Overview
Circus allows both US-based and Canadian-based workers to onboard onto any production in North America. During onboarding Circus will automate the collection of all required details and documents, based on which country the production company is established in.
For this reason, and to generate certain documents such as the Form I9, please ensure that all required documents have been uploaded and all fields have been completed, otherwise, you will not be able to proceed.
Canadian Workers
For Workers who are working on a production established in Canada, you will be required to indicate how you're eligible to be work in the country.
By Birth
By Naturalization - Obtained date will be required
By Permanent Residency - Obtained date and permanent residency card upload will be required
By Work Permit - Expiry date and permit upload will be required
Are you an 🇺🇸 American or Foreign Worker, and working on a Canadian-based production? You can choose Eligibility to work via Work Permit. You'll need to upload your eligible work visa.
Then below, under Country of Primary Residency choose United States. This will allow you to bypass uploading residency documents.
CAVCO IDs
To be eligible for the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC), a production must meet requirements related to Canadian key creative and producer-related personnel. To demonstrate that these individuals are Canadian, producers list in their CPTC application the CAVCO Personnel Numbers, also known as CAVCO ID’s, belonging to these individuals.
Some productions may require you to provide a CAVCO Personnel Number (or CAVCO ID) and in most cases it's because the role you are onboarding onto is recognized as a key role such as Director, Screenwriter, first or second highest paid performer, Director of Photography (Cinematographer), Art Director, Composer or Editor.
The ID is 8 characters long, the first 3 being the the first 3 letters of your last name, the next one being the first letter of your first name, then a 4 digit series of numbers. For example, if your name was Jane Doe, the ID may be DOEJ1234. You can apply for a CAVCO ID here.
Primary Residence
For the purpose of claiming tax credits on your labor, productions will ask workers to confirm in which country and province they reside and pay taxes in.
For your primary residency address, click on the field, then begin inputting your address including your unit or suite number. Choose your address from the menu in the dropdown.
Note: The list of Canadian addresses are generated from Canada Post, however sometimes it's not entirely up to date. Use this article to help troubleshoot input or unique address issues.
Supporting Documents
On feature films and series, Circus captures proof of residency documents for Workers so productions can claim tax credits on their labor.
For anyone that is not a resident of Canada, you will be allowed to bypass this section completely, however if you are a resident, you will be required to upload up to 3 documents.
If you a Primary Document, which is your most recent Notice of Assessment (NOA) or a CRA Residency Opinion Letter, please upload this document. For clarity, if you're working on a production in the year 2024, the production may require you to upload the NOA that you received from your 2023 tax return to the Canada Revenue Agency.
If you haven't filed your taxes or have not received your NOA yet, please choose I Don't Have This from the dropdown menu. You will be prompted to upload Supporting Documents based on what Canada Revenue Agency or local tax credit agencies (such as Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) will accept to authenticate a worker's residency.
Click the Upload button and choose a document you possess from the list and upload it. You may be asked to upload 1-2 more documents from a list that updates in real-time, based on the combination that the tax authorities will accept.
NOTE: You can upload your Drivers License on the previous Offer License & Kits page. This will count towards one of your secondary documents.
To Delete a document, click on the Trash Can icon next to the document name.
You will not be able to proceed until all required documents have been uploaded.
🔒 Privacy Protection: Circus uses machine-learning to redact the financial details of all uploaded residency documents to protect your privacy.
American Workers
For Workers who are working on a production established in the United States, you will be required to indicate how you're eligible to be work in the country.
Citizen
Non-Citizen National
Permanent Resident - Alien Registration/USCIS Number will be required
Authorized Alien (work permit)
Aliens authorized to work must provide only one of the following document numbers to complete Form I-9:
Foreign Passport with foreign passport number and country of issuance)
Alien Registration/USCIS Number with expiration date
Form I-94 Admission Number
🇨🇦 Are you Canadian, and working on a US-based production? You'll need to provide your eligible work visa.
Primary Residence
Workers will be required to confirm in which country they reside and pay taxes in.
For your primary residency address, click on the field, then begin inputting your address including your unit or suite number. Choose your address from the menu in the dropdown.
Note: The list of United States addresses are generated from USPS, however sometimes it's not entirely up to date. Use this article to help troubleshoot address input issues.
Supporting Documents
So we can generate your Form I9 accurately, and based on how you're eligible to work in the country (ie. Authorized Alien), you'll be asked to upload certain documents.
Please choose one of the documents from the permitted list, then click Upload. If you do not have any documents available from the list, please choose I Do Not Have This. Circus will suggest a 1-3 additional documents, based on the combination that the I9 Form will accept.
To Delete a document, click on the Trash Can icon next to the document name.
You will not be able to proceed until all required documents have been uploaded.
Troubleshooting
I don't have the documents required
I don't have the documents required
If you don't have the required supporting docs from the list of drop-downs, reach out to the Production Office for insight on how to proceed. They may allow you to upload a different or even blank document in place of those.