Entrepreneur Pathway alternatives to the Owner Operator Program
The widely predominant Owner Operator Program that exempted foreign entrepreneurs from Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) requirements has drastically changed. However, there are other alternatives for foreign entrepreneurs to pursue an entrepreneur pathway in Canada. Read on… Owner Operator Program & the New Changes The LMIA owner operator program offered a golden opportunity for foreign entrepreneurs who were interested in either starting a new business or purchasing an existing one in Canada. The program exempted these foreign entrepreneurs from the usual LMIA requirements, which asks for advertisements for job vacancies and a valid job offer. In other words, the program allowed the foreign entrepreneurs to apply for work visa and eventual permanent residency for their own businesses in Canada to immigrate. With these recent changes in owner operator program, a foreign entrepreneur can still receive a positive LMIA to hire foreign workers. For this, the business has to prove a genuine need to hire the owner or unavailability of qualified Canadians/PR. However, prior to this, they have to advertise the position nationally for at least 28 days in order to give qualified Canadian/ PR an opportunity to apply first. Alternatives to Owner Operator Program Despite these changes, the Intra-Company Transfer (ICT) is one such program that still exempts LMIA requirements for the Entrepreneur Pathway. Canadian ICT visa is often compared to a work permit based on the owner-operator program. It is one of the most