New Business Experience Clarification Helps Entrepreneurs and Their Immigration to Canada
Starting a new life in a new country is never easy. Individuals and their families who make this move are resilient and hard working people who can take advantage of programs such as the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) Entrepreneur Stream. This program helps those who are outside Canada who wish to set up new a business or buy a business in Ontario. The Entrepreneur Stream can help immigration to Canada as individuals and their business partners, if they have one, can be nominated for permanent residency once their business is established. Immigration lawyers in Canada highlight a recent clarification to the business experience criteria that may help those who apply to the OINP.
Business Experience
There are five minimum factors that need to be met for eligibility to the Entrepreneur Stream, first of which is experience. The guidelines state that the following requirements must be met by the principal applicant as well as their business partner if they have one.
● At least 36 months of full-time business experience in the last 60 months
● Experience must be as a business owner or senior manager
● And if the applicant has experience as both owner and senior manager, they must choose only one to use for their application. The experience they choose to use for the application should be the most recent or more relevance to the proposed business.
The other four factors include net worth, personal investment funds, job creation, and exploratory visits. Although meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee the acceptance of an application, however this can help with immigration to Canada. More information can be found on the Ontario Immigration website.
Clarifying Business Experience
The statement that entrepreneurs and their business partner (if applicable) are required to have a minimum of 36 months of full-time business experience in the last 60 month lacks clarity on what kind of experience is necessary and how recent that experience must be within 60 months. The clarification explains that entrepreneurs and their business partner are not required to have spent the last 12 months in either active general business administration or in an area of expertise related to the proposed business opportunity. This means that the most important experience is the full-time business experience for 36 months in the last 60 months.
This clarification provides individuals with a broader opportunity to apply their businesses experience to new ventures without being restricted to a particular field or type of business. Immigration lawyers in Canada can assist with OINP applications to maximize the possibility of acceptance.
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Arghavan Gerami
Arghavan Gerami is the Founder and Senior Counsel at Gerami Law Professional Corporation ('PC'), a full-service immigration law firm in Ottawa, Ontario. Since 2011, Ms. Gerami has focused her practice on immigration and refugee litigation. Prior to that, Ms. Gerami worked at the Ministry of Attorney General and the Department of Justice and had the privilege of serving the Honourable Mr. Justice M. Evans at the Federal Court of Appeal on immigration and administrative law appeals. Ms. Gerami contributes to the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Ms. Gerami has also published numerous journal articles and presented at various immigration and refugee law conferences and events across Canada.