plan on studying French in Montreal for about a year or so and although I have enough money to support myself for the duration of my stay, I can't just drop my clients for a whole year and expect them to be there once I'm done with school. Therefore, I would still need to work while I study and that's where I'm confused; would I need a work permit even though I won't be working for a Canadian employer?

I truly appreciate any light you can shed on this subject.

Thanks.

As long as you don't work for a Canadian entity and all your work is off shore, then you don't require a work permit. Nor would you pay taxes in Canada on the income as none was derived from Canadian sources and you would not be considered a resident for taxation purposes.

 

[aleyfre]

I still think you need a work permit because you are working in Canada and to pay expenses in Canada. It's the same thing in other countries such as the US and NZ. Unless your home country has some sort of tax agreement with Canada, you would need to pay taxes to them on your self-employment income. The best thing would be to find out with the Canada Revenue Agency and have something written from them so you know you are doing things the right way.