bedford883

Hi Everyone, Does anyone have any experience in buying a Business in Canada? We are just wondering how it would work with regards visas to set it up etc etc? We are in the UK at the moment.

christmasoompa

Hi, welcome to BE.

Your visa options will depend on various things. How much would you be investing in the business, what kind of business is it, how many Canadians would you be employing and which province is it in? If you can give us a bit more info then we can try and help you work out if you could get a visa.

bedford883

Thank you for your reply.We would be buying the entire business and taking over the running of it. Its a small manufacturing business (Motorcycle Parts) currently located in British Columbia but we would want to move it and operate out of Ontario. There are no staff with the business at present so I would need to look at hiring. Do we need to have a Canadian director? It's a real minefield and I keep reading conflicting information. I'm grateful for any help you can give me! Many Thanks

Aviator

Current immigration programs for business require substantial capital investment and net worth, derived from business activities. Self employed would not apply as it is cultural activities only, immigrant investor is a net worth of $10m, derived from business activities. Start up if you have the support of one of the approved organisation for investment. Business immigration programs

What parts does the business manufacture?

rivingtonpike

A quick search of the CIC website and I found this:

To qualify as an immigrant investor, you must:

be able to make a CDN $2 million at-risk (non-guaranteed)Footnote* investment for approximately 15 years;

• have a legally obtained net worth of at least CDN $10 million acquired through lawful business or investment activities;
• meet or exceed Canadian Language Benchmark 5 in English or Niveau de compétence linguistique canadien 5 in French for all four language abilities (speaking, listening, reading, and writing); and
• have completed a Canadian post-secondary degree, diploma or certificate of at least one year, or the foreign equivalent as validated by an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA).Footnote**

You must also meet basic admissibility requirements relating to health and security.

This is not a shoe horn route into the country I'm afraid. Unless you are already financially advantaged, I don't think you can simply buy a company and move over I'm afraid.

bedford883

rivingtonpike

I really feel for the next generation or hopeful immigrants to Canada. It seems to be incredibly hard to meet whatever criteria are necessary to gain that all important work visa, or PR status. I remember when we first moved here, it seemed like half the people I overheard in the local mall had British accents. Now, I can't remember the last time I bumped into a newly arrived family. Are we stagnating? Or perhaps new British immigrants aren't coming to this neck of the woods. It's quite a while since I have read Vancouver Island or Vancouver mentioned in the context of immigration. Too expensive perhaps?

Aviator

Not so hard if you have $10m or so kicking around.

TheAwesomeMatt

If you were interested in keeping the business in BC then you could qualify through BC PNP:

https://www.welcomebc.ca/Immigrate-to-B-C/BC-PNP-Entrepreneur-Immigration

You still need a good amount of money (I think the minimum investment must be $200k) and you'd need to operate outside of Vancouver/Victoria to get sufficient points.

My gf works for a law firm that advises potential investors with this stream but the fees are in the around $20k, I'd look into the program yourself before consulting with a lawyer.

Aviator

https://www.welcomebc.ca/Immigrate-t...m-Requirements