midgetgem

Looking for some help please and my kids are not allowing me peace to read all the threads! We have many combined skills but not the kind that would class us as skilled workers. We would need to enter the country by purchasing a business. The $300 000 that would be required - is that negotiable in any way? We have added all our assets and we will be slightly short of that figure. We have also had a few near misses with agencies trying to get money up front - any help would be greatly appreciated.

Canadian Citizen

A bit more info about your past work history and your current ages, would help me to point you towards a better answer.

Coming as a "investor " class of applicant is hard to do. The money is only one obstacle. You also have to have " direct and recent " management experience, running a company .

A better way may be the work permit option. This takes less time than the Permanent Resident route which is now backlogged for up to 3 or 4 years. UK residents can come to visit Canada, for a vacation, to check things out, without a visa. Just need a valid UK passport and a return air ticket.

On a work permit, you are able to work here, see how you like it and do more " home work" about buying a business in Canada, after living here for a year or so.

Go to the Canada Immigration main website, at

http://www.cic.gc.ca/

and read up about the various types of applications that you can make.

In general, once you are in Canada legally, as a Permanent Resident card holder, it is not that hard to either start, or buy an existing business, without the need for the high investment that the formal " Entrepeneur " class requires.

As luck would have it, this week-end, here in Toronto, there is a public show , called the Franchise and Small Business Expo, that has over 100 companies that offer small investors a chance to go into their own franchise type business. Most of them cost less than 100 thousand CDN dollars ( 50 k GBP ) to buy into, or you can look to buy an operating business from the current owner. The Toronto daily papers have many ads for " a business for sale " every day, ranging from corner stores, to motels, to cafes and pizza shops.

Does this help ? Ask away, here.

Jim Bunting. Toronto.

Ontheboatout

No you dont.

Come to Nova Scotia (that'll be new Scotland!) in the Community Identified Stream - we did. No business purchase or points required, and it only took us 15 months.

Canadian Citizen

Onthboatout:


Here is the link to the Nova Scotia website.

http://www.novascotiaimmigration.com/en-page1040.aspx

Jim B. Toronto.

R I C H

A work permit can also be issued to allow you to start/run your own business, rather than using the entrepreneurial visa route. There are no minimum investment requirements, and proof of direct management experience is far less stringent.

Drop me a line if you've any questions, it's the route I took to get here.