IMMIGRATION
GATS deal makes it easier to transfer to Canada
Recruiting foreign workers is difficult for Canadian employers due to the country's stringent immigration regulations and the lengthy procedure for the validation of job offers and temporary employment authorisations.
One thing that has helped is Canada's signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and General Agreements on Trade and Services (GATS). The aim has been to honour Canada's international commitment to help unify the global economy and one of the benefits has been the liberalisation of the rules governing the hiring of foreign workers.
The general principal of immigration law still applies, namely: any person who wishes to visit or work in Canada who is not a Canadian Citizen or permanent resident of Canada must apply and obtain a visitor's visa or employment authorisation.
When an employment authorisation is required, job validations must first be obtained from the Canada Employment Centre (CEO) also known as Human Resources and Development Canada (HRDC).
New regulations based on the signing of NAFTA and GATS waive this requirement of job validation which is of great assistance to Canada's human resource managers.
Under NAFTA Canadian companies can transfer staff from their American or Mexican parent companies, subsidiaries or affiliates. There are restrictions; the employee to be transferred must be a US or Mexican citizen and must have been employed for at least a year and be of an executive, manager or someone with specialised knowledge of the company's services or products.
This is of little interest to Europeans. What is, is that under GATS, intra-company transfers between the Canadian company and a member country of the GAT agreement can be obtained so long as the two companies are related as either a parent, subsidiary branch or affiliate.
Both businesses must be doing substantive business in their respective countries and the Canadian company must be engaged in the service sectors agreed upon in the GATS agreement.
In order to be eligible, a citizen of the member nation must have been employed for one year as an executive, manager or specialist and must be transferred to a similar position in Canada.
Applications for an Employment Authorisation under this category may be made at a visa office abroad or at the port of entry when no visitor visa is required. The Employment Authorization is granted for a period of one year and may be extended for a period of up to three years.
In addition to these specific regulations, top level managers from any related company in the world can be transferred to a Canadian subsidiary, parent or affiliate, even if the executive is not a citizen of a country which is a member of NAFTA or GAT agreement.
Under the GAT agreement any company located in a member nation contracted to provide service to a Canadian company can send their employers to Canada to perform on site work or service in Canada for a period of not more than 90 days.
In order to be eligible, the worker must be a citizen of a member nation of GATS and must be on the GAT occupation list and possess the necessary qualifications and work experience under that particular occupation.
More information:
BROWNSTEIN, BROWNSTEIN & ASSOCIATES, 1310 Greene Avenue, Suite 750, Westmount, Quebec, H3Z 2B2, Canada. Telephone: (514) 939-9559. Fax: (514) 939-2289. E-mail: brownstein@total.net. Website: http://www.brownsteinlaw.com.
