As a result of Canada’s relationship with several countries, you may be able to establish a business by becoming an investor under one of the international trade agreements. The latest agreement is the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement  (formerly NAFTA), which allows applicants who are American or Mexican to work in Canada in order to establish an independent business.

Requirements:

You must be a citizen of the United States or Mexico and must have the intention of establishing a business which is more than 50% owned by you.
You must seek temporary entry solely to develop and direct the operations of an enterprise in which you have invested (or are actively in the process of investing) a substantial amount of capital.
There is no minimum dollar figure to establish the substantial investment; substantiality is normally determined by a proportionality test that weighs the amount invested against the total value of the enterprise in question or the amount normally considered necessary to establish a viable business anticipated.
Investor Status

The objective of the investor status is to promote productive investment in Canada and therefore you are not entitled to the status if the investment will return only enough income to provide living for you and your family. You must show that the investment will expand job opportunities locally or that it is adequate to ensure that your primary function will not be that of a skilled or unskilled labourer.

USMCA Advantage

The advantage of using one of the international trade agreements by which to enter Canada is that the process can be much faster for Americans or for Mexicans.

USMCA’s immigration sections were designed to provide a straightforward procedure for qualified individuals in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to have access to each […]

Over the past few months, the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program has implemented positive changes that facilitate the recruitment and settlement of immigrants to the province.

These are:

Expansion to the Northeast Pilot Project list of entry level and semi-skilled occupations. This is a two year pilot project ending August 4th, 2014. In the northeast development region of BC, all temporary foreign workers in skill level occupations C & D are eligible to apply for permanent residency under the Provincial Nominee Entry Level and Semi-Skilled (ELSS) category if they have 9 months of full-time employment prior to the date of application; offer of permanent employment by the employer; minimum education and English language requirements; and, a family income that meets or exceeds the Provincial Nominee Income Threshold.

Streamlined Application Process for Business Immigration Stream. Application received after June 15, 2012, there will be no initial review and a partial refund of fees will no longer be available.

Entry level and Low-skilled Provincial Nominees will require basic language proficiency. As of July 1, 2012, in line with the federal government’s changes to eligibility criteria, entry level and low-skilled provincial nominees will be required to submit results from a language test that show they have basic proficiency in English or French. This new rule will not apply to Temporary Foreign Workers who arrived in Canada on or before July 1, 2012 and who have applied to the BC PNP no later than April 1, 2013.

With the recent award of the 8 billion dollar Federal Ship Building contract for non-combat military support vessels, the economic outlook in BC is looking much better.

Think about this for a moment, The ENTIRE budget for the 2010 Winter Olympics was (arguably), somewhere between a half to 3 quarters of 1 billion dollars!

This ship building contract is 10 TIMES the size & should pack a wallop of economic benefit into the local economy.

The federal shipbuilding contract awarded to the Seaspan Marine Group will not only breathe new life into the corporation but will mean a dramatic increase in many smaller supply chain & manufacturing companies in BC.

Unemployment numbers should reflect a steady decline in the coming months & years among skilled trades & labour to support this massive project.

BC’s Premier Christy Clark stated that the bid was the beginning of her government’s jobs plan and will result in thousands of high-paid jobs.  It will give the industry stability and provide work for generations of workers.”$8 billion is huge,” she said. “At a time like this, when the world is experiencing all this economic uncertainty, it is going to be big.”

Local Machine Shops are among the first to benefit from the massive undertaking and Seaspan  is developing a “Supplier Self Registration Portal” online to help local manufacturers get in on the action.

Are you looking for a great investment opportunity in Vancouver’s manufacturing sector? Check out our current post – Manufacturing Machine Shop Business For Sale (and more coming soon!).

There is no better time than now to get your Business Plan ready or updated so that you will be ready manufacturing opportunities related to BC’s shipbuilding contract.

We can help with the experience in supply chain, procurement […]