Hi friends.
I work remotely as a subcontractor, full-time, for a single company. The company is located in the USA, but I'm not - I work from overseas.
I have been working for them for almost 2 years and I can get a reference letter from them in the format required by CIC.
The problem is that I do not own a business. There is another guy in my city who also works for this company and he owns a business. He invoices our "employer" for both services: his and mine, but this uses his company name. Then our "employer" pays us through his company and he converts the money to our currency and gives my salary to me in cash. Occasionally I go to the bank and deposit it.
I'm aware that this is not 100% legal, since I have no ties to his company, but we share the taxes so it's not like we're doing something really bad. We have worked like this because of the bureaucracy in my country and costs of keeping a business like this by yourself. I recently decided I should open my own company, so since last month I have been getting paid through my company. Still, there are those 2 years that could be questioned and I have no way to prove anything.
I would really appreciate some advice on how to proceed here. I am going to apply to OINP and I saw that you have to answer yes or no to being self-employed. Replying 'yes' would add a whole lot of complexity to prove my situation. I could upload the letter from the employer, the contract, and proof that opened my own business last month, but that would probably not be enough. If they ask how I have been paid, or to provide anything else, I wouldn't be able to (i have access to the invoices from my friend's business but that proves nothing - and that could bring up even more questions).
Replying 'no' could mean lying, even though my work relationship is one of employer-employee. They could suspect it specially because I'm not in the same country as the company. I don't know if I could get away with "it's as if i'm an employee but on paper i'm a subcontractor".
Does anyone have any insights to help me here? I'm really lost.
Thanks so much.
I work remotely as a subcontractor, full-time, for a single company. The company is located in the USA, but I'm not - I work from overseas.
I have been working for them for almost 2 years and I can get a reference letter from them in the format required by CIC.
The problem is that I do not own a business. There is another guy in my city who also works for this company and he owns a business. He invoices our "employer" for both services: his and mine, but this uses his company name. Then our "employer" pays us through his company and he converts the money to our currency and gives my salary to me in cash. Occasionally I go to the bank and deposit it.
I'm aware that this is not 100% legal, since I have no ties to his company, but we share the taxes so it's not like we're doing something really bad. We have worked like this because of the bureaucracy in my country and costs of keeping a business like this by yourself. I recently decided I should open my own company, so since last month I have been getting paid through my company. Still, there are those 2 years that could be questioned and I have no way to prove anything.
I would really appreciate some advice on how to proceed here. I am going to apply to OINP and I saw that you have to answer yes or no to being self-employed. Replying 'yes' would add a whole lot of complexity to prove my situation. I could upload the letter from the employer, the contract, and proof that opened my own business last month, but that would probably not be enough. If they ask how I have been paid, or to provide anything else, I wouldn't be able to (i have access to the invoices from my friend's business but that proves nothing - and that could bring up even more questions).
Replying 'no' could mean lying, even though my work relationship is one of employer-employee. They could suspect it specially because I'm not in the same country as the company. I don't know if I could get away with "it's as if i'm an employee but on paper i'm a subcontractor".
Does anyone have any insights to help me here? I'm really lost.
Thanks so much.