OINP Entrepreneur Stream

The OINP Entrepreneur Stream is an immigration stream under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program that is designed for entrepreneurs from outside of Canada. It gives entrepreneurs, interested in starting a new business or buying an existing business in Ontario, the opportunity to be nominated for permanent residence once their business has been established in the province. After the nomination, applicants can address the federal government through Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to get the final decision and become a permanent resident.

The OINP Entrepreneur Stream application is a two-stage process that starts with your registration of an expression of interest by email. If invited, you have to submit an online application and attend a mandatory in-person interview at the OINP office in Toronto. If your stage 1 application is successful, you will sign a performance agreement and get a temporary work permit support letter so that you can apply to IRCC for a temporary work permit. Then, during stage 2, you will be given 20 months to establish your business. If it meets all requirements of OINP Entrepreneur Stream, your documentation will be checked to make sure you are eligible for nomination for permanent residence in Canada. It is also worth mentioning, that you can apply for OINP Entrepreneur Stream with up to one foreign national business partner.

The mandatory requirements for the OINP Entrepreneur Stream include:

• your viable business that is likely to provide material economic benefit to the economy of Ontario as a whole or to the local Ontario economy where the business will be located;
• you and one business partner (if applicable) meet all the eligibility requirements of the Program;
• you have all the supporting documents to demonstrate that you meet the requirements.

To be able to apply for OINP Entrepreneur Stream you must have at least 24 months of full-time business experience (as a business owner or as a senior manager) in the last 60 months.

Those applicants, who plan to open their business within the Greater Toronto Area must have a minimum net worth of 800,000 CDN, and those who plan to locate it outside of the GTA must have a minimum net worth of 400,000 CDN. Regardless of location, applicants who propose businesses in the information and communications technology or digital communications sector must have a minimum net worth of 400,000 CDN. Personal investment funds and minimum equity are also obligatory - 600,000 CDN and control of at least one-third of the equity in the business located in GTA and at least 200,000 CDN outside GTA. Business in the information and communications technology or digital communications sector, regardless of location, demands the minimum personal investment of 200,000 CDN and control of at least one-third of the equity in the business.

To apply for OINP Entrepreneur Stream you must be actively involved in the management of the business with the primary purpose to make a profit, and not to derive interest, dividends, or capital gains. If your business will be located inside the Greater Toronto Area, you must create at least two permanent full-time jobs for Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and if the business will be located outside it or in the sphere of information and communications technology or digital communications sector, you must create at least one permanent full-time job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. It is also important, that these jobs are created within the first 20 months of establishing or acquiring the business, are filled continuously for at least 10 months, and with the median wage level for these positions.

Those OINP Entrepreneur Stream applicants who plan to purchase an existing business must make at least one business-related visit to Ontario within 12 months from the date of registering an Expression of Interest; this business must have been in continuous operation by the same owner for the previous 60 months and the ownership must be completely transferred to the applicant; must use at least 10% of their personal investment towards improving or expanding the business in Ontario and must keep all permanent full-time employees that worked in the business before the transfer of ownership.

General business requirements for OINP Entrepreneur Stream include a proper business purpose, that is to make a profit from active income through the sale of goods and/or services. The business must comply with all relevant federal, provincial, or municipal legal, regulatory and licensing requirements, including Ontario’s labor and employment standards laws. The business must be permanent, so all project-based and seasonal businesses are not eligible for OINP Entrepreneur Stream Program. Other ineligible types of business: automated car wash; holding companies; laundromats; pawnbrokers; payday loan and related businesses; scrap metal recycling; tire recycling; producing, distributing, or selling pornography or sexually explicit products or services, or providing sexually-oriented services; businesses previously owned/operated by current or former OINP business stream nominees. In the Greater Toronto Area, existing franchises in Ontario; gas stations, and bed and breakfasts businesses are also ineligible.

An authorized representative (an immigration consultant or lawyer) can help you with your Expression of Interest and application for OINP Entrepreneur Stream, they can also act on your behalf with the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. An expression of interest is the first step that does not demand a registration fee. The EOI is comprised of two scores: Self-Declared Score (126 points) and Business Concept Score (74 points), giving a total maximum of 200 Scores. To be placed in the EOI selection pool, your business concept will need to score at least 37 of the available 74 points (50%). Based on your EOI rank in the selection pool, you will be invited to apply.

If you are invited to apply for OINP Entrepreneur Stream, you will receive an email with instructions on how to submit an online application. You (or your representative) will be given 90 calendar days to submit the online application from the date of invitation. Those who are not selected within 12 months from the date of submitting their EOI, will be removed from the selection pool and have the option to submit a new EOI.

If you are invited to apply, you will need to hire a qualified vendor to review your personal net worth and legal accumulation of funds to produce a report of your personal net worth and its legal accumulation. You must have an OINP file number before you start the process. You will receive it with your invitation to apply. Then, you must provide and upload the documents that support your EOI information and the application.

The OINP application fee is 3,500 for you and 3,500 for your business partner (if you have one). You can complete the application yourself or have a representative complete it on your behalf through the OINP e-Filing Portal. If your application is complete and meets program criteria, you and your business partner (if applicable) will be required to attend an obligatory in-person interview at the OINP office in Toronto.

After the successful completion of stage 1, applicants will be asked to sign a performance agreement with the Government of Ontario. It will outline the commitments that must be met in order to be nominated for permanent residence and include a description of the business; investment amounts and timelines; number and types of jobs to be created; mandatory business milestones and achievements; timeframes and some other aspects. It is also worth mentioning, that those applicants who are being refused may ask for an internal review.

After the performance agreement with the Government of Ontario is signed, OINP will issue a letter of confirmation, enabling you to apply to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada for a temporary work permit. It is important to arrive in Ontario with your valid temporary work permit within 12 months from the date you received your letter of confirmation and implement your business within 20 months. 

OINP officers will monitor your business to make sure you meet the obligations under your performance agreement and provide quarterly and final reports to OINP. If the final report is successful, the applicant must fulfill the following nomination requirements: 

• must be able to listen, read, write and speak English or French at a Canadian Language Benchmark Level 4;
• must be physically living in Ontario for 75 percent of the time during which the business is establishing;
• must be actively involved in the day-to-day management activities of the business.

If your application for nomination is successful, you will receive a Letter of Nomination and an OINP Entrepreneur Stream Certificate of Nomination, that allows you to apply within six months for permanent residence to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada. If you are not nominated, you may ask for an internal review.

Post-nomination monitoring will continue for a period of 36 months to ensure that nominees are meeting the OINP Entrepreneur Stream criteria up until the granting of permanent residence.

 

Regards,

International Experience Club

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