Immigrant Investors Program

You must meet all of the requirements listed below to be eligible to apply under the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program. You must also plan to live outside the province of Quebec.

Personal net worth

You must have a personal net worth of CDN $10 million or more. Your net worth must have been acquired through lawful, private sector business or investment activities.

Personal net worth acquired by inheritance or in the value of your primary residence will not count towards the personal net worth requirement.

The applicant is required obtain a due diligence report at his expense from one of the following designated service providers:

• BDO USA, LLP
• Deloitte Forensic Inc.
• EY
• KPMG LLP
• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) LLP
• Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Consulting Inc.

The due diligence report is an independent examination and validation of your past business or investment experience, source of funds and personal net worth. The report will include the service provider’s opinion as to whether your wealth was acquired through lawful, private sector business or investment activities. Their report would also flag any potentially negative information for a CIC officer to consider. You do not need to obtain a due diligence report when applying to the IIVC Pilot Program. CIC will ask you to obtain this report only if your application can be considered for our second stage review.

Investment in a venture capital fund

You must be willing and able to make an at-risk investment (non-guaranteed) of CDN $2 million in the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital (IIVC) Fund. If you are one of the immigrant investors approved under this program, you will be required to enter into an agreement with CIC committing a sum of CDN $2 million to the IIVC Fund for approximately 15 years. As with any venture capital investment, you could receive proceeds over time or at the end of the investment term. Proceeds will depend on the fund's performance and will be based on its gains or losses, including expenses and fees incurred to manage it. However, this would be an at-risk investment. This means that there is no guarantee of a return and it is possible that you could lose some or all of your investment.

Language skills

You must prove your proficiency in English or French in all four language abilities (speaking, reading, listening and writing) by taking a language test approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and meeting the minimum language levels of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 in either English or French for all four language abilities

Education

You must have completed one year post-secondary education. If you have obtained your education in any country other than Canada, you must also provide with your application an Education Credential Assessment (ECA). The ECA report must indicate that your completed foreign education credential is equal to a completed Canadian post-secondary education credential of at least one year. If you can demonstrate that you have a personal net worth of $50 million or more acquired through lawful, private sector business or investment activities, you can request an exemption from the education requirement when you apply, using the form provided by CIC.

Inadmissibility

If you are being involved in criminal activity, in human rights violations or in organized crime, your application may be refused. You can also be refused for your health related issues or financial reasons.