Intra-company Transferee
Business Visitors to Canada enter for a variety of reasons. Some valid uses of the Business visitor category include researching possible expansion of a company’s operations. This can include investment or purchase. A Business Visitor can also enter in order to attend business meetings with clients, vendor, suppliers, or employees of a related company to their foreign employer.
Some extended uses of the Business Visitor category include after sales and service and emergency personnel. Uses of the Business Visitor for these purposes can be tricky as CBSA and the Consulate are looking for specific pieces of evidence to prove your ability to enter. Sometimes it takes an experienced immigration attorney to direct their attention to the appropriate sections of the law and manuals in order to prove eligibility under these criteria.
General Requirements:
Employed abroad
Evidence of intended business purpose of travel to Canada
Evidence of residence abroad
Evidence of duration of visit and corresponding itinerary
Filing Process:
The filing process for status as a Business Visitor to Canada depends on your country of citizenship and your method of entering Canada. U.S. Citizens can make an application at a Port of Entry (Land Border) or an airport and usually no documentation is issued to evidence this status. This is called “implied status.” You are technically granted entrance as a business visitor, however due to the relationship between Canada and the US, you are not generally issued documents for this status. The same is generally true for Canadian citizens traveling to the US.
Those traveling from Visa Waiver countries will also generally not be issued any type of document to evidence their status as a business visitor. Anyone from a country requiring a Visa will need to make a consulate appointment and obtain a Business Visitor Visa before traveling to Canada.
Validity:
Business Visitors are typically granted an implied status duration of 6 months (180 days). However, the status can be limited to the amount of time needed to accomplish the goals of that trip. There are no limits to the amount of times that an individual can be granted status as a business visitor as long as that individual remains admissible to Canada.