Determining Your Eligibility for the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program

Applicants would need to meet all of the requirements specified subsequently for being found eligible to apply under the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program. In addition, applicants would need to plan to live outside the province of Quebec as well.

The Personal Net Worth

Applicants would need to have a personal net worth of $10 million or more Canadian dollars. In addition, the authorities require applicants to have acquired their net worth through lawful, private sector, business or investment activities.

It is worth mentioning that the authorities do not count personal net worth acquired by inheritance or in the value of the applicant’s primary residence towards the personal net worth requirement. Applicants, who are selected by the authorities as immigrant investors, would need to show that they acquired their net worth of at least $10 million Canadian dollars through lawful profit making business or investment activities. Such activities could typically include:

• Income or capital gains acquired through the ownership or management of commercial, for-profit entities and,

• Funds acquired through private sector activities, such as public equity investments or private equity placements

Applicants would need to remember that personal net worth acquired by inheritance or in the value of their primary residence does not count. This is because the authorities do not consider these in the scope of “business or investment activities” for the purpose of this program. The authorities would ask all selected investors to obtain a due diligence report from a designated service provider for validating the source of their wealth.

The Proof of Personal Net Worth

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) would require applicants whose applications they are considering for a second stage review to obtain a due diligence report at the applicant’s expense. Applicants would be able to obtain these reports from one of the following designated service providers:

• BDO USA, LLP

• Deloitte Forensic Inc.

• EY

• KPMG LLP

• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) LLP or,

• Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Consulting Inc.

It is worth highlighting that the due diligence report is an independent examination and validation of the applicant’s:

• Previous business or investment experience

• Source of funds and,

• Personal net worth

This report will typically include the service provider’s opinion as to whether the applicant acquired their wealth through lawful, private sector business or investment activities. This report would flag any potentially negative information that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) officers would need to consider as well.

Note:

• Officers could ask applicants to obtain due diligence reports

• In this scenario, the authorities hold the applicants responsible for:

  • Selecting a designated service provider

  • Submitting the required documents to the designated service provider and,

  • Paying the required fees

• Thereafter, the applicants would need to submit this due diligence report to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) within the timeframe specified

• Applicants do not need to obtain a due diligence report when they apply to the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program

• Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) officers would only ask applicants to obtain tis report if they can consider your application for a second stage review

Non-Guaranteed Investment in a Venture Capital Fund

The authorities require applicants to be willing and able to make at-risk investments (non-guaranteed) of $2 million Canadian dollars in the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital (IIVC) Fund.

Once the authorities approve the applicant as an immigrant investor under this program, the applicant would need to enter into an agreement with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). Under the terms of this agreement, the applicant would need to commit a sum of $2 million Canadian dollars to the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital (IIVC) Fund for approximately 15 years.

As is the case with any venture capital investment, the applicant could receive proceeds over time. Alternatively, the applicant could receive proceeds at the end of the investment term. The proceeds payable would typically depend on the performance of the fund. In many cases, the authorities would base these proceeds on the gains or losses in the fund. This would also include the expenses and fees incurred towards managing the fund.

However, it is worth highlighting that this is an at-risk investment. Thus, there is no guarantee of a return. Therefore, applicants could find themselves in situations where they could lose some or all of their investments as well.

As mentioned earlier, each immigrant investor would need to provide $2 million Canadian dollars (fully at risk) for the Immigrant Investor Venture Capital (IIVC) Fund. This fund will invest in innovative Canadian start-ups that demonstrate high growth potential. Thus, the fund aims at focusing on the benefit of Canada. BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada, will be responsible for managing the fund. In addition, participating fund managers that the authorities selected previously for managing Government of Canada investments under the Venture Capital Action Plan would also be responsible for managing the fund.

As is the case with any venture capital investment these days, immigrant investors could receive proceeds over time. Or, they could receive proceeds at the end of the investment term. The proceeds would typically depend on the performance of the fund. Thus, these proceeds would depend on the gains or losses the fund makes, including the expenses and fees incurred for managing the fund.

The authorities would provide additional information about the management of the fund, the terms and conditions applicable etc. to the immigrant investors. This information would typically find mention in the agreement that the immigrant investors enter into with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). The immigrant investors would need to sign the agreement before they make their at-risk and non-guaranteed investment of $2 million Canadian dollars.

The Language Skills

The authorities require that applicants in this class:

• Prove their proficiency in English or French in all the four language abilities i.e. speaking, reading, listening and writing

  • Take a language test approved by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and,

  • Meet the minimum language levels of Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 in either English or French for all the four language abilities (it is worth mentioning that applicants have the ability to use their test results to find out their Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) levels) and,

• Include their original language test results when they apply

  • It is worth mentioning that applicants would need to ensure that their language test results are less than two years old on the day that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) receives their applications

Note:

• The authorities would not consider any applications for the next steps in case the applicants do not provide their original language test results that show that the applicant has met the minimum language levels at the time of application

The Education

Applicants would need to have:

• A completed Canadian post-secondary degree, diploma or certificate of at least one year or,

• A foreign equivalent, as validated by an original Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report from an organisation designated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

  • The Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report would need to indicate that the applicant’s completed foreign education credential is equal to a completed Canadian post-secondary educational credential of at least one year

In addition, the authorities require that the outcome specified in the Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) report matches one of the acceptable assessment outcomes for the applicant to be eligible for applying. For more details, refer to Appendix C.

Note:

• The authorities require all applicants having a foreign education credential to submit original Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) reports

• The authorities will use these reports to determine whether the applicants meet the prescribed education requirements

• Situations could arise where the officers find that some applicants have not submitted their original Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) reports at the time of submitting their applications

• In this scenario, the officers would not consider such applications for the next steps

• Some applicants can request exemptions from the education requirement when they apply

• For this, they would need to use the form provided by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)

• However, they would only be able to request for exemptions if they can demonstrate that they have personal net worth of $50 million Canadian dollars or more, which they have acquired through lawful, private sector business or investment activities

The Guidelines for Inadmissibility