Entrepreneurship in Ontario

The terms and Conditions of entrepreneurship in Ontario, Canada

A person who is an applicant for investment in the province of Ontario, Canada, has the option of investment inside the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) or the option of entrepreneurship and investment outside the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). In this case, there will be some differences for the applicant. Within the city of Toronto, the investor must prove that he or she has a capital of at least C $ 800,000 and that he or she intends to directly invest $ 600,000 of it in Canada. But this is not the only requirement for entrepreneurship in Toronto. The applicant must show that he/she has had business management experience for at least 2 years in the last five years.

It may be interesting to know that there is no age limit for applicants. Also, it is not necessary to present a language certificate with high scores, and applicants can start their business in this province by presenting a clb 4 language certificate. On the other hand, an academic degree has a positive effect on the assessment of applicants’ scores/points in Ontario, but it is not a mandatory qualification, and a person can easily invest in Ontario by having at least a diploma.

If the investor intends to transfer his/her capital to areas outside the great Toronto area, the amount of investment as well as the amount of assets will be reduced. In this case, the person must prove that he/she has a total capital of $ 400,000 and $ 200,000 of this amount is going to be invested in Canada directly. Even if you plan to invest outside of Toronto, it is a requirement for entrepreneurship in Ontario to provide/present a business management experience of at least two years in the past 5 years. The academic degrees, age limit and language certificate are not among mandatory requirements however the academic degrees have points for the applicant.

The important thing about investing in Ontario is that if the applicant’s activities are in the field of digital communications, information technology and other fields like these, the applicant can start his/her entrepreneurship outside of Toronto with his/her investment funds outside of Toronto; which means investing $ 200,000 and providing $ 400,000 in assets.

Because Toronto is one of Canada’s most popular cities, it has a higher population compared to other cities in Ontario and therefore the competition for entrepreneurship and getting a residence permit in this city is fierce. So if you want to increase your chances of succeeding in getting a residence permit in Canada and investing in Ontario, we suggest that you invest in large and advanced cities that are located outside of Toronto. As the name implies you will be investing in Ontario through entrepreneurship. Therefore, you should hire one or two citizens of Canada or someone who is a resident of Canada; In Toronto the minimum number of Canadian employees which the applicant must hire is two, and in other cities the minimum number of employees is one. Of course your business plan is very important in this regard, and keep in mind that the most important and influential factor in entrepreneurship is the investor’s business plan. Of course the applicant can apply for investment and entrepreneurship in Ontario in partnership business, but in order for the applicant to get a residence permit in this country at least one third of the business which he/she starts must be his/hers (one third ownership). The Ontario Entrepreneurship stream states that applicants must travel to Canada as a tourist one year before submitting their investment application and visit the city in which they intend to invest.

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Topics reviewed in this article:

• Getting a residence permit in Canada through entrepreneurship in Ontario
• The Scoring system of entrepreneurship Program in Ontario
• The process and steps of entrepreneurship and its costs in Ontario
• The Standards of Investment in Canada

Getting a residence permit in Canada through entrepreneurship in Ontario

12 months after the date when the applicant for entrepreneurship in Ontario receive his/her approval letter for his/her immigration program, he/she must be present in Ontario with a temporary work permit and within 7 days after he/she enters this province he/she must inform the government of his/her presence, and then he/she will be given 20 months to start his/her business. Because the applicant must have 10 consecutive months of job creation. During this whole time, the relevant officers observe the investor’s work process and make sure that everything goes according to the principles and rules. Finally, between 18 to 20 months after the entrepreneur arrives in Ontario, he or she must submit the final report of his/her business. During this whole time, the investor and his/her companions reside in Canada by having a work visa.

And if they get the approval which confirms that what is stated in the applicant’s business plan has been properly implemented, the applicant and his / her companions can get a provincial certificate and apply for a permanent residence permit in Canada.

The Scoring system of entrepreneurship Program in Ontario

Applicants earn points in three categories: business concept, investment and human capital. 200 is the maximum points that a person can get.

• Business concept

Business plan, market information (market research), significant economic benefit and key sector, investment allocation, location of business, job creation

• Investment factors

Net Worth, amount of investment, business-related visits

• Human capital factors

Business ownership, senior management, special work experience

The first factor of human capital: the owner of the business

In this section, at least 33.3% of the shares of the business must be owned by the applicant and he/she must prove that he/she played an active role in doing the business.

The second factor of human capital: high level management

In this part, a person as a manager should have a crucial role in making great decisions. For example, in the executive sectors, sales, finance, marketing, distribution, human resources, research, development and so on.

The third factor of human capital: specific work experience

The fourth factor of human capital: level of education

The fifth factor of human capital: Official Language Ability

The process and steps of entrepreneurship and its costs in Ontario

As mentioned, the applicant for entrepreneurship in the province of Ontario must submit a business plan and prove that this business plan is profitable for the economy of Canada and it can reach to a state of being profitable within a certain period of time. Therefore, in the first step of the entrepreneurship stream in Ontario the applicant must submit his/her application online and present his/her business plan. In the next step, this application should be reviewed/checked by OINP. In fact, the applicant must attend the interview in person which is held in Toronto OINP office and if his/her business plan is approved, a performance agreement will be signed. Based on this agreement a temporary work permit will be issued to the applicant by Immigration and Citizenship Office of Canada.

Once a work permit has been issued to the applicant, he/she will be given 20 months to implement his/her investment idea based on his/her business plan and implement his/her pre-determined plans in Ontario and report about his/her activities.

 If after 20 months according to the reports that have been submitted to the Government of Canada the applicant can prove that he/she has been able to get to the expected profit based on his / her business plan, the Government of Canada will issue a provincial certificate to the investor and his / her companions and based on this provincial certificate the applicant can apply for a permanent residence permit in Canada for himself/herself and his/her companions. As you know, in the process of migration the companion includes spouse and children under 18 years. While in the Entrepreneurship Program of Ontario, the applicant can have dependent children who are under the age of 22 as companion.

The Standards of Investment in Canada

One of the ways to evaluate investment and entrepreneurship in Canada is to look at the standards of investment in Canada. Standards such as the corruption control and the risk of confiscating the properties of foreign investors are among the standards which can help the applicants to check the economic and political conditions in Canada before investment and entrepreneurship in Canada, and then transfer their capital to this country.

• Risk of confiscation

 The risk of confiscation of property means that the destination country can confiscate the property of foreign investors based on the changes in political policies as well as changes in domestic and international laws. The property confiscation rate in Canada has been 1 which is the lowest property confiscation rate in recent years.

• Corruption control

When it comes to controlling the corruption, you see an interval between positive two and a half and negative two and a half (+2.5_-2.5). The closer this number will get to the positive two and a half, it means that corruption in this country has more control and therefore it is more suitable for investment. In 2019, this rate was equal to 1.77.