Canada Self Employed Visas

This visa category is for individuals who are self employed. As a self employed person, you will be required to have appropriate experience in either cultural activities, farm management or athletics.

Applicants must be capable of establishing a business that will at least create employment for themselves. Applicants will also need to make a notable contribution to either cultural activities or athletics or purchase and manage a farm somewhere in Canada.

In order to qualify for this visa, applicants must satisfy the following criteria:

• Prove that they have at least two years experience of self employment specifically in cultural activities or athletics or farm management
• Show they have sufficient funds to support themselves and their families upon arrival
• Applicants must be capable of establishing a business that will generate self employment
• Make a significant contribution to the cultural or athletic life of Canada or alternatively, purchase and manage a farm in Canada.
• Applicants must also meet the points based criteria which assess education, experience, language proficiency, age and adaptability to life in Canada.

Process

In addition to the above criteria, the Entrepreneur immigrant visa also requires that applicants satisfy a points-based criteria. The criteria rates candidates based on their language proficiency, education, experience and age.

Business experience - applicants may be eligible for 20-35 points which are calculated on the number of years of business experience the applicants has gained within the 5 years preceding the application.

Education - Applicants may be eligible for 5-25 points based on their education. Points in this category are awarded for the highest academic achievement and the number of years spent in full time education.

Language Proficiency - Applicants will be required to have an adequate grasp of either English or French and therefore points are awarded for language skills. Bilingual candidates will need to nominate one language as their 'first language' and points will be awarded based on the four central areas of speaking, listening, reading and writing.

Age - Points are also awarded for an applicant's age, with ten points being the maximum for those between the ages of 21 and 49. For each year beyond this range, two points are subtracted with a cut off point of below 17 and over 53 years of age.

Adaptability - Applicants will also be awarded points based on their ability to adapt to the Canadian business environment. This can be demonstrated by either visiting Canada for an exploratory business trip within the five years directly preceding your application or having participated in a joint federal-provincial business based immigration initiative.

Under the Canadian business visa applications, candidates are allowed to bring their family to join them in Canada.

Spouse or common law partner's education - Points can be awarded for education completed by the applicant's partner depending on their post secondary school education. In addition, points can also be awarded for either the applicant or their partner if they have undertaken studies for longer than two years, post secondary in Canada.

Work in Canada - Applicants and their partners can be awarded points for work previously undertaken in Canada if it consisted of a year or more of full time work.

Existing family in Canada - Applicants and their partners can be awarded points if they have a grandparent, parent, uncle, aunt, brother, sister, niece, nephew or grandchild who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who lives in Canada.