B.C. New Entrepreneur Immigration — Regional Pilot program to Benefit Province Smaller Communities

British Columbia is set to launch in early 2019, the new two-year immigration pilot program to attract foreign entrepreneurs to smaller communities around the province.

Under this program, the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) will work in partnership with regional communities of less than 75,000 people to welcome approved immigrant entrepreneurs who want to open a new business. Communities must be located farther than 30 kilometres from a population centre of more than 75,000 people in order to be enrolled in the pilot.

“This initiative is intended to maximize the economic benefits of immigration to B.C. to support shared prosperity across the province,” the BC PNP said.
The businesses created will have to address specific needs identified by the participating communities and, in exchange, the communities and local partners will be required to support selected entrepreneurs as they settle.

All interested entrepreneurs must complete an exploratory visit to the community where they wish to set up their business, and must obtain a community referral before registering for the pilot. Successful candidates will be granted a temporary work permit. The BC PNP will issue a nomination for permanent residence once it determines that the business has met all the criteria outlined in its Performance Agreement.

The pilot will open to registrations in early January and will run for an initial period of two years.