Ontario to come up with new changes for Entrepreneur Immigration

Ontario released new details of proposed changes to Entrepreneur Stream on April 19, 2019. In its budget, the minimum threshold for the OINP’s Entrepreneur Stream will be reduced by half or even more than half of the current requirements. The Ontario government says doing so will “make Ontario more competitive with other provinces” and expand the province’s pool of entrepreneurial candidates.

There are three main changes including the requirements of minimum net worth, the minimum investment, and the minimum number of employees.

If the business is established within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the minimum net worth will be reduced from 1,500,000 to 800,000; the minimum investment will be reduced from 1,000,000 to 600,000; and a minimum of two permanent, full-time jobs for Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada must be created. 

If the business is established outside the GTA or in the Information and Communications Technology / Digital Communications sector regardless of location, the minimum net worth will be reduced from 800,000 to 400,000; the minimum investment thresholds will be reduced from 500,000 to 200,000; and only one permanent, full-time jobs for Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada must be created. 

Immigration pilot for smaller communities

The budget also says the government would launch an immigration pilot program in smaller communities in the northern and rural area to bring highly skilled immigrants to these communities. It is like the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIPP), which allowed the four Atlantic provinces to nominate up 2,500 foreign workers and international students for permanent residence in 2018. The government says the pilot programme was aimed at “spread the benefits of immigration to smaller communities.” The smaller communities are those either a city with a population of 50,000 or less, located at least 75 kilometres away from the core of a metropolitan area of 100,000 or more or a city of up to 200,000 people that qualify as remote.

As one of the most popular provinces for immigrants, these big reforms will surely attract more entrepreneurs to Ontario. If you are interested in this program, you are welcome to contact our professional Canada Immigration Consultants for more information.