Entrepreneurs who start new businesses or buy existing businesses to generate profit in rural Alberta communities (population of less than 100,000 and located outside of Calgary and Edmonton) can submit “expression of interest” (EOI).
(A) Eligibility – Candidate:
- Experience: Minimum 3 years – active manager or owner / 4 years – senior manager, in past 10 years.
- Education: Minimum high school, Education Credential Assessment (ECA) standard.
- Language: CELPIP, IELTS, TEF, TCF exams, English or French.
- Net Worth: Minimum $300,000.
- Business Investment: Minimum $100,000.
- Management: The candidate must be involved in the day-to-day business management in Alberta.
- Community Support Letter: The candidate must connect with a contact person in one of the participating rural Alberta communities to schedule an exploratory visit, discuss a business proposal, and get a “community support letter”. Steps:
- Make an exploratory visit to meet with the local business contact person, community economic development officer, and other related contacts to understand the local business environment and requirements for establishing a successful business.
- Submit the business proposal to the selected rural community contact person.
- Receive the community support letter from the selected rural community contact person.
- Submit the expression of interest (EOI) to the approval department.
(B) Eligibility – Business:
- Objective: Making a profit from active or earned income through the sale of goods and/or services.
- Physical existence: Having a physical place of business in a rural Alberta community.
- Business Establishment: New business: Minimum 51% ownership and all partners are Canadian Citizens / Permanent Residents; OR Business succession: 100% ownership.
- Job Creation: New business: Minimum 1 full-time job for Canadian Citizens / Permanent Residents (excluding relatives) for minimum 6 months; OR Business succession: Job creation is not required.
- Compliance: Complying with all applicable federal, provincial or municipal legal, regulatory, licensing and trade certification requirements.
(C) Factors to increase the chance:
- The candidate is between 29 and 49 years old.
- The candidate has one or more relatives in the selected rural community / Alberta.
- The candidate completed a diploma, associate degree, Bachelor’s or higher degree.
- The spouse / common-law partner of the candidate completed at least 1 year full-time post-secondary education and/or has a minimum level Canadian Language Benchmark in English or French.
- Business succession.
- Higher amount of investment and/or net worth.
- More business management experience.
- More jobs created for Canadian Citizens / Permanent Residents.
- Selecting the rural community with lesser population.
