Expanding a business into a foreign land or building a business from the ground up both come with unique opportunities and unforeseen challenges. With Canada being one of the most viable nations for business immigration, it is not surprising that thousands of people aspire to and successfully manage to reside and conduct business in Canada permanently. If you want a business visa in Calgary, HnH Immigration can help you.
Now let’s find out what the best business immigration pathways to Canada are:
Start-Up Visa
The Start-Up Visa Program is a federal permanent residence business immigration program set up for foreign business owners who wish to expand their business in Canada. For your business to qualify for the SUV program, it must satisfy some prerequisites.
Firstly, you must apply to the program ideally within 180 days of establishing the business and have at least one full-time employee at the time of application.
Secondly, a letter of support from a designated organization or an approved business group investing in your company.
Thirdly, you’d need to have $200,000 as disposable capital to invest in your business.
Lastly, the start-up visa applicant must have at least 10% voting rights in their company’s decision-making.
The success rate for SUVs is around 80% for business incubator programs and angel investors, but it declines sharply to approximately 45% for venture capitalist-funded businesses. The entire process of acquiring permanent residence through the Start-Up Visa program takes around 32 months.
However, you can move to Canada with your work permit within 3 to 6 months and complete the PR process once you’re already.
C11 Entrepreneur Stream
The C11 Entrepreneur stream is a federal, LMIA-exempt work permit for permanent residence given to foreign nationals who want to establish a business in Canada from scratch or invest in a Canadian operational business. It was mainly designed to stimulate the economy and transfer knowledge to Canadians.
The C11 Entrepreneur stream is a part of the International Mobility Program (IMP), which facilitates the recruitment of foreign workers in Canadian industries without a Labour Market Impact Assessment. (LMIA) It is a faster and more flexible path to permanent residence, requiring around 1.5 years to 2 years.
After the first year of operation of your business, you become eligible for Permanent Residence through the Canadian Experience Class of Express Entry, and another six months to a year is required for visa processing and acceptance.
During the first year, you’ll need a business tourist visa to reside and work in Canada.
There are a few eligibility requirements for the C11 stream as well. Firstly, an applicant needs to have access to $100k+ as capital investment for the business.
Secondly, the C11 work permit requires 50% voting rights for the applicant instead of 10% in the SUV program.
However, no letter of support from a designated organization is required, and the need to demonstrate the innovativeness of the start-up to Canadian authorities is eliminated. Want to know more about business immigration to Canada pathways? Reach out to us at HnH Immigration, one of the most reliable immigration consultants near you in Calgary.
