As noted in a publication by "Russian Toronto", against the backdrop of a lack of convenient and successfully operating business programs in Canada, the changes planned in the province of Ontario make the province's business program completely unique and extremely attractive.
The situation with business programs in Canada
Historically, over the past 10-15 years, the attitude towards business immigration in Canada, including in the province of Ontario, has not been the most welcoming. The apotheosis of this attitude was the closure five years ago of the federal Investor and Entrepreneur programs, which were extremely popular. As a result, Canada suffered significant financial losses and missed out on an inflow of investments worth several billion dollars. Nevertheless, the programs were closed, and nothing was even offered in return.
The situation was somewhat alleviated by the existence of business programs in the provinces, but there are certain problems with them. It must be understood that most Canadian provinces are not very attractive for business, and living in them is not very comfortable due to climate conditions and a lack of cultural environment.
Moreover, the specifics of these provinces are such that everything there is mainly oriented towards traditional types of businesses, like fishing and seafood processing, and high technologies simply do not take root there. And the success of a new business in a new country is mainly based solely on innovative approaches.
Business programs also exist in the province of Ontario. However, as in Canada as a whole, there has been little enthusiasm from provincial immigration authorities regarding business immigrants until recently. And it's not even so much about the high entry requirements of these programs – which were the highest among all other provinces – but rather the overall negative attitude.
From our experience of communicating with the immigration authorities of the province of Ontario, we got the impression that business programs were of no interest to anyone in principle, no one understood why they existed, and there was a general sense of complete indifference. This is largely explained by the fact that the province has been ruled by liberals for the last 15 years, who are more involved in helping refugees and addressing humanitarian issues, while economic issues were of very little interest to them.
The situation changed after the conservative government came to power in Ontario last year, whose main slogan became "Ontario is open for business." At least, the new government made it its task to revive the economy, which includes easing business conditions and creating a favorable atmosphere to attract entrepreneurs from abroad.
Indeed, it is in line with this policy that the intention to amend existing immigration business programs and facilitate immigration of business people to Ontario lies.
Current Ontario business programs
Currently, the province accepts immigrants under two business programs:
• Entrepreneur Stream;
• Corporate Stream.
Regarding individual entrepreneurs, they are divided into three categories, depending on the type of business and the location where they plan to operate:
1) Individuals who plan to operate a business outside the Greater Toronto Area must have personal savings of at least $800,000 CAD and invest at least $500,000 CAD in the business.
2) Individuals who plan to operate a business in the field of ICT/Digital Communication must also have personal savings of at least $800,000 CAD and invest at least $500,000 CAD in the business. Under these conditions, they can operate a business including within the Greater Toronto Area.
3) Individuals who plan to operate a business within the Greater Toronto Area must have personal savings of at least $1,500,000 CAD and invest at least $1,000,000 CAD in the business. These rules do not apply to those operating a business in the field of ICT/Digital Communication.
In addition, they are required to hire at least two employees.
Regarding the Corporate Stream, an investment of at least 5 million dollars is required, and at least 5 employees must be hired.
As for the results, these programs practically did not work, which is explained quite simply – the programs had too high requirements, which seemed to indicate to immigrants that they were not really needed here, and if you are not a large company, you are not of great interest to the province. Another factor is the complete lack of interest from provincial authorities, which was felt with every inquiry about business immigration.
The essence of the proposed changes
The arrival of the new government has had a positive impact both on the attitude of immigration authorities and on their approach to business immigration. Firstly, there is a clear desire and overall focus of the government on boosting small and medium-sized businesses, which will create jobs. Secondly, the very fact that someone has seriously taken up immigration programs and developed realistic requirements that will be attractive to business immigrants speaks volumes.
It appears that it has been decided to keep only the Entrepreneur Stream for individual entrepreneurs. The second program, the Corporate Stream, will apparently be closed.
As for the Entrepreneur Stream, the requirements for the amounts of personal savings and business investments have been significantly reduced.
1) Individuals who plan to operate a business outside the Greater Toronto Area must have personal savings of at least $400,000 CAD and invest at least $200,000 CAD in the business.
2) Individuals who plan to conduct business in ICT/Digital Communication (information technology and digital communications) must also have personal savings of at least $400,000 CAD and invest at least $200,000 CAD in the business. Under these conditions, they may conduct business including within the Greater Toronto Area.
3) Individuals who plan to conduct business within the Greater Toronto Area must have personal savings of at least $800,000 CAD and invest at least $500,000 CAD in the business. These rules do not apply to those conducting business in ICT/Digital Communication.
That is, the amounts are reduced by at least half. In addition, under the new requirements, it will be sufficient to hire one employee for a period of at least 10 months if the business is planned to be conducted outside the Greater Toronto Area or it falls under ICT/Digital Communication.
Obviously, meeting the new conditions will be significantly easier, and many more people will be able to apply under this program with such reduced requirements.
Going through immigration under the Entrepreneur Stream business program
Although there are currently no clarifications from immigration authorities, it is highly likely that the process under this program will follow this scheme:
1. First, a business plan for the project to be conducted in Ontario is submitted to immigration authorities. If it interests the immigration authorities and they consider it promising for the province, the applicant will be issued a work permit.
2. The applicant and their family may enter Canada on the obtained work permit and begin conducting business in the province. Two years are allowed for this.
3. After two years, immigration authorities evaluate the results of the business, and if the outcomes are positive and the applicant has fulfilled their commitments, they will be directed to apply for permanent resident status in Canada.
At least, almost all provincial business programs in Canada operate under this scheme, and there is strong confidence that the Ontario business program will also work this way.
In this regard, it is important to understand the following. Currently, the focus is on preparing a business idea and its detailed development to make the business successful in Canada. This is not easy – besides high competition and language barriers, one must consider local specifics and have a good understanding of customer preferences and requirements.
Also, keep in mind that traditional and simple businesses, such as a restaurant or store, will not be accepted by immigration authorities as a project for business immigration. Therefore, something innovative but with chances of success must be proposed.
Generally speaking, in terms of paperwork and legal procedures, the business immigration process has become quite simple, and there is little need to hire an immigration consultant or especially an immigration lawyer. However, a business consultant plays a much more important role, helping to select a business, prepare a business strategy, create a realistic business plan, and assist in its implementation in the early years, based on which immigration authorities will decide whether you have fulfilled your commitments.
It is also worth noting the following: many mistakenly believe that if they ran a business in their home country, they will manage in Canada without outside help and do not need any advisors. This is a very strong misconception that can be quite costly.
Program coming into effect
For now, everything written above refers to the draft changes. They were announced as part of the presentation of the provincial budget for 2019, which occurred in late April. The end of June was tentatively named as the start date for the new program.
However, it must be understood that timelines may be postponed and conditions may change. Therefore, what is written in this article is a discussion of the preliminary version. Although practice shows that proposals usually do not change when implemented, details can only be discussed with certainty after the new program is officially announced as active by immigration authorities.
Overall, this program promises to become very popular. First, it allows settling in Ontario, which is already the number one choice for most immigrants, and for conducting business, it is the best place in Canada. Second, the entry requirements for this program are the lowest among business programs of all other Canadian provinces, making it unrivaled.
The only drawback of this program is the small quotas for the number of applications accepted. Therefore, those who wish to take advantage of this program need to hurry. Typically, new programs work well only for the first two to three years, after which problems arise, mainly due to the large number of applications. Then, either application intake is stopped or the program is closed altogether. And in the case of this program, there is no doubt that the flow of applications will be large, especially from China.
After the program comes into effect, we will prepare a detailed review of the official requirements. For now, we recommend paying close attention to it, as it provides a unique chance for immigration to Canada for people who wish to engage in business in this country.