Ontario Business Category

Business

The Entrepreneur Stream is an immigration stream under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).

This stream is for entrepreneurs from outside of Canada interested in starting a new business or buying an existing business in Ontario.

It gives an entrepreneur (and up to one foreign national business partner) the opportunity to be nominated for permanent residence once their business has been established in Ontario.

Mandatory requirements

  • You must have at least 24 months of full-time business experience in the last 60 months. Your experience must be as a business owner (33.3 percent) or as a senior manager
  • If your proposed business will be:
    • located within the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto and Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions), you must have a minimum net worth of 800,000 CDN.
    • outside of the Greater Toronto Area or in the information and communications technology/digital communications sector (regardless of location), you must have a minimum net worth of $400,000 CDN.
  • If your proposed business will be:
    • located within the Greater Toronto Area (City of Toronto and Durham, Halton, York and Peel regions), you must make a minimum personal investment of $600,000 CDN and control at least one-third of the equity in the business.
    • outside of the Greater Toronto Area or in the information and communications technology/digital communications sector (regardless of location), you must make a minimum personal investment of $200,000 CDN and control at least one-third of the equity in the business.
  • You must be actively involved, on an ongoing basis, in the management of the business.
  • If the business will be located inside the Greater Toronto Area, you must create at least two permanent full-time jobs for Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
  • If the business will be located outside the Greater Toronto Area or in the information and communications technology or digital communications sector, regardless of location, you must create at least one permanent full-time job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.