business immigration

In today's increasingly global economy, Canadian employers often turn to foreign nationals to maintain a competitive edge and to remedy skill shortages in the domestic labour market. Generally, these individuals will require authorization to work in Canada. The process of obtaining such authorization can be a daunting task given the complexity of Canada's immigration system.

At McMillan LLP, we provide immigration law advice to businesses, investors and professionals. Our Business Immigration lawyers help our clients effectively navigate the Canadian immigration system and provide our clients with immigration strategies tailored to the specific needs of the Canadian operations, the foreign national's qualifications and the time sensitivities involved. We take pride in our ability to develop creative solutions as to how, where and under what program/category to apply for temporary and permanent immigration.

Our Business Immigration group is an inter-disciplinary team, composed of lawyers in our corporate, employment and tax groups. As such, we provide our clients with a full-service approach, addressing related issues that often arise in the immigration context.

Services Provided

We provide a wide range of specialized immigration advice for business investors and professionals. Working within our various practice areas, we can provide you with seamless service and advice in the following areas:

• Work permit applications and extensions under the following authorities:
  • Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Regulations
  • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other free trade agreements
  • General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
• Labour market opinion applications through Human Resources and Skills Development Canada / Service Canada
• Permanent residence applications under the following categories:
  • Federal Skilled Workers
  • Canadian Experience Class
  • Investors, Entrepreneurs and Self-employed persons
  • Provincial Nominee Programs
  • Spousal Sponsorships
• Temporary resident permits (required for nationals of certain countries in addition to work/study/visitor permits)
• Business visitor status (after-sales service, intra-company training and installation activities, sales visits, board meetings, etc.) and other exemptions from work permit and/or labour market opinion requirements
• Criminal and medical inadmissibility issues
• Eligibility under provincial health insurance plans
• Work/study/visitor permit applications for family members accompanying work permit holders
• Impact of mergers, acquisitions and other business transactions on existing foreign worker authorizations

Our highly knowledgeable immigration law professionals work with our clients through every step of the immigration process to provide workable solutions in an efficient and cost-effective way.

October 2010 Thank you for your service, now please leave the country: Changes to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act Regulations Employment and Labour Relations Bulletin

June 2010 Annual Caps to be Applied to Federal Skilled Worker Permanent Residence Applications

June 2010 Extension of Pilot Project for Working-Age Dependent Children of Workers Destined to Ontario

June 2010 Introduction of Mandatory Language Testing for Certain Permanent Residence Applications

September 2008 Government Announces New Stream for Foreign Workers to Immigrate to Canada Employment and Labour Relations Bulletin

May 2006 Movement of Business Persons Under NAFTA International Trade Brief

Spring 2004 The Ins and Outs of Business Visitor Status