Are you a foreign entrepreneur looking to immigrate to Canada and start your business? We’ve got an inspiring success story for you! Our team at Sobirovs recently helped a Jordanian businesswoman obtain a 2-year work permit under the C11 Significant Benefit category. She arrived in Canada with her family in February 2023 and is currently working on building her dream business in Canada.
This success story proves that Immigration Canada continues to approve C11 work permit applications following the policy changes announced in November 2022.
The Details of This Case
Meet our client from Jordan, an experienced entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience managing construction projects and on-site engineering work. She started her construction company in Jordan in 2020 and, with the help of our team, established a Canadian corporation intending to create job opportunities, offer bathroom renovation services in Canada and generate continued economic stimulus for Canadians in the years to come.
- Our team and the client agreed to work on the business immigration application in March 2022, covering the whole family. We helped the client incorporate her Canadian corporation in the province of Ontario.
- We finalized a thorough business plan for the corporation in September 2022 after conducting diligent market research and several iterations of the business plan.
- We then submitted a robust C11 work permit application package covering the client, her spouse, and two children in September 2022.
- By October 2022, we received the biometrics collection letters.
- On January 4th, 2023, we were informed about the approval of all applications of the client and her family members.
Finally, on February 9th, 2023, the client and her family arrived in Canada, and their work and study permits were issued at a Canadian airport.
It took approximately 5 months from the application date to obtain a positive result for the client and her family. We consider it an excellent outcome in terms of processing time, as there were additional requests by Immigration Canada that we had to handle.
3 Main Takeaways From This Case
1 – Foreseeing possible issues: One of the most common concerns foreign entrepreneurs raise is how their country of citizenship will affect their Canadian visa applications. In this case, the client’s spouse and children were Syrian citizens, and we expected that Immigration Canada might request additional information about the spouse. As expected, the request for additional information came in late November 2022, and we prepared a thorough response to Canadian authorities in early December 2022, addressing every issue raised by the authorities. As a result, the client’s spouse was issued a work visa on his Syrian passport.
2 – Financial commitment to your Canadian business: We understand that financial commitment towards your Canadian business can be a significant concern for foreign entrepreneurs. In this case, the client had invested more than $30,000 as seed capital to fund initial business operations in Canada and allocated another $189,000 to finance her business further. In total, she has more than $219,000, sufficient to financially support her Canadian company’s operations in the initial years.
Depending on the nature and location of your Canadian business, your financial commitment may vary. Because federal business immigration programs do not provide a minimum investment amount, the most important criterion is that your committed funds must be sufficient to run a viable business in Canada. Therefore, discuss with your Canadian immigration lawyer how much funds you need to allocate and commit to your business in Canada. To help our clients with this task, Sobirovs’ team spends considerable time researching the business, industry and location. We guide our clients on this issue with reliable data and consistently share our insights on different locations across Canada when it comes to running a viable business.
3 – Making significant steps in your Canadian business: We encourage foreign entrepreneurs to adopt the “business first” approach. Our client followed our recommendations by taking substantial and important steps in implementing her business plan. She invested more than $30,000 as seed capital to fund initial operations, connected with construction/renovation contractors in the Greater Toronto Area for potential collaborations and secured an office location in the western part of Toronto.
These steps reflect the “business first” approach we encourage clients to embrace. Some foreign entrepreneurs may see investing cash before obtaining visas or arriving in Canada as counterintuitive. We disagree. We believe that the genuineness of your intention to run a business in Canada is demonstrated when you adopt the “business first” approach. Therefore, in this case, we are glad that our client followed our recommendations and took serious steps to implement the business plan in Canada. When you do business first, visas and immigration become a natural progression.
How We Can Guide You in Your Business Immigration
We offer transparent and holistic guidance if you want to run a business in Canada. Our lawyers don’t shy away from highlighting the weaknesses of your case and propose the best ways to eliminate them and prepare your best visa application package.
Let’s discuss your goals and devise a solid immigration strategy. Book your 1-hour Strategy Meeting with our team today and start your journey toward Canada!
