Every year Canada welcomes thousands of new residents as business immigrants. Under the Federal Business immigration Program a business person can invest in or start business anywhere in Canada and is expected to support the development of strong and prosperous economy.
Canada has three classes of Business Immigrants :
• Investors
• Entrepreneurs
• Self-Employed
Investor : - The Immigrant Investor Program seeks to attract experienced business people to invest in Canada’s economy. Canada intends to increase the investment to keep pace with the changing global economy and continue Canada’s program competitive.
Effective July 1, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has introduced a cap on the Federal Investor applications. As per the recently announced changes, a cap of 700 new federal investor applications has been put in place to improve the processing times for the category.
Annual Cap of 700 applications of Federal Immigrant Investor Program has been reached, as announced by CHC. The program now is closed and new cap will reset on July 1, 2012, unless otherwise indicated in a future ministerial instruction.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has changed the eligibility criteria of the program and with effect from 1 December 2010 new applications would be accepted as per the revised criteria.
In addition, the new applications received would be processed along with the old ones.
Entrepreneur :
With effect from July 1, 2011, CIC has announced a temporary moratorium till further notice on the Federal Entrepreneur applications, to improve the wait times of the program. It is further anticipated that the Federal Entrepreneur program is expected to undergo a review in the coming months.
The Entrepreneur Program seeks to attract experienced business persons, who would own and actively manage businesses in Canada, which will contribute to the Canadian economy and create jobs there. They must have a net worth of legally acquired Cdn$3,00,000 (including spousal assets). Entrepreneurs and their dependents are admitted to Canada under specific conditions and thereafter, are subsequently monitored by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) after landing.
Self Employed : Self-employed persons must have the intention and ability to create their own employment and make a significant contribution to the cultural, artistic or athletic fields in Canada or to create their own employment by purchasing and managing a farm in Canada. Previous self-employed experience in two years out of the last five years is required for determining the eligibility.