C11 work permit to Canada for entrepreneurs: no LMIA required

C11 is an LMIA exemption code under paragraph R205(a) of the IRPR: a work permit for an entrepreneur or self-employed person who runs their own business in Canada and brings the country a significant benefit. It is a temporary status, not a PR programme. IRCC directs those planning permanent residence to provincial business programmes (C60 permit) or the Start-up Visa.

No. C11 is part of the International Mobility Program, where the employer does not prove the absence of Canadian candidates. Instead, your company submits an offer through the Employer Portal and pays CAD 230, and you prove the business’s significant benefit to Canada.

No. The law and IRCC guidance name no threshold. What is assessed is how the business owner’s work will provide opportunities for Canadians or benefit the local economy, not the type of business or the amount invested. The amount is set by your business plan; separately you must show settlement funds for the family at the LICO level for 18 months.

IRCC looks at creating or maintaining jobs, developing a remote or rural region, exporting Canadian goods, new technology or services, and at how realistic the plan is: location, suppliers, finances, marketing, customers, the applicant’s experience. Evidence: a business plan with concrete steps, contracts, documents on buying or incorporating the company.

The guidance tells officers not to issue C11 for longer than 18 months: the work must be temporary. An extension is possible with justification: seasonal nature, a plan to hand over management, a parallel provincial nomination application. IRCC treats multi-year permits with no break as a sign of de facto residence and asks for proof of ties to home.

Yes. The requirements are the same: at least 51 % ownership, significant benefit, a real plan. Buying an operating company with staff often proves benefit more convincingly than a new project: you maintain jobs for Canadians.

By itself, no, and we will not promise that. PR is a separate stage: provincial entrepreneur programmes (nomination → PR application), Express Entry on your profile. Note that for the Canadian Experience Class, experience working in your own business does not count. The Start-up Visa was paused for new applicants on the verification date. Days in Canada before PR count towards citizenship as half a day each, up to 365 days.

Yes, if your occupation is TEER 0 or 1, or on the TEER 2–3 list, and at least 16 months remain on your permit when the spouse’s application is received. The spouse then receives an open work permit for no longer than yours. Since 2025, children no longer receive open work permits.

There is no statutory deadline. IRCC publishes current processing times by application type and country and updates them regularly; applications from outside Canada usually take longer than those from inside. We give an estimate on the filing date, not ‘two weeks’.

The application is filed online from your country of legal residence; biometrics are given at a visa application centre, in India or in the UAE for UAE residents. Indian passport holders need a temporary resident visa, issued together with the permit (CAD 100). The work permit itself is printed on entry to Canada.

Living and working in Canada, you become a tax resident and declare worldwide income; the company pays federal and provincial corporate tax. The structure of payments between the Indian or UAE company and the Canadian one, and the date your tax residency changes, are planned before the move, not after.

The permit rests on an operating company: an extension cannot be justified without it. We discuss plan B in advance: another basis, leaving with the right to re-apply, selling the business. That is why the business plan is built for a real launch, not for the application.

Parents: no. The rules for family members of temporary workers cover the spouse or partner and dependent children. Children are included up to 22 if unmarried; over 22 only if they cannot support themselves because of a condition that began before that age. For parents we arrange visitor visas for visits, and we discuss permanent status for them after your PR.

C11 has no investment threshold, and the family does not create one. Two things grow: proof of settlement funds, at the LICO level for your family size for 18 months, and fees per person: visa CAD 100, biometrics CAD 85 (no more than CAD 170 per family), the spouse’s permit CAD 155 + CAD 100, a child’s study permit CAD 150 on request.

Yes. If the application is refused through the fault of our team or an error in building the case, we refund the company's service fee less a minimal retention for costs actually incurred. Refund terms, the payment schedule and the rules on retaining service costs are fixed in the contract before work begins. Before we start, we check your documents and risk history free of charge and tell you about any risks in advance.