British Columbia said that it is changing such requirements for various reasons. The main reason is to try to impact the integration of immigrants into the country. Apart from that, the minimum of CLB level 4 language requirement aligns with the Entrepreneur Immigration Regional Pilot language requirement.
Therefore, at this point, only three programs (the Yukon Business Nominee Program, Saskatchewan Entrepreneur Program, and the Alberta Self-Employed Farmer Stream) do not require the minimum language criteria for entrepreneur applicants.
Key Staff Members Option Withdrawn for the Entrepreneur Immigration Base Category
You should note that the applicants for the Entrepreneur Immigration Base Category do not have the option of proposing key staff members during their applications. Before the province implemented the changes, applicants for this category were allowed to include key staff members when applying for the Entrepreneur Immigration Base Category. The key staff members had the expertise needed for the success of the business proposed by the entrepreneur applicant.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that even though the applicants were allowed to include key staff members, from July 2015 to November 2019, only 4 out of 100 applicants for the category included a key staff member in their applications. Since few applicants considered this option, the province was pushed to remove the key staff option from the application.
Since the year began, British Columbia has invited 7 immigrant entrepreneurs via the Entrepreneur Immigration Regional Pilot as well as 18 entrepreneurs via the Entrepreneur Immigration Base Category.
It is also important to note that in 2019, 232 immigrant entrepreneurs were invited via the Entrepreneur Immigration Base Category. British Columbia also invited 57 immigrant entrepreneurs through the Entrepreneur Immigration Regional Pilot Category last year.
