Business Immigration

Federal business immigrants contribute investment, entrepreneurship skills and ideas towards strengthening the Canadian economy. The program was designed so that immigrant investors bring business capital to Canada, while entrepreneurs contribute to economic development through business ideas and skills that promote enterprise and employment creation.

Self-employed persons hold the intention and ability to be self-employed in Canada in such fields as athletics, cultural activities and farming, thereby making a contribution to specified activities in our economy.

•    To qualify as a self-employed person, you must have two years of relevant experience (cultural activities, athletics, managing a farm) and show that you intend to become self-employed in Canada.

•    You will then be assessed against five selection criteria (education, experience age, agility in English and/or French, adaptability).

•    You must also score at least 35 points to determine whether you will be able to make an economic contribution to Canada.

The Start-Up Visa Program is a five-year pilot program that was launched in April 2013 and is designed to attract innovative foreign entrepreneurs with the skills to create new companies that can compete on a global scale.

•    Your application to come to Canada through the Start-up Visa program will be assessed on a pass/fail basis.

•    You must have a Letter of Support from a designated angel investor group, venture capital fund or business incubator.

•    You must meet the ownership requirements for a qualifying business.

•    You must get scores of at least Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 in all four categories for either English or French, and

•    You must have an adequate amount of money to settle and provide for the cost of living prior to earning an income.

If these requirements are met, your application will be reviewed based on IRCC’s standard admissibility criteria, including health, criminality and security. IRCC may request an independent peer review to ensure that due diligence was performed by the designated organization that issued your Letter of Support.

The Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Program is a pilot program designed to target high net-worth business immigrants who will each invest $2 million to fill key financing gaps in the economy in support of promising Canadian entrepreneurs, with selection criteria designed to attract investors with the skills and abilities that will help their integration into the Canadian economy and society.

•    To qualify as an immigrant investor, you must be able to make a CDN $2 million at-risk (non-guaranteed) investment for approximately 15 years;

•    You must have a legally obtained net worth of at least CDN $10 million acquired through lawful business or investment activities;

•    You must meet or exceed Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 in English or Niveau de compétence linguistique canadien (NCLC) 5 in French for all four language abilities (speaking, listening, reading, and writing); and

•    You must have completed a Canadian post-secondary degree, diploma or certificate of at least one year, or the foreign equivalent as validated by an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA).

For all applications under this class, you must also meet basic admissibility requirements relating to health and security.