Out-of-province corporations that carry on business in Ontario must file with the Ontario Business Registry — but the filing is not the same for everyone. A foreign (non-Canadian) corporation generally needs an extra-provincial licence (government fee $330). A federal CBCA or other-province corporation typically files an Initial Return instead, with no $330 licence. This guide keeps those two paths separate.
This is a practical map, not legal advice. Confirm the facts of your corporation with an Ontario lawyer or a qualified intermediary before you file.
Extra-provincial licence vs Initial Return: do not mix them up
Ontario uses “extra-provincial” for any corporation that was not incorporated under an Ontario statute. That label covers three legal classes under the Extra-Provincial Corporations Act:
- Class 1 — incorporated under another Canadian province’s statute.
- Class 2 — incorporated under an Act of the Parliament of Canada (including a CBCA company) or a Canadian territory.
- Class 3 — incorporated under the laws of a jurisdiction outside Canada.
Only class 3 needs an extra-provincial licence to carry on business in Ontario. Class 1 and class 2 may carry on business without that licence, but they are still extra-provincial corporations for the Corporations Information Act. They file an Initial Return (and later notices) with the Ontario Business Registry.
On the registry these are different buttons: Apply for a Licence for a Foreign Corporation versus File an Initial Return for an Extra-Provincial Corporation. Using the wrong one is the most common mix-up in this topic.
Ontario’s fee page (updated 1 April 2026) publishes the government amounts as:
| Filing | Government fee (online) | Service standard (online) |
|---|---|---|
| Extra-Provincial Licence (foreign / class 3) | $330 | 5 business days |
| Amended Extra-Provincial Licence | $150 | 5 business days |
| Termination of Extra-Provincial Licence | $0 | Immediate |
| Initial Return / Notice of Change (extra-provincial corporation) | $0 | 2 business days |
| CIA Annual Return (extra-provincial foreign corporation) | $0 | Immediate |
Intermediaries may charge their own professional fees on top. Those are not government fees.
When a foreign corporation needs the $330 licence
A class 3 corporation must not carry on business in Ontario without a licence, and no one may act as its Ontario representative until the licence is in place.
Ontario treats a corporation as carrying on business here if it has a resident agent, representative, warehouse, office or place of business in Ontario; if it holds an interest in Ontario real property (other than as security); or if it otherwise carries on business in Ontario. Merely taking orders or selling through travellers, advertising or correspondence is not, by itself, carrying on business under that Act.
A licence application is supported by, among other things, an Ontario-biased NUANS name search (dated not more than 90 days before filing), a certificate of status from the home jurisdiction, and an appointment of an agent for service. We are not publishing a NUANS dollar figure here because ISED’s public NUANS pages do not state a single government price that we could verify for this draft.
File online through the Ontario Business Registry. Mail is slower (the same $330 fee, ten business days on the fee page).
Until a class 3 corporation has the licence and a current agent for service, it cannot maintain a court proceeding in Ontario on its contracts. Fines under the Extra-Provincial Corporations Act can reach $2,000 for an individual and $25,000 for a corporation. Correct the default, then proceed — do not ignore the licence because “we only have a salesperson in Markham.”
When a federal or other-province corporation only files an Initial Return
A CBCA company that starts operating in Ontario is extra-provincial in Ontario’s vocabulary, but it is class 2. It does not pay the $330 licence. The same is true of an Alberta, B.C. or other provincial company (class 1).
What it does file is the Corporations Information Act Initial Return: name, home jurisdiction, head or registered office (street and number), date it commenced activities in Ontario, Ontario principal place of business if any, and the Ontario chief officer or manager if any. That return is due within 60 days after the corporation begins to carry on business in Ontario (or before a Business Names Act registration, if that applies).
The government fee for that Initial Return is $0. A Notice of Change is generally due within 15 days of a change, also $0 on the published fee table.
A class 3 company that has already obtained the licence still files CIA returns as well, including an Initial Return after it begins to carry on business. The licence does not replace the information filing; the information filing does not replace the licence.
For how federal and Ontario incorporation differ at the start, see federal vs provincial incorporation in Ontario. For founders who are not in Canada, see registering an Ontario business as a non-resident and the step-by-step how to register a business in Ontario.
Agent for service and a real Ontario street address
Class 3 corporations must keep, at all times, an agent for service in Ontario: an individual 18 or older who is resident in Ontario, or a corporation whose head office or registered office is in Ontario. The appointment goes in with the licence. If the name, address or agent changes, file a revised appointment.
The address on that appointment — and the Ontario principal place of business on the Initial Return — needs a municipality, street and number. A P.O. box is not a registered office. Corporations Canada’s Form 2 instructions say the registered office cannot be a post office box. The CRA says the physical business address cannot be a P.O. box.
A staffed Markham street address can fill that gap: 3601 Highway 7 East, suite 1005. That is a Class-A building with a real suite, used as a virtual office from $49 per month for mail and a public-record address. It is the address you put on the form. It is not an extra-provincial licence, not an “agent-for-service licence product,” and not a substitute for appointing a qualified agent where the Act requires one.
If you also need help choosing a structure and filing path, start at Ontario business registration. Use the virtual office as the street, and keep the licence or Initial Return as the government filing it actually is.
How to choose the path in one page
- Where were you incorporated? Outside Canada → class 3 licence ($330) plus CIA filings. CBCA or another Canadian province/territory → no $330 licence; file the Initial Return ($0) within 60 days of carrying on business in Ontario.
- Are you actually carrying on business in Ontario? Office, warehouse, resident agent, Ontario real property, or other on-the-ground activity — yes. Ads and travelling sales alone — maybe not, but get advice before you assume you are exempt.
- Do you have an Ontario street and, if class 3, an agent for service? Street and number; no P.O. box. Appoint the agent where required.
- File the matching OBR transaction, then keep CIA notices current.
That is extra-provincial registration in Ontario without blurring the two regimes. When you need a Markham street for the form, use a real suite on Highway 7 — and file the licence or the Initial Return as Ontario actually named them.