The province of Ontario has introduced new business immigration programs
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ONTARIO AWAITS BUSINESSMEN. Part 1 – Entrepreneur Stream
ONTARIO IMMIGRANT NOMINEE PROGRAM - CORPORATE STREAM
The essence of the program is that a foreign company submits an application to OINP (provincial immigration authorities) with a description of plans to expand operations in the province of Ontario. If such expansion brings significant benefit to Canada's economy and the company meets the program's eligibility requirements, then key specialists of the company will be issued a provincial nomination to obtain permanent resident status in Canada. An unlimited number of specialists can be brought in.
The program's eligibility requirements include the following:
• the company must invest at least 5 million Canadian dollars in a business in Ontario;
• the company must create at least five jobs for each key specialist for whom permanent resident status is sought;
• each key specialist obtaining permanent resident status must be an employee of the company and genuinely necessary for work in Canada;
• each key specialist obtaining permanent resident status must pass an English or French language exam at a level not lower than CLB 5.
In fact, this is a transformation of the previous Ontario Investor program (closed in October 2015), with an increase in the investment amount and formalization of the application and selection process (previously it was quite vague).
Unlike the Corporate Stream, which is aimed at a narrow circle of foreign companies, the Entrpreneur Stream is of great interest to anyone who runs their own business or holds a managerial position. As already mentioned, this is probably the best program for business people of all those in effect in Canada, and not only in Canada.
I would like to note the following positive aspects.
Apparently, this program is a prototype of what business programs will be like in other Canadian provinces and at the federal level. Since it has just been introduced, we can predict with a high degree of certainty that it will remain unchanged for the next few years, which cannot be said for programs of other provinces;
Since the program is completely new (introduced on December 18, 2015), there is no big rush for it yet, which significantly increases the chances of successfully going through immigration.
There is no doubt that there will be great interest in this program, and over time, processing will become more difficult due to a large number of applications. One must not forget that annual quotas are allocated for the number of selected applications, and the more popular the program becomes, the fewer chances there are to get through it. Therefore, the main recommendation is to act as quickly as possible, as such an opportunity will not exist for long.
It is important to understand that in the context of declining global demand for energy and natural resources, the main economic activity and growth of well-being in Canada will occur primarily in the province of Ontario as the industrial and financial center of the country, while in the western provinces and some Atlantic provinces the opposite processes will take place. Therefore, investments in a business in Ontario are the most promising.
It is also worth noting that due to the recent weakening of the Canadian dollar, investment amounts in US dollars are significantly lower than they were when the Canadian and US dollars were at par. For example, the minimum liquid assets requirement of 800 thousand Canadian dollars currently amounts to approximately $575 thousand US dollars. The same applies to the investment amount – the required minimum of 500 thousand Canadian dollars currently amounts to approximately $350 thousand US dollars.
Given that parity between the Canadian and US dollars may be restored within the next 2-3 years, it makes sense to take advantage of the current situation right now.
Most importantly, finally a clear, reliable, and quite affordable immigration program for business people has appeared in Canada. It is very important that it emerged in time for residents of the countries of the former Union, where the crisis is only gaining momentum, and from where it makes sense to move assets and businesses out as quickly as possible. The Entrpreneur Stream category of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) Business Category opens up good opportunities for this, which it makes sense to take advantage of.