Posting a French employee to Canada: permits, social security, pay

To send an employee to work in Canada, you need two authorizations that have nothing to do with each other: a work permit issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCCImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship CanadaThe federal department that handles visas, work and study permits, permanent residence and citizenship.), and a posting certificate from the Urssaf (the French body that collects social contributions), valid for up to 3 years, which keeps your employee on the French social security system. And from their first day in Canada, their pay must follow Canadian rules: income tax withholding, employment insurance, and reporting to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRACanada Revenue AgencyThe federal tax authority, the equivalent of France’s Direction générale des Finances publiques.).

What follows applies to companies based in France (an SAS, an SARL or a group) that are sending an employee on a long assignment or placing them with their Canadian subsidiary. If someone is leaving on their own to look for a job, the guide to working in Canada is the one to read. Self-employed people follow separate posting rules, over shorter periods.

Which work permit for an employee posted to Canada?

In Canada, work permits are issued by the federal government (IRCCImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship CanadaThe federal department that handles visas, work and study permits, permanent residence and citizenship.). For a posted employee, four routes come up in practice, and three of them don’t need an LMIA, the Labour Market Impact Assessment in which an employer proves it couldn’t find a Canadian candidate (C$1,000 per position and several months of processing).

An intra-company transfer is the natural route for a group. You need a subsidiary, branch or affiliate that’s genuinely active in Canada, and an employee who has worked at least one year full time in the group within the last 3 years, as an executive, a manager or someone with specialized knowledge of the company. The permit lasts up to 3 years and can be renewed, up to 7 years for executives and managers and 5 years for specialistsSource: IRCC; if the transfer is to open a new subsidiary, the first permit is limited to one year. The detailed conditions are on IRCC’s page on intra-company transferees.

Francophone Mobility is a route few French employers know about. For a job outside Quebec, a company can bring in an employee who speaks French at an intermediate level (Canadian Language Benchmark 5, or NCLC 5 in French), with no LMIA and for almost any occupation. It mostly helps a subsidiary in Ontario, British Columbia or Alberta that’s hiring a French candidate. It doesn’t apply in Quebec, where a job that needs an LMIA also needs a Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ).

For an employee aged 18 to 35, a one- to two-year assignment may work under the Working Holiday (PVTPermis vacances-travail (Working Holiday permit)The French name for the Working Holiday permit: an open work permit for French citizens aged 18 to 35, issued under International Experience Canada.), an open permit that needs nothing from the employer, or Young Professionals, a permit tied to a job offer. The guide to visas for living in Canada compares all these routes, and the Canada visa finder points you to the right one in a few questions.

Does your employee stay on French social security?

Yes, for 3 years at most, as long as you apply for the posting before they leave. You apply online from your employer account on urssaf.fr, under “Travailler à l’étranger” (working abroad), or through the MSA for the farm scheme. The Urssaf issues form SE 401-01 for Canada, or SE 401-Q-201 for QuebecSource: Cleiss. You can extend beyond 3 years, but you have to ask before the initial posting ends, and the Canadian authorities have to agree.

Here’s where Canada catches people out: there are two different agreements. The France–Canada agreement only covers pensionsSource: Canada.ca: it exempts your employee from the Canada Pension Plan (CPPCanada Pension PlanThe federal pension plan funded by contributions from workers and employers across Canada outside Quebec.), and nothing else. The France–Quebec agreement also covers health care, workplace injuries and family benefits, so with the SE 401-Q-201 your employee and their family get access to the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQRégie de l’assurance maladie du QuébecThe agency that runs public health insurance in Quebec. Its French equivalent is the Assurance maladie, the “Sécu”.), Quebec’s version of the French Assurance maladie.

What comes off the paycheque in Canada?

The posting settles social security, but not income tax or employment insurance. As soon as your employee works in Canada, whoever pays them (your French company or the subsidiary) must open a payroll deductions account with the CRACanada Revenue AgencyThe federal tax authority, the equivalent of France’s Direction générale des Finances publiques., under a business number (BNBusiness NumberThe 9-digit number the federal government assigns to a business for its tax accounts.), the equivalent of a French SIREN. Every month, the employer withholds federal and provincial income tax and contributions and sends it all to the CRA; at year-end, it gives the employee a T4 slip.

These work like French social security contributions, only much lighter. In 2026, the CPP takes 5.95% of salary between C$3,500 and C$74,600Source: CRA, plus 4% up to C$85,000, from the employee, and the employer pays the same again. Employment insurance (EI, roughly France’s unemployment insurance) takes 1.63% of salary up to C$68,900Source: CRA, and the employer pays 1.4 times the employee’s share. With a posting certificate, CPPCanada Pension PlanThe federal pension plan funded by contributions from workers and employers across Canada outside Quebec. drops away; EI is still due, because no agreement covers it.

Quebec adds a second, provincial layer. Revenu Québec handles Quebec income tax and the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP), which replaces CPP. On top of that come the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) and the Health Services Fund. For workplace injuries, the employer registers with the CNESST; in the other provinces, workers’ compensation is provincial too (the WSIB in Ontario).

For short assignments, the CRA offers a non-resident employer certification: if the employer is covered by a tax treaty, it can skip tax withholding for employees who spend fewer than 45 days in Canada in a calendar year, or fewer than 90 days in any 12-month periodSource: CRA. On a multi-year assignment, your employee usually becomes a Canadian tax resident, and the guide to taxes in the year you move explains what changes on the French side.

Example: the pay of an engineer posted to Toronto

Assumptions (fictional example): Claire, an engineer, is posted for 3 years by her Lyon company to its Toronto subsidiary, in Ontario, with an intra-company transfer permit and form SE 401-01. Gross salary of C$90,000 in 2026, paid by the subsidiary; single, no other income.

So Claire takes home about C$70,800 after income tax and employment insurance, before anything she pays in France. But the posting isn’t free: the Lyon company keeps paying French social contributions on her salary (pension, health, unemployment), except the CSG and CRDS levies, which aren’t owed by someone who isn’t a French tax resident.

For a local hire, Canadian employer contributions on C$90,000 stop at C$6,219, under 7% of salary (CPPCanada Pension PlanThe federal pension plan funded by contributions from workers and employers across Canada outside Quebec. and EI), plus workers’ compensation and, depending on company size, Ontario’s Employer Health Tax. In France, the employer’s pension contributions alone (basic state pension plus Agirc-Arrco) already come to more than that percentage, before health, family and unemployment.

For an assignment of one to three years, the posting is still the right call: it avoids paying contributions twice and protects Claire’s French pension. Beyond 3 years, a local contract with the subsidiary costs far less. Before you decide, compare the two in the France–Canada salary calculator.

Vacation, overtime, notice: which labour rules apply?

Labour law is provincial. Each province sets its own employment standards, minimums that apply to anyone working there, even on a French contract. Your contract can offer more, but never less.

Canada’s statutory notice looks short from France, but outside Quebec the courts often award “reasonable notice” well beyond the minimum, depending on age and length of service; Quebec’s Civil Code has a similar rule. The France vs Canada cards on paid vacation and working hours put the figures side by side.

In what order should you do things?

The work permit is almost always the longest step: start with it.

If the assignment is your first step in setting up in Canada, the subsidiary has to exist and be operating before the transfer, so start with the guide to setting up a subsidiary or branch in Canada.