ON’s Entrepreneurship Project Targets Up To 100 Entreps For Immigration

Over the next two years, the Province of Ontario will be seeking a total of 100 immigrant entrepreneurs to start or grow a business in regions located outside of the Greater Toronto Area.  All interested and qualified business developers and owners can submit their application through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) and Entrepreneur Stream, a requirement of $200,000 minimum investment t their business is needed to be provided by each of the entrepreneurs who got selected. As soon as their business has operated for 18 to 20 months in Ontario, the applicant may receive a provincial nomination; and the said nomination can be used to apply for Canadian immigration to the federal government.

As mentioned in the government’s media release, this recruitment project aims to create more jobs locally as well as support the regions that were greatly affected by the pandemic and recorded several job losses. As mentioned by Ontario’s Labour Minister, Monte McNaughton, an estimated $6 million will be the cost of this province’s recruitment project that will be repaid by the immigrants who will come to Ontario to either start or buy a business. In addition to this, these newcomer entrepreneurs will be able to generate an estimated $20 million in their business investment to Ontario province and will also create more jobs for Ontarians.

Since the Entrepreneur Stream was launched in 2015, Ontario has only issued two nominations through this stream; and to address this issue, the province created this project that will help connect entrepreneurs with different business opportunities that will best fit them. This project will help build the government’s efforts to attract more immigrants to Ontario and throughout this year, Ontario has taken initiatives such as introducing a more streamlined provincial nomination application system, as well as internationally trained workers, were able to practice in certain regulated professions much easier.

Along with all the initiatives, the government of Ontario is still pushing for more immigration as Minister McNaughton has called the attention of the federal government to double the allocation of Ontario this coming 2022. To date, Canada has already welcomed 313,838 immigrants between January and October 2021, as stated on the latest available data.