On April 11, 2018, regulations for the Start-Up Business Class (the “Start-Up Business Class”) came into effect. The regulations slightly modify the program that has been in effect since April 1, 2013. Both applicants as well as designated entities should be aware of the changes.
Self-Employed Class – What is Self Employment
To qualify for the Self-Employed Class in Canada, applicants must demonstrate at least two years of relevant experience in cultural activities, athletics, or farm management (for applications submitted before March 10, 2018). This experience must fall within the five-year period prior to the application date and extend until a final decision is made on the application for permanent residency. Eligible experience includes either two one-year periods of self-employment in cultural activities, two one-year periods of participation at a world-class level in cultural activities, or a combination of both. Similarly, for athletics, the required experience can be met by either two one-year periods of self-employment in athletics, two one-year periods of participation at a world-class level in athletics, or a combination of both. What is Self-Employment? The Self-Employed Class section of the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC“) website does not describe what self-employment is. However, the Canadian Experience Class section of the website provides the following: Determining an applicant’s employment status Applicants under the CEC must satisfy a CIC officer that they meet all program requirements [R87.1]. Any period of self-employment shall not be included in calculating the period of qualifying work experience under the CEC [R87.1(3)(b)]. As such, the … Read More
LMIA Exemption Code C-60
On December 15, 2022, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC”) updates its Labour Market Impact Assessment (“LMIA”) exemption codes. An LMIA is an opinion from Service Canada that the entry of a foreign worker will have a positive or neutral impact on the Canadian labour market. To obtain a positive LMIA employers must generally recruit for four weeks on prescribed websites, invite potentially qualified Canadians to apply, pay prevailing wage, and demonstrate other labour market benefits. The process is often difficult. Because of this, and other reasons, Canadian immigration legislation permits IRCC to issue work permits in certain circumstances without employers needing to obtain LMIAs. These are known as LMIA exemptions. For the most part the December 15, 2022 changes involve renumbering some of the LMIA exemptions and splitting previous LMIA exemptions into several categories. Future changes are expected. There were, however, important changes to the LMIA exemptions for provincial nominees in business programs and other entrepreneurs. These changes involve the introduction of “significant benefit” tests. Significant Benefit IRCC has always had an LMIA exemption for individuals whose work in Canada would generate significant economic, social or cultural benefits. Generally, economic benefits are benefits that would contribute to a company’s growth, … Read More
Self Employed Class – What Are Cultural and Athletic Activities?
Canada’s Self-Employed Class seeks to attract to Canada individuals who have the intention and ability to become self-employed in Canada. Self-employed persons are required to have relevant experience in either cultural activities or athletics and be willing and able to make a significant contribution to the cultural or athletic life of Canada. There was also previously farm management component of the program which closed on March 10, 2018. Eligibility – Athletics and Cultural Experience The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (“IRCC“) website states that to qualify for the Self-Employed Program applicants must show that they: have relevant experience; intend and be able to be self-employed in Canada; and can contribute to Canada’s economy in one of the required areas. “Relevant experience” under the Self-Employed Program means at least two years of experience during the period starting five years before a person applies for permanent residence and ending by the time the visa is issued. The experience must be: for cultural activities: two one-year periods being self-employed in cultural activities, or two one-year periods participating at a world-class level in cultural activities, or a combination of a one-year period described in (1.) above, and a one-year period described in (2.) above. for … Read More
What if You Created an Investor Program and No One Applied?
The following article appeared in the April edition of The Canadian Immigrant. ____________ On Jan. 28, 2015, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) launched the replacement to the federal investor immigration program, called the immigrant investor venture capital pilot program. CIC was apparently so confident about demand for the new program that it announced that it would only accept applications to the new program for two weeks, or until a maximum of 500 applications were received, whichever came first. It soon became apparent that no one was applying to the new program, and on Feb. 13, CIC quietly announced that it was extending its two-week deadline until April 15. The question thus has to be asked … has CIC created an immigrant investor program that no one is interested in? Old immigrant investor program Under the old federal investor immigration program, investor immigrants had to make a five-year $800,000 interest-free loan to the Government of Canada, have a net worth of CDN $1.6 million, and have two years of qualifying business experience. The program was first-come-first-served, and applicants were not required to possess any English or French language skills. In 2014, the Government of Canada ended the investor immigration program and … Read More
Self-Employed Class – Becomming Economically Established
Regulation 100(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 states: For the purposes of subsection 12(2) of the Act, the self-employed persons class is hereby prescribed as a class of persons who may become permanent residents on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada and who are self-employed persons within the meaning of subsection 88(1). Becomming Economically Established The IRCC Guidelines state the following about how officers should assess a person’s ability to become economically established in Canada. A self-employed applicant must demonstrate the intention and ability to create his/her own employment in Canada through cultural activities, athletics or the purchase and management of a farm. A person’s financial assets may be a measure of intent and ability to establish economically in Canada. There is no minimum investment level for a self-employed person. The capital required depends on the nature of the work. Applicants must have sufficient funds to create an employment opportunity for themselves and support themselves and their family members. This includes the ability to be self-supporting until the self-employment has been created. A demonstrated ability to support themselves and their family through their talents could be a good indicator of their ability … Read More
Government of Canada To Terminate Federal Investor Queue
Ever since the Federal Court dismissed a class-action lawsuit over the Government of Canada’s decision to terminate the Federal Skilled Worker Program backlog, many immigration practitioners have wondered if the government would do the same thing to the Federal Immigrant Investor Program (“FIIP”) backlog. On February 11, 2014, the governing Conservative Party of Canada stated that it would. The 2014 federal budget, called Economic Action Plan 2014, states that the Government of Canada intends to return and refund “certain” FIIP applicants who applied before February 11, 2014. The FIIP Under the FIIP, Canada offers permanent residence in exchange for a guaranteed $800,000 loan (before 2010, the amount was $400,000). The FIIP has long faced criticism. In 2010, Ryan Rosenberg, a Partner at our firm, wrote in The Canadian Immigrant that: Many savvy investors, like my client, look at a $400,000 investment without interest as a lost opportunity and, instead of investing the full amount, seek out financing from one of a number of government-authorized financial intermediaries (“banks”). For years now, the banks themselves, consultants and lawyers have promoted a financing option at $120,000. For $120,000, a bank will lend an investor funds required for investment under the program and facilitate … Read More
Changes to the Start-Up Visa Program
On October 25, 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) amended the Start-Up Business Class, and announced that the changes will take affect on October 26, 2013. The previous Ministerial Instructions respecting the program have been repealed. The Start-Up Business Class is a federal economic immigration program, and compliments the Federal Skilled Worker Class, the Canadian Experience Class, the Provincial Nominee Class, and the Federal Skilled Trades Class. The Start-Up Business Class will be open until March 31, 2018. Program Requirements A foreign national will be eligible to apply to the Start-Up Business Class if they meet all of the following requirements: The foreign national has obtained a commitment from either: a designated business incubator confirming that it is accepting the foreign national’s qualifying business into its business incubator program; a Designated Angel Investor Group of at least $75,000 in a “qualifying business” or two or more Designated Angel Investor Groups that together will be investing a total of at least $75,000 in a business; or a Designated Venture Capital Fund of at least $200,000 or two or more designated venture capital funds that together will be investing a total of at least $200,000 in the qualifying business. The foreign … Read More
Entrepreneurs No Longer Have to Report Terms and Conditions
On November 18, Citizenship and Immigration Canada released Operational Bulletin 360: Entrepreneur Terms and Conditions. Coming off the heels of the government’s decision to temporarily suspend accepting new applications in the Entrepreneur Program, the Operational Bulletin makes life easier for those Entrepreneurs already in Canada. Section 98 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations provides that Entrepreneurs must: Control a percentage of the equity of a qualifying Canadian business equal to or greater than 33 1/3 per cent; Provide active and ongoing management of the qualifying Canadian business; and Create at least one incremental full-time job equivalent in the qualifying Canadian business for Canadian citizens or permanent residents. As of February 1, 2012, active monitoring of terms and conditions for entrepreneurs will cease. However, Entrepreneurs will still be expected to comply with their conditions. Accordingly, on December 1, 2011 Citizenship and Immigration Canada will counsel approved entrepreneur class permanent residence applicants to meet the conditions. However, they will also be informed that they will only need to provide evidence showing that they met their conditions if specifically requested to do so by a Citizenship and Immigration Canada official. They will only be requested to do so if officers have a … Read More
Who are the Quebec Investors?
The Quebec government has data regarding the amount of people applying to immigrate to Canada under the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program. The data contains interesting trends about who is using the program. The first thing to note is the dramatic rise in the number of people applying to the program from June 2010 to January 2011, followed by the collapse in the number of applicants. Those familiar with Canadian immigration knew that the Quebec from benefited greatly from the close of the Federal Investor Program in 2010. This chart confirms that. It will be interesting to see whether there will be a similar increase in the number of applicants now that there is a moratorium on Federal Investor applications. The second thing, which was obvious to everyone familiar with immigration, is how dominant Asia and the Middle East are in terms of source countries for investor immigrants. What would be especially interesting to know would be the distribution of investor immigrants among the facilitator banks. However, to my knowledge, such data has never been made publicly available.
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