UK Business' Expansion to Canada (A Success Story of an ICT Applicant)

How And Why the UK-based Companies Are Establishing a Base In Canada

Recently, our team has helped a well-established UK-based software company enter the Canadian market. This case study is interesting because it demonstrates why IT companies are choosing Canada and how poor immigration legal advice can affect the business expansion plan. Nevertheless, we are happy to have delivered a positive result to this client quickly and contributed to expanding a great company into the Canadian market.

The Basics:

The Client approached us after being refused a US visa due to poor immigration advice. It is a well-established software company with a long history of success in the UK market. The company has a global clientele, including some big names in the marketplace and locations in the US and Canada. The Canadian operations were nascent, and the plan was to strengthen them. The main goal was to be closer to and in the same time zone as their North American clients to continue providing them with real-time support.

Our team approached this matter from the perspectives of speed, efficiency, high probability of success and long-term status in Canada. We wanted this Client (and his spouse) to be in Canada very soon to revamp its Canadian operations and obtain an initial work permit for more than 1 year. We believe that the Client should be focused on developing the business rather than renewing immigration status every year. This would allow the Client to serve its customers without any noticeable interruptions due to their shift to the Canadian base. After thorough discussions and analysis, the Sobirovs team prepared a strong application arguing the Client’s case. We argued that the Client’s expansion and revamping of its Canadian base:

will bring a significant benefit to Canada;
the significant economic benefit is supported by solid data and
the innovation that the Client could bring to the tech industry in Canada will be noticeable as the Client is one of the global industry leaders in its sector.

The Timeline:

The Client retained Sobirovs Law Firm on February 17, 2021;
The application package was submitted on April 22, 2021;
We received approval from the Canadian authorities on June 16, 2021;
The Client obtained a restricted work permit for 2 years, allowing him to work only for his Canadian entity (see below)
The Client’s spouse obtained an open work permit for 2 years, allowing her to work for any employer in Canada (see below)
As the Client and his spouse are UK citizens, they arrived in Canada by obtaining an eTA on July 27, 2021.

In short, our team managed to obtain long-term work permits for the Client and his spouse in less than 2 months after submitting their application.

Why are UK-based Companies Considering Moving to Canada?

We have successfully served clients from both developed and developing countries. Specifically, as it relates to the UK, we’ve observed that many companies and entrepreneurs with business interests in the North American market and want to deal with American, Mexican and Canadian customers, are considering establishing a presence in Canada. The reasons for doing so are diverse but can be grouped into the following types:

economic and financial reasons: UK-based companies see great opportunities in selling goods and services to North American clients who have strong buying power;
political reasons: Brexit and the long-lasting uncertainty in terms of future access to the EU market and related matters. In Canada, there is a consensus among opposing political parties that immigration is a driving force of the Canadian economy.
trade-related reasons: with Brexit came uncertainty as to what would happen to international trade between the “brexited” UK and the EU and between other nations such as Canada. The CETA has been extended to apply between Canada and the UK for the time being. This free trade agreement, originally signed between Canada and the EU, will continue to apply giving opportunities for the UK businesses to continue benefiting from it in terms of movement of people and capital between the countries.
immigration-related reasons: UK-based companies are worried about how they will bring talent to the UK in the post-COVID post-Brexit era. Canada offers a flexible approach to relocating teams to Canada and within related companies and hiring foreign workers from outside of Canada. Also, there is a pool of great “in-house” talent that UK businesses can hire when expanding to Canada;
Practical reasons: Foreign companies want to have a team dedicated to serving North American clients in a time zone that is both convenient and advantageous for winning new business. When a business is located in Canada, goods can be delivered to any location in the continental US within 24 hours, and services can be offered during the customer’s daytime hours.

How Sobirovs Can Help UK-based Companies to Relocate To Canada

As a boutique business immigration law firm, we focus on delivering high-quality and tailored immigration services to our clients. Our team is agile and focused on clients’ specific needs while considering the overall immigration objectives. Sobirovs strives to offer hassle-free immigration services, a flat-rate fee structure and a holistic approach to solving clients’ immigration issues.

We’ve helped clients from the UK and the EU move their offices to Canada, transfer key personnel and hire new talent from outside of Canada. Similar to the case study above, we zealously advocate on behalf of our clients to get a positive result in a timely fashion.