A business visitor falls under one of the following sub-categories:
- After-sales/lease service
- Intra-company training and Installation activities
- Attendees of board of director’s meetings
- Employees of short-term temporary residents
After-sales/lease services
After-sales/lease services include those provided by persons repairing and servicing, supervising installers, and setting up and testing commercial or industrial equipment. After-sales/lease service also includes situations where the sales/lease agreement or purchase order is for a software upgrade to operate previously sold or leased equipment, a service person coming to Canada to install, configure, or give training on the upgraded software should receive consideration as a business visitor, as long as the after–sales/lease service activity is clearly articulated in the new sales/lease agreement or purchase order.
Intra-company training and Installation activities
When a person is coming to provide training or installation of equipment for a branch or subsidiary company, they are considered to be business visitors. The same prohibition against hands-on building and construction work as for after-sales service applies. The foreign national should maintain their position in their home branch and not be paid by the Canadian branch above expenses. This provision may also apply to a trainer or specialized installer under an after- sales contract by the foreign branch (with the same conditions applying), as long as the service is provided company-wide and not just for the Canadian office.
Attendees of board of director meetings
A person attending meeting as member of a board of directors may enter as business visitor. Normally these people attend quarterly meetings. They are legally charged with responsibility to govern an organization or corporation.
Employees of short-term temporary residents
Persons employed in a personal capacity on a full-time basis by short term temporary residents, for example as a domestic servant, personal assistant or nanny (caregiver), would generally meet the business visitor criteria in R187(3)(a) and (b) and may enter as such. If the visiting employer extends their stay in Canada such that their employee is no longer considered to be working predominantly outside Canada or their employee’s primary source of remuneration can no longer be considered to be outside Canada, then that personal employee is no longer considered to be a business visitor and may be required to seek a work permit and an LMO to continue working. A stay of longer than 6 months would normally be found to exceed the threshold.
If any false or incomplete information given by business visitor, or if business visitor fails to satisfy his/her business purpose then he/she can be denied entry to the Canada , so it essential to satisfy the Immigration officer with all the your documentation and your business purpose.