Canada Foreign Investors Visa with Automatic Permanent Resident Status
Are you nostalgic? You may not be new to Canadian immigration. Yes, the good old days when you would pay a $100,000 Canadian security deposit to provinces like Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, or New Brunswick and arrive in Canada with PR through the Provincial Entrepreneur program.
An exploratory trip, interview, business plan, and proof of funds were all you needed to be selected for PR processing to arrive with your family in Canada (not a work permit). If you started and ran the business in the province, you would receive the security deposit refund after a certain time, or you could forfeit it, do nothing, and live in Canada in any region you wanted.
No more. The Canadian government realized that most applicants did not want to start or run a business in provinces with these programs. Foreign entrepreneurs and investors may feel too much risk, which is fair. As of today, all those programs are closed, including the Quebec investor program, which is the only official passive investment program in Canada (unless you speak French).
We have good news for 45, 50, and 62-year-olds who think they can never get enough Express Entry points or a Canadian PR on arrival. It’s achievable.
Today, we’ll discuss how eligible applicants can get PR on arrival or faster for business and investment immigration to Canada.
Is Canada PR available upon arrival?
You can. If eligible, PR on arrival or within a few months, no work permit renewal.
We will explain the process. We’ll make everything easy to understand. Anyone can do it if they know where to find the information.
Starting or owning a large Canadian business qualifies for Express Entry’s CRS arrange employment points.
The owner/operator program is open, despite popular belief. The criteria have changed and the strictness of applicant evaluation is being questioned.
Canada PR on arrival requirements
Basic requirements:
- The main applicant must have 290 Express Entry points.
- Buy or start a big Canadian business based on your ties. This method requires an operation. If it’s not an operational business yet, we’ll explain your options and how big it needs to be at the end.
- You or your attorney must invest in the business to complete a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). This owner/operator LMIA is still open, despite popular belief.
- You will apply for your work permit under this Labour Market Impact Assessment from inside or outside Canada after LMIA approval. The LMIA will be for a National Occupation Classification code of 00 (double zero), and your work permit will be for a NOC 00 position after 4-6 months of processing, which is the maximum Express Entry point.
- As soon as you receive the work permit, you will upload the valid job offer to your Express Entry profile and if you have 290 points (less or more), you will have 490 points and be selected and receive an invitation to apply (ITA) for your PR, including your eligible dependents.
- Express Entry PR takes 6 months worldwide.
- Your PR will be ready before you arrive in Canada or with your work permit.
Why is the Owner/operator LMIA still open?
Owner/operator LMIA’s fine print:
LMIA approvals for applicants who invest in a substantial business and receive NOC 00 positions continue. One major exception. LMIAs in support of permanent residence are filed with Employment & Social Development Canada (ESDC) New Brunswick, which rejects LMIAS that require investment and only approves NOC 00s for companies with 50–500 employees.
They say IRCC told them to prevent business applicants from getting PR (200 points) by investing in a business! A group of RCICs requested policy guidance from ESDC (Employment & Social Development Canada) under the Access to Information & Privacy Act in Canada and found nothing to support their claim, which would indicate that they are imposing these rules on their own, which is contrary to published ESDC policies. You can quote such decisions to ESDC:
Hazel Sevilla, IMM-3726-17, 2018 FC 424, April 19, 2018.
This case states that an officer cannot arbitrarily impose conditions not supported by the Act and Regulations and other accepted public definitions.
You can also cite Warsaw’s recent rejection of 108 self-employed applications due to unannounced rule changes that contradicted published policies:
Docket: IMM-2767-18
Citation: 2022 FC 1089
SANAM NEZAMI TAFRESHI (and others) vs. Immigration Minister
These New Brunswick applications were filled in support of:
- ESDC offices have approved them.
This means that either your lawyer or immigration consultant knows how to navigate this and has the resources and legal knowledge to fight it to claim your 200 points, or they’ll tell you it’s closed, which is sad.
Be careful to use the right language in your Offer of Employment for Express Entry Arranged Employment Points.
IRPR82(1) states:
In this section, arranged employment means an offer of employment by a single employer other than an embassy, high commission, or consulate in Canada or an employer referred to in any of subparagraphs 200(3)(h)(i) to (iii) for continuous full-time work in Canada for at least one year after a permanent resident visa is issued in an occupation listed in Skill Type 0 Management Occupations.
Before accepting the Express Entry invitation, amend any Offer of Employment that does not include this language.
Also, All EE applicants claiming Arranged Employment points must comply.
The owner/operator program continues. It’s alive, but you have to fight for it and follow ESDC’s LMIA regulations.
What business size is required?
How big must the business be? It has to be operational, not just a business plan for the PR on arrival to work, otherwise, you can be inside Canada with a work permit, run yourself on the payroll as a NOC 00 for a year, then claim the job offer and 200 points.
As a managing director or CEO, you need at least one middle manager for a NOC 00. Use business common sense to determine how many staff need middle managers, usually 6-8. If you don’t know what a middle manager is or how many staff they manage, you may not be right for this program.
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