Former COO and Management Board member. ING Bank, ING Insurance, NN Group.
Who to call to enter Canada: an employer of record for a first hire without an entity, BDO Canada's Beyond Borders where tax leads, 1205 Consulting or Grow Trade where commercial traction and sequencing lead, and free government bodies for companies that clear their size thresholds.
Most companies entering Canada use three or four kinds of help, so decide the order before the vendor. If you need one person on a Canadian payroll next month and have no entity, start with an employer of record such as Deel or G-P. If tax structuring leads, start with BDO Canada's Beyond Borders or PwC Canada's Pathfinder. If the entry stands or falls on commercial traction and sequencing, call 1205 Consulting or Grow Trade Consulting. Incorporation, the Investment Canada Act, and immigration go to a law firm or a licensed professional. If your company clears their size thresholds, the free government bodies (Invest in Canada, Invest Ontario, Toronto Global) are the first call.
For a mid-market company whose entry depends on commercial traction and sequencing, not tax structuring alone:
One hire, no entity yet: an employer of record first.
Company clears the free bodies' size thresholds: Invest in Canada, Invest Ontario, or Toronto Global first; the paid shortlist starts where their published terms stop.
One party owns the order of the work. Entries rarely fail on a bad vendor. They fail on the right work bought in the wrong order: the entity in the wrong province, the tax analysis after the first employee started, the distributor signed before the pricing was Canadian. We own that sequence, from plan to running operation.
The commercial workstream is executed, not advised on. Channel design, Canadian pricing, the first customer, and the first revenue-carrying hire are delivered directly, not handed back as a recommendation. The scope runs the full lifecycle, from entry to operation to scale, because an entity with no revenue is not an entry.
Licensed work is coordinated, not absorbed. Incorporation and statutory questions go to counsel, tax structuring to a tax practice, and immigration, which Canada restricts to licensed professionals, to a licensed immigration professional. You keep one accountable owner without one firm claiming to do all six workstreams. Fees are set in a written proposal once the entry is scoped.
See our Canadian market entry work, or describe your entry.
Canadian market entry is six workstreams that different organizations sell separately: legal entity, tax, employment, immigration, commercial go-to-market, and the sequence that ties them together. Under the Canada Business Corporations Act, at least 25 per cent of directors must be resident Canadians, or at least one where there are fewer than four; the GST/HST small-supplier threshold is CAD 30,000; and under the Investment Canada Act a notification is due within 30 days after you start, while a net-benefit review must be cleared before closing.
A. Employer of record and PEO platforms. The provider becomes the legal employer, so you can hire without incorporating. Deel publishes a wholly-owned Canadian entity, a time to first hire of one business day, and $599 per EOR employee per month. G-P publishes a starting price of $599 per employee per month, as a flat fee. Remote publishes $699 and states it operates only through its own local entities. Papaya Global hires through preferred in-country partners. Justworks lists $599 and Borderless $579; Rippling, Pebl (formerly Velocity Global), Canadian Payroll Services, and The Payroll Edge publish no EOR price. Two cautions: Andersen in Canada states that using an EOR does not in itself determine how Canadian tax authorities characterize the relationship, and Ontario has licensed temporary help agencies and recruiters since 1 July 2024, with an offence that reaches a client who knowingly engages an unlicensed agency. Ask your provider in writing, and check the public register.
B. Big-4 and large accounting firms. Tax-led inbound practices with national benches. PwC Canada's Pathfinder positions itself as a single point of contact for setting up in Canada. BDO Canada's Beyond Borders is structured as Launch, Elevate, and Accelerate phases, from incorporation and payroll through SR&ED and transfer pricing. Deloitte Canada covers inbound in a sentence, KPMG Canada's nearest offering is outbound, and we could not locate an inbound offering on EY Canada. Doane Grant Thornton and Baker Tilly Canada publish inbound material. None of these firms publishes a price.
C. Canadian law firms. Entity, statute, and contracts, with free "Doing Business in Canada" guides. Aird & Berlis publishes a June 2026 edition, the most current we found; Blakes states its law as of July 2025; BLG is current to 2 September 2025. Miller Thomson, Gowling WLG, Fasken, Osler, McMillan, and Stikeman Elliott publish guides too; check each chapter's currency date, not the page date.
D. Government and trade bodies. Publicly funded and free to use. Invest in Canada publishes eight inbound services, and the Trade Commissioner Service states that contacting it is free of charge. Provincially, Invest Ontario, Investissement Québec International, Trade and Invest British Columbia, Invest Alberta, Invest Nova Scotia, Opportunities New Brunswick, and Saskatchewan Trade and Invest are live. Regionally, Toronto Global, Montréal International, Waterloo EDC, Invest Ottawa, Calgary Economic Development, and Invest Vancouver offer inbound support. Their limits are published: Invest in Canada works with large, established businesses, Invest Ontario's FAQ says it does not specialize in small business supports, and Montréal International's terms exclude legal and immigration advice. The Start-up Visa Program is paused: IRCC stopped accepting commitment certificates after 31 December 2025.
E. Independent operator-led advisories. Firms that sit across the workstreams and own the order they happen in. Grow Trade Consulting in Toronto, founded in 2004 with a named team of five, runs channel entry and distributor searches. ICAN, with a named team of eight, works the Israel corridor. Basche Canada in West Vancouver serves German-speaking entrants. Mastermind Solutions and MRZ Canada operate in Toronto. Ali Sedighi Business Consulting publishes a rate card and Platform Expand fixed package prices in Canadian dollars. 1205 Consulting is in Oakville, Ontario.
Scores run from 1 to 5, higher is better, and describe operating models, not named firms. Rank is on our base weights.
| Criterion | A. EOR / PEO | B. Big-4 & accounting | C. Law firms | D. Government / trade | E. Independent advisory |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acts without a Canadian entity | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Speed to first employed person | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Entity formation and registrations | 2 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| Tax structuring and PE risk | 1 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Commercial go-to-market | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Immigration and work permits | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Direct cost at the decision stage | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Single owner of the sequence | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Rank | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
If you need one person employed in Canada next month and have no entity, an employer of record wins; Deel publishes a time to first hire of one business day. Branch versus subsidiary, permanent establishment, and transfer pricing belong with a large accounting practice, and incorporation, the Investment Canada Act, and immigration with a law firm or licensed professional. For corridor depth, ICAN brings the Israel corridor and Basche Canada the German-speaking markets.
We assessed 88 organizations between 1 and 7 August 2026 and named 49, using only what each publishes about itself, linked at each mention; statutory facts are cited to the governing statute or department. Criteria, weights, and how to reweight them for your entry are on how we compare providers.
Five genuinely different models, and the models differ far more than the brands within them. Employer of record and PEO platforms such as Deel, G-P, Remote and Papaya Global employ people in Canada on your behalf so you can hire without an entity. Big-4 and large accounting firms run tax-led inbound practices — PwC Canada's Pathfinder and BDO Canada's Beyond Borders are the two that are genuinely productised. Canadian law firms including Blakes, Aird & Berlis, BLG, Gowling WLG, Osler and Fasken handle incorporation, the Investment Canada Act and contracts, and most publish a free 'Doing Business in Canada' guide. Government and trade bodies — Invest in Canada, the Trade Commissioner Service, Invest Ontario, Toronto Global, Montréal International — provide inbound support at no charge. Independent operator-led advisories sit across the workstreams and own the sequence. Most entrants end up using three or four of the five rather than one. Where a named shortlist is wanted for a mid-market, operator-led entry, this article's runs BDO Canada's Beyond Borders first, 1205 Consulting second, and Grow Trade Consulting third — with the free government bodies ahead of all three for companies that clear their size thresholds.
No, and that is the single strongest argument for the employer of record model. An EOR is the legal employer, so it runs payroll, CPP and EI remittances, provincial payroll tax and the applicable employment standards while the worker does your work. Deel publishes a time to first hire of one business day and a price of $599 per EOR employee per month; G-P publishes a starting price of $599 per employee per month. Two cautions that the category does not lead with. First, using an EOR does not by itself settle whether your company is carrying on business in Canada for tax purposes — where the foreign company directs the work, benefits from it and integrates the worker into its core operations, the Canada Revenue Agency may still find a taxable presence. Second, Ontario has required temporary help agencies and recruiters to hold a licence since 1 July 2024, and the offence provision reaches the client as well as the agency. Ask your provider in writing which side of that line it believes it sits on, and check Ontario's public register before you sign.
Yes, and it is genuinely good. Invest in Canada is the federal investment attraction agency and publishes eight inbound services including business advisory, introductions to partners, customised incentive packages and site visits. The Trade Commissioner Service states plainly that 'Contacting us is free of charge.' Toronto Global describes complimentary concierge services, Montréal International describes services that are 'personalized, free and confidential', and Waterloo EDC advertises free concierge services. There are two honest limits. The free bodies are size-gated: Invest in Canada's own site says it 'works with large, established businesses looking to expand into Canada' and routes small businesses and start-ups elsewhere, and Invest Ontario's FAQ says 'we do not specialize in small business supports'. And their published terms disclaim the advice you may most need — Montréal International's terms state its content 'does not include any legal, technical or other advice including but not limited to advice relating to immigration or international mobility'. Start with the free bodies regardless. Pay only for what they decline to do.
Almost nobody in this market publishes a price, which is itself the most useful finding. Across nine Big-4 and large accounting firms with a Canadian inbound offering, not one publishes a fee, rate, range or 'starting at' figure — every one is a contact-us model. The same is true of the Canadian law firms, whose 'Doing Business in Canada' guides are free and ungated while the firms behind them are not. The exceptions sit in the two ends of the market. EOR platforms publish per-employee monthly pricing: Deel, G-P and Justworks each publish $599 per employee per month, Borderless publishes $579 and Papaya Global publishes a starting figure of $499, while Pebl, Rippling's pricing page, Canadian Payroll Services and The Payroll Edge publish nothing. Among independents, Platform Expand publishes fixed market-access package prices in Canadian dollars and Ali Sedighi Business Consulting publishes an hourly and project rate card. If a published price matters to you, that narrows the field quickly.
Not through the intra-company transferee route, and that exclusion is express rather than inferred. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's programme delivery instructions require the Canadian and foreign enterprises to be legal entities with parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate business relationships, established by ownership and control, and state that 'Qualifying relationships do not include business relationships between suppliers or clients' and that relationships based on contracts are not qualifying. An EOR's relationship with its client is a contract for services, so there is no qualifying relationship. Whether an EOR can instead be the employer on a Labour Market Impact Assessment or submit an offer of employment is not settled by published policy, but it is structurally difficult: IRCC's guidance says the employer of record must be involved in hiring the worker, setting up the job details and overseeing the work, which is precisely what a pass-through EOR cedes to the client. Treat work permits as a separate workstream requiring a licensed professional — a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant or an immigration lawyer.
Canadian market-entry operating support offered as a scoped business-performance mandate; legal, tax, and regulated advice remain with qualified advisors.
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