Here are business immigration options for foreign entrepreneurs who want to establish a business in British Columbia (B.C.). Successful candidates receive British Columbia’s province nomination, supporting them (and/or their staff) to become Canadian permanent residents. Below are the 2 streams within the British Columbia Entrepreneur Immigration that are currently open.
British Columbia (B.C.) Entrepreneur Regional Pilot
Applicants must be referred by a province’s participating community within the program. To be referred, candidates need to make an exploratory visit and meet the community’s program representative. This program operates on the Expression of Interest system. When candidates have a referral from the participating communities, they can register their profiles and submit their EOI. Note that this program has an application fee of $300.
Eligibility: You must have
- eligible new business aligned with the priorities of the referring community
- have a personal net worth of at least CAD$300,000
- make an eligible personal investment of at least CAD$100,000 in the business
- create at least one new full-time job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- demonstrate a minimum language proficiency of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 4
- show business and/or management experience
- have, or be eligible for, legal immigration status in Canada.
British Columbia Strategic Projects
This stream is for foreign-owned companies wishing to establish their branch and operations in British Columbia. For this stream, companies need to demonstrate their ability to generate yearly revenue and manage large staff.
To succeed, companies need to move their key staff to British Columbia to oversee proposed operations. After establishing business operations and getting provincial nomination, up to five of its current senior employees will become eligible for permanent residency.
Foreign Corporation Must:
- be well-established and in good financial standing
- demonstrate investment readiness and capacity for international expansion into B.C.
- provide significant economic benefit to the province by making a high value investment in B.C.
- make a minimum equity investment of at least $500,000 directed toward the corporation’s operations in B.C.
- establish new or purchase and expand an eligible business in B.C.
- create at least three new full-time equivalent jobs for Canadian citizens or permanent residents for each foreign key staff member proposed (to a maximum of five key staff)
List of Ineligible Businesses For B.C. Strategic Projects
- an immigration-linked investment scheme pursuant to Provincial Immigration Programs Regulation section 6(e) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR) section 87(5)(b) and as defined in IRPR 87(9)
- any business where the terms of investment include a redemption option pursuant to IRPR 87(6)(d)
- any business that may be a passive investment pursuant to IRPR 87(6)(c)
- bed and breakfasts, hobby farms and home-based businesses
- payday loan, cheque cashing, money changing and cash machine businesses
- pawnbrokers
- tanning salons
- DVD rental stores
- coin-operated laundries
- automated car wash operations
- scrap metal recycling
- businesses selling used goods (excluding businesses that provide value-added services such as repairs, refurbishing or recycling)
- real estate development/brokerage, insurance brokerage or business brokerage
- businesses involved in producing, distributing or selling pornography or sexually explicit products or services, or providing sexually oriented services
- any other type of business that by association would tend to bring the BC PNP or the Government of British Columbia into disrepute
**Please note that The Entrepreneur Immigration – Base category is not discussed in this article because it temporarily paused and not accepting new registrations at this time. As per B.C., this category is projected to be re-opened to new intake in July 2022 with modifications. We will post on our website once this category reopens.