OVERVIEW - PROCESSING TIME

 Persons who:

intend to reside in a province/territory other than Quebec

have the support of a Canadian business entity, in the form of a Commitment Certificate meet/exceed the minimum language proficiency threshold set by the Minister for each of

the four language skill areas

have completed at least one year of post-secondary education; and

have sufficient funds to economically establish themselves in Canada

Settlement funds – applicant must demonstrate that they have funds that are available, transferable and unencumbered by debts or other obligations. Amount of funds is assessed according to the applicant’s family size.

✦CLIENT INTAKE PROCESS: ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPANIES

• No more than five essential persons per business proposal

✦ “Essential person”: foreign national considered by the designated entity to be essential

to the business being established under the program.

✦ If the application for an essential person is refused for any reason, all other applications related to that commitment must also be refused

• Applicant must hold 10% or more of the voting rights attached to all the shares of the

corporation outstanding at the time the commitment is made

• No persons or entities, other than qualified participants, hold 50% or more of the total

amount of the voting rights attached to all the shares of the corporation outstanding at the time the commitment is made

“Qualified participants” include: an applicant in respect of the business, a designated business incubator/angel investor group/VC fund or a foreign national who has been issued a permanent resident visa under the Startup Visa

  ✦APPLICATION PROCESS: FORMS TO BE COMPLETED BY THE APPLICANT

• Generic Application Form for Canada – IMM 0008E

•Additional Dependants/Declaration - IMM 0008DEP

• Schedule A - Background/Declaration – IMM 5669

• Supplementary Information – Your Travels – IMM 5562

• Additional Family Information – IMM 5562 IMM 0008

• Schedule 13 - Business Immigration Programs - Startup Business Class - 0008 • Letter of Support (provided by designated entity)

 APPLICATION PROCESS: FORMS TO BE COMPLETED BY DESIGNATED ENTITY

• Commitment Certificate 
 

o Summarizes pertinent details of the agreement between the designated entity and the applicant
 

o Designed to facilitate CIC’s determination as to whether the applicant meets the specific requirements to qualify as member of the Start-up Business Class
 

o Provides an opportunity to indicate whether work permit is essential
 

o Sent directly from the designated entity to CIC via entrust
 

• Letter of Support 
 

o Automatically generated after completion of commitment certificate and provided to the applicant for submission
 

• Term Sheet 
 

o To be submitted by designated entity along with Commitment Certificate

 APPLICATION PROCESS: TERM SHEET

• The agreement made by a designated entity must:

✦ identify the applicant;

✦ confirm that the applicant’s qualifying business has been accepted into its business

incubator program;

✦ specify the period of time for which the applicant will be in the business incubator

program if such a period has been established;

✦ describe the nature of the business operations to be carried out by the applicant; 

✦ describe the applicant’s role in the business

✦ name and function of person who holds or is expected to hold an interest in the

business (ie. shares, voting rights, BoD)

 APPLICATION PROCESS: TERM SHEET

✦ confirm that it has performed a due diligence assessment of the applicant and the business; ✦specify any terms and conditions applicable to its business incubator program or to the

commitment;

✦ confirm that the business it has accepted into its business incubator program is a qualifying

business;

✦ qualified participants own 50% or more of the voting rights (as per section 7(1)(b) of the

MIs)

• Eg. The applicant may be the child of a wealthy overseas industrialist who has bought

a significant number of shares and is investing large sums into the applicant’s intended business venture. This could raise concerns that the parent will be the de factor controlling interest while the applicant will simply be acting on the latter’s instructions

 APPLICATION PROCESS: WORK PERMIT

• Where the designated entity considers it critical that an essential applicant come to Canada before they obtain permanent resident status in order to expedite the establishment of the start-up business, they may indicate their support for the applicant’s work permit application. 
 

• This support will also be reflected in the letter of Support provided to the applicant

 APPLICATION PROCESS: FEES

Applicants are required to pay two fees to the Government of Canada: 
 

1) Cost Recovery Fee

• payable by applicant + family members at the time application is made
 

2) Right of Permanent Residence Fee

• payable by applicant + family members prior to issuance of permanent residence documents

 POST-APPLICATION: PEER REVIEW

• Process is designed to ensure that the deals made between private sector partners and foreign entrepreneurs are legitimate

• Review of term sheet and other relevant supporting documentation and application package

• Ensure due diligence was performed by designated entity and that the agreement is consistent with industry standards

• Officers still assess the information and render a decision based on their own findings

• Authority to make a final decision on the case rests with the officer

  THE PROGRAM DIFFERENCE

✓ Irrevocable PR status even if business fails;