You can register a money services business with FINTRAC without living in Canada. You either register your existing company as a foreign money services business, or you set up in Canada and register as an ordinary one. Either way the registration has to be in place before you serve anyone in Canada, FINTRAC charges no fee for it, and it says most complete applications are processed within three months.
This guide is for founders who run the business from somewhere else. It covers which of the two routes you're on, who can sit on the board of a Canadian company, how FINTRAC's process works today, and the parts that get harder when the owners live abroad: criminal record checks, a representative in Canada and the compliance officer.
Do you need to register if your company is outside Canada?
Yes, if you offer a money services business activity to people or companies in Canada. FINTRAC defines a foreign money services business as one that has no place of business in Canada but provides at least one of the listed services, such as foreign exchange, money transfers or dealing in virtual currency, directed at persons or entities in Canada.
"Directed at" has a concrete meaning. FINTRAC treats any one of these as enough on its own: marketing aimed at people in Canada, operating a .ca domain, or being listed in a Canadian business directory. A combination of weaker signals can also get you there, for example pricing in Canadian dollars, describing your services as available in Canada, or offering customer support to Canadian clients.
A licence somewhere else doesn't exempt you. FINTRAC is explicit that even a foreign business already registered or licensed with a Canadian province still has to register with FINTRAC.
Foreign MSB or Canadian MSB: which one are you?
The split turns on whether you have a place of business in Canada. FINTRAC's own indicators are that you're incorporated in Canada, that you have a physical location here, or that you have employees, agents or branches here.
Note the first one. If you incorporate a Canadian company to hold the business, that company registers as a money services business, not as a foreign one, and it takes on the questions that come with a Canadian presence, starting with where the business is actually carried on. We cover that in detail in our article on the physical office requirement.
If you keep operating through your existing foreign company and have nothing in Canada, you register that company as a foreign MSB. The PCMLTFA obligations still apply to you: a compliance program, client identification, record keeping and reporting to FINTRAC.
Can a non-resident own and run the Canadian company?
Ownership is not restricted by residency, but board composition can be, and it depends on where you incorporate. Under the federal Canada Business Corporations Act, at least 25 per cent of the directors must be resident Canadians, and a company with fewer than four directors needs at least one.
Ontario dropped its equivalent rule. The resident Canadian director requirement in section 118(3) of Ontario's Business Corporations Act was repealed with effect from 5 July 2021, so an Ontario corporation can have a board made up entirely of people living outside Canada. Other provinces have their own rules, so check the statute of the one you pick before you file.
The choice of jurisdiction is worth making deliberately, because changing it later means a continuance, not a form. We handle incorporation for MSBs with that decision made up front.
How does FINTRAC registration work now?
It starts with a short request rather than the full application, and runs in three steps.
1. The pre-registration form
You submit FINTRAC's request to register a money services business or foreign money services business. A FINTRAC compliance officer then contacts you and sends the registration form itself.
2. The registration form and documents
The form asks for your owners and senior management, the compliance officer, incorporation details where they apply, bank account information, employee numbers, estimated annual transaction volumes, detailed location information, documents that confirm the business exists and how it's governed, and the criminal record checks covered below.
3. Submission through a secure link
You send everything through a link from FINTRAC's Secure Document Transfer System or a Canada Post Connect message. The link expires within 15 days, and if nothing arrives in that time the application is closed. Have the full package ready before you ask for the form, not after.
FINTRAC only accepts complete applications. Its stated processing time is that the majority of complete applications are handled within three months, and that complex ones can take longer.
What changes when the owners live abroad?
Criminal record checks from your country of residence
FINTRAC needs a criminal record check for the chief executive officer, the president, every director and anyone who owns or controls 20 per cent or more of the business, directly or indirectly. The document has to come from a competent authority of the country where that person lives, and it must be issued no more than six months before you submit the application.
If it isn't in English or French, it needs a translation by a certified translator, with a signed certificate of authenticity carrying the translator's stamp or membership number. You keep these documents for at least five years. In practice this is the step that sets your timeline, because how long a certificate takes depends on the country and the six-month clock runs from the issue date.
A representative for service in Canada
A foreign MSB has to designate a representative for service who lives in Canada and is authorized to accept FINTRAC notices and inquiries on the business's behalf. Treat this as a working role. FINTRAC's questions come with deadlines, and a representative who forwards mail a month late can cost you the registration.
The compliance officer
FINTRAC's compliance program guidance does not require the compliance officer to live in Canada or to be an employee. It does require someone with the authority and resources to run the program and direct access to senior management. Whoever holds the role needs to know Canadian reporting rules, since your reports go to FINTRAC and your records must be producible within 30 days of a request. If nobody on your team has that background, the role can be outsourced to a compliance officer who does.
Which other registrations might apply?
Quebec runs its own licensing. Under the province's Money-Services Businesses Act, anyone operating a money services business in Quebec needs a licence from Revenu Québec, which decides only after receiving a security clearance report from the Sûreté du Québec. FINTRAC registration does not cover it.
If what you do is closer to payments than to money services, look at the Retail Payment Activities Act as well. It reaches payment service providers with no Canadian presence that perform retail payment activities for end users in Canada and direct them at people or businesses here, and registration is with the Bank of Canada, not FINTRAC. Our RPAA guide walks through who is in scope.
What happens after you're registered?
A registration is valid for two years and has to be renewed before it expires. Changes to the information you filed, such as a new director, a new owner or a new address, have to be reported to FINTRAC within 30 days. The renewal guide covers the timing.
Your compliance program isn't part of the application, but it has to exist and work from the day you start operating, because FINTRAC can examine it at any time. For a business run from another time zone, the bigger risk is a FINTRAC question nobody answers in time. Failing to answer a clarification request is one of FINTRAC's stated grounds for revoking a registration.
Foreign MSB registration FAQ
Can I register an MSB in Canada without living there?
Yes. Neither route requires the owner to live in Canada. A foreign MSB needs a representative for service who does, and a federally incorporated company needs at least one resident Canadian director, but an Ontario corporation does not.
Do I need a Canadian company to register?
No. A business with no place of business in Canada registers as a foreign MSB through its existing company. Incorporating in Canada is itself one of FINTRAC's indicators of a place of business, so a Canadian company registers as an ordinary MSB instead.
How long does FINTRAC take?
FINTRAC says the majority of complete applications are processed within three months of receiving the full package, and that more complex applications can take longer. Collecting foreign criminal record checks and certified translations comes before that clock starts.
Is there a registration fee?
No. FINTRAC does not charge a fee to register a money services business or a foreign money services business.
Can the compliance officer live outside Canada?
FINTRAC's guidance sets no residency requirement for the compliance officer. What it requires is authority, resources and direct access to senior management, plus someone who can meet Canadian reporting and record-keeping deadlines.
Where to start
Decide the route first, because it decides everything after it: which company applies, whether you need a Canadian board member and whether you need a representative for service. Then order the criminal record checks, since their six-month validity is the clock the rest of the application runs against.
We run FINTRAC registrations for founders in Canada and abroad, from choosing the route to the submission itself.
For an overseas company without a Canadian place of business, review our foreign MSB registration service.