To qualify as an entrepreneur, you must have business experience. This means that you must have managed and controlled a percentage of equity of a qualifying business. Entrepreneurs must have a legally obtained net worth of at least $300,000 CDN.

When you immigrate to Canada as an entrepreneur, you must have the intention and the ability to control a percentage of equity of a "qualifying Canadian business" *. You must provide active and ongoing management of the qualifying Canadian business. Your business must create at least one new full-time job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. You must meet these requirements within three years of becoming a permanent resident.

Before your immigrant visa is issued, you are required to sign a statement that you intend and will be able to meet the conditions of permanent residence.

To be eligible for immigration as an entrepreneur, an applicant must:

1. have managed and controlled a percentage of the equity of a qualifying business for at least two years in the period beginning five years before the date of application;
2. have a legally obtained net worth of at least $300,000 CDN; and
3. intend and be able to manage and control a percentage of the equity of a qualifying Canadian business equal to or greater than 33 1/3 percent, and create at least one full-time job equivalent for Canadian citizens or permanent residents, other than the entrepreneur and his or her family members, for a period of at least one year within three years of arriving in Canada.

"Qualifying Canadian business" means a business operated in Canada by an entrepreneur - other than a business primarily for the purpose of deriving investment income, such as interest, dividends or capital gains - for which there is in any year within the period of three years after the day the entrepreneur becomes a permanent resident, documentary evidence of any two of the following:

1. the percentage of equity multiplied by the number of full time job equivalents is equal to or greater than two full-time job equivalents per year;
2. the percentage of equity multiplied by the total annual sales is equal to or greater than $250,000 CDN;
3. the percentage of equity multiplied by the net income in the year is equal to or greater than $25,000 CDN;
4. the percentage of equity multiplied by the net assets at the end of the year is equal to or greater than $125,000 CDN.

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