Entrepreneurs are persons who have successful experience starting and running their own business. The Canadian government encourages people with these business skills to immigrate to Canada. This is a way to obtain Canadian permanent residence both for the entrepreneur applicant and his or her family, including any spouse and children under the age of 22.
Entrepreneur Immigration: Basic Criteria
For an applicant to qualify for entrepreneur immigration in Canada, the applicant must have a net worth of at least $300,000 Canadian dollars, business experience, and the intention to start a business in Canada.
The $300,000 net worth could be in the form of cash or it could be property. The assets of a spouse or common-law partner can also be considered in the assessment of net wealth. As a condition of the program, after immigrating the Entrepreneur must start a business in Canada.
Entrepreneur Immigration: Business Experience Requirement
Business experience means the management of a qualifying business and the control of a percentage of the equity in that business for at least two years in the five years before the Entrepreneur application and ending on the date a decision is made on the application.
A “qualifying business” is one that meets at least two of the following four criteria on an annual basis:
(a) The business employs at least two people on a full-time basis
(b) The business sales are at least $500,000
(c) The business net income is at least $50,000
(d) The business has net assets of at least $125,000
The above figures assume 100% ownership of the business. Where the Entrepreneur applicant owns a smaller percentage of the business and not the whole business, the figures must be adjusted upward accordingly to determine whether the applicant meets the minimum standards.
Entrepreneur Immigration: Details of the Application Process
An Entrepreneur application is a type of application for Canadian permanent residence. These applications are processed at the Canadian visa office that serves the country of nationality of the applicant. As part of the application it will be necessary to provide various supporting documents, including details of the entrepreneur’s business ownership and management experience, and details of the entrepreneur’s assets, including both cash and property, and the source of these funds. Other standard requirements include that the entrepreneur and his or her family members should pass criminal and medical checks. Altogether the processing of the Entrepreneur application will take approximately two years from the time the application is filed to the time the visa is issued. Once the entrepreneur obtains permanent residence in Canada, he or she and their family can live, work and study in Canada permanently, and can obtain Canadian citizenship after living in the country for at least 3 years.
Entrepreneur Immigration: Requirement to Start a Business in Canada
The successful Entrepreneur applicant will be issued a conditional permanent resident visa requiring that they start up a business in Canada and otherwise meet all related criteria. Specifically, an entrepreneur who becomes a permanent resident must meet the following conditions:
(a) control at least 33.3 percent of a qualifying Canadian business,
(b) provide active and on-going management of the business,
(c) create at least one full-time job.
The entrepreneur must meet these conditions for a period of at least one year within the period of three years after the day they become a permanent resident. If they do not, they could potentially lose their permanent residence.
Entrepreneur Immigration: How We Can Help
The law office of Matthew Jeffery, Barrister & Solicitor, has over a decade of experience successfully assisting Entrepreneur applicants and their families to obtain permanent residence in Canada. We can assess your qualifications to ensure that you will qualify prior to beginning the process. Once it is clear that you can apply, we will assist you to prepare all necessary forms and documents to ensure that your case has the proper information needed by the immigration authorities. We will then file the application for you, and process it including dealing with all correspondence from the visa office. We will also help you to get ready for any interview that may be conducted in your case. Our goal is to make the application process as efficient and worry-free as possible, so that you obtain permanent residence quickly and smoothly.
If you are interested in making an Entrepreneur application, please Contact Us for further details of the process and our law firm’s services.