Nova Scotia is looking to attract entrepreneurial immigrants to the province with two new programs that will launch in January 2016. One is designed to attract businesspeople to the province; the other, the first of its kind in Canada, is focused on retaining student business owners already in the province.
“Immigration is critical to our future. We’ve been working on creating innovative streams,” says Suzanne Ley, executive director of Nova Scotia’s Office of Immigration in Halifax.
Established businesspeople wishing to open up shop in Nova Scotia are eligible under the new Entrepreneur Stream program. Successful applicants must demonstrate they have a personal net worth of $600,000 that has been obtained legally. Then, from their personal net worth, they must commit to making a minimum capital investment of $150,000 in a local business.
A five-part nomination process begins with online expressions of interest. Applicants will be vetted using a range of criteria, including management experience, language fluency, education and investment opportunities. Applicants who meet the minimum requirements then will be invited to submit a full application.
This process, says Ley, “allows us to invite the most qualified candidates to apply.”
From the pool of qualified candidates, the provincial government will nominate up to 50 individuals, who must sign a business performance agreement detailing their plans to start or acquire a business in Nova Scotia. The government then will support [those individuals’] applications for a two-year work permit from the federal government.
At the end of this time, if a candidate has met the requirements under his or her performance agreement, including operating a business for at least a year, the province will nominate that person for permanent residency.
Meanwhile, the International Graduate Entrepreneur Stream program, which is unique in Canada, is aimed at post- secondary school graduates who have started a business and want to continue living and working in Nova Scotia. Until now, says Ley, there wasn’t a clear pathway for student entrepreneurs to remain in the province and continue running their companies.
A four-step nomination process is required for this stream, which also begins with an online expression of interest. Top-scoring candidates are invited to submit a formal application to the Nova Scotia Nominee Program. If an applicant meets the program’s criteria, he or she will be supported for permanent residency.
“There is no two-year work permit required,” says Ley. “They’ve already [proven] they’re invested.”
Individual commitment to living and working in Nova Scotia is a key criteria of both programs. Investment opportunities are restricted initially, in part to ensure money laundering does not occur and that candidates are not being perceived as “buying” a nomination.
“We need to be very careful of passive investment,” says Ley. “Provinces aren’t allowed to [nominate] as a quid pro quo for investment. [Eligible] entrepreneurs must be the key decision-maker on the ground in Nova Scotia.”
The proposed programs, which will launch Jan. 1, 2016, have received a vote of approval from the Halifax Chamber of Commerce. The chairman of its board, Robert Batherson, supported the provincial government’s announcement, saying the programs “will give businesses of all sizes the chance to grow with the help of new Canadians.”
Premier Stephen McNeil also spoke out on the importance of the initiatives, assuring the public, businesses and the investment community that the new programs “will strengthen the Nova Scotian economy.”
That has not been the case previously. In 2003, the province implemented its Provincial Nominee Program, which included an Economic Stream. The only program of its kind in the country at the time, that program was designed to provide new immigrants with Canadian work experience and a reference from a Canadian employer.
However, a report prepared on the program concluded that it did not succeed in retaining a significant percentage of those nominated through this stream.
“It would be fair to conclude that many of the Economic Stream nominees either did not come to the province at all or left after recouping all or part of their original $100,000 contribution,” the report stated.
History is unlikely to repeat itself, says Ley. The new entrepreneurial stream, she stresses, “is fundamentally different.”
One key distinction is that no external firm will be hired to run the new nominee program, as was done in the past, she says: “This time we’re maintaining full control.”
The Office of Immigration also believes success is assured this time around because due diligence has been exercised. For the past 18 months, the department has investigated programs across the country and around the world to identify best practices and assess success.
“We know the elements we have put together here have worked well in other jurisdictions,” says Ley.
Immigration numbers are up in Nova Scotia. More immigrants came to the province last year than at any time in the past 10 years, with 2,670 newcomers settling in 2014.
And more immigrants to Nova Scotia are staying in the province, according to Statistics Canada, which has reported a retention rate of 71% for immigrants that landed in Nova Scotia between 2007 and 2011.
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