Canadian Immigrant Investor Program: Business Immigration to Canada and Quebec

In Canada there are two Immigrant Investor Programs (aside from those offered under the Provincial Nominee Programs or PNP Programs).

The two programs are called the Canadian Federal Investor Immigration Program and the Canadian Quebec Federal Investor Program.

Federal Immigrant Investor Program Criteria

Net Worth (assets minus liabilities)

  • Must have minimum of CAD$800,000 in net worth
  • May include in the net worth all assets owned by the applicant and the applicant’s spouse

Managerial Experience

The potential candidate must meet one of the two following criteria:

  • Within the last five years before the date of the interview, the candidate must have managed the equivalent of five full-time employees per year for a period of at least two years

OR

  • Within the last five years before the date of the interview, the candidate must have owned or managed a business for at least two years and must meet any of the two following requirements:

Requirement

  1. Percentage of Business Ownership     100%    50%    33.3%
  2. Employees    2    4    6
  3. Annual Sales ($)    500,000    1,000,000    1,500,000
  4. Annual Net Income ($)    50,000    100,000    150,000
  5. Net Assets at Year End    125,000    250,000    375,000

Investment

The candidate must secure a passive investment of $CAD 400,000 on a five-year term through an authorized immigration program facilitator or provide a one-time down payment of $CAD 120,000.

Quebec Investor Program Criteria

Net Worth (assets minus liabilities)

  • Must have minimum of CAD$800,000 in net worth
  • May include in the net worth all assets owned by the applicant and the applicant’s spouse
  • If the candidate wishes to include the spouse’s assets, the candidate must show as much or more than his accompanying spouse in net assets (or not more than 50% of the assets may come from the spouse)

Management Experience

  • Must have 2 years of business management experience in the last 5 years and must have managed the equivalent of two full time employees
  • Candidates who hold high management positions with delegated authority may qualify (namely professionals like doctors, lawyers, and accountants) as long as they are not wage earners and have the authority to run a business

Investment

The candidate must secure a passive investment of $CAD 400,000 on a five-year term through an authorized immigration program facilitator or provide a one-time down payment of $CAD 120,000.

Note that there has been some changes to the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program. See here for details.

For more information about either the Federal or Quebec Investor program, contact us for help.

Michael Niren

About Michael Niren

Michael is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section and the Associate Member of the American Bar Association. Read more

  • Mahmoud El Kara

    Gents ,

    Good Day ,

    My name is Mahmoud El Kara ,i`m Lebanese living in jeddah and looking forward to settle in canada with my family and to open my own business .

    If you can be helpful with that please send me your contact info. to my email above .

    Best Regards,

    • Michael Niren

      Thank you for your reply. We certainly will contact you to assist you.
      Best Regards
      Michael Niren

  • You may be well served to apply under the Investor Category this time as there is no Terms and Conditions associated with these applications. If approved, you do not have to establish or maintain a Canadian business in order to secure your permanent residency. Provided you meet the qualifications as an Investor immigrant, I would consider this to be a viable option for you.

  • M.Said Tinawi

    My Immigration History
    My name is M.Said. I am Syrian,50 years old ,working as a commercial manager for a lubricant recycling co..in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
    I have applied for immigration to Canada together with my wife and 2 kids Adel and Diala in mid of 1991 through the Canadian Embassy in Bonn-Germany. My application was approved and I received my Conditional Landed Immigrant visa beginning of 1995. By that time I was divorced with my wife and she was no more interest to immigrate to Canada. She took the custody of my 2 kids and I have informed the Canadian Embassy and proceeded with my immigration to Canada as a single person. I arrived to Canada on the 27th of April 1995 to work as an Entrepreneur .
    In the year 1991, I have invested an amount of $500,000 in a Canadian company. I was hoping that this investment will help me in my new future business plans when I immigrated to Canada. Unfortunately it turned to be a losing venture which made my investment worth about 10% of it’s value. I couldn’t my loss get it back unless the company is sold. I was misled by the Company’s management when I put my investment in which made me start a legal action against them. I have informed Canada immigration officer in London Ontario where I was living about my situation and disability to raise more funds to start another business in Canada as my visa was conditional and I have to clear that condition. The office did not want to give me any more extension on my visa.
    Since I landed in Canada in April 1995 until 1999 I have tried to promote the interest of many Canadian companies in the Middle East in many different fields trying to cover my expenses and make my living.
    In June 1998 I have decided with my Ex-wife to re marry her again to stop the suffering of our kids which they were very much emotionally harmed between me and her , so we did come back together and decided to go back to Saudi Arabia as I worked for 2 Canadian companies in Saudi Arabia trying to develop their business.

    From the year 1999 I did not go back to Canada as I have lost hope to remove the visa conditions and due to my family and job commitment in Saudi Arabia .
    In 2006 my investment in that company is released with a good profit as it was stuck for about 15 years. My family wants to immigrate and live in Canada provided I could re fresh my residency which will make it easy for the whole family to join me later .
    Now I have the financial possibly to start new business in Canada after my investment is released Do you think I can get back my residency and bring my family with me ? Or I should apply from the beginning again under Quebec investor program or any other province which could be processed very fast.
    Regards
    M.S.T.

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