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All the BC Provincial Entrepreneur draws for applicants this year for the base category have had 116 points and higher. Do you know what it takes to be invited to this direct PR stream for investors and entrepreneurs? Are you aware of all the changes to the points matrix for this program which were announced in November of 2022?
Did you know international students and workers inside Canada can become eligible to apply under this entrepreneur program to help them get their PR?
We will cover all these factors and the latest changes in the BC Provincial Nominee Entrepreneur Program (BC PNP).
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Anyone who intends to stay & settle in BC, create economic investment & benefit, and actively manage a business can potentially be eligible to apply under this program if they meet the rest of the eligibility criteria, which we will quickly summarize before going into a deep dive of the points matrix and changes for the BC PNP Entrepreneur stream:
A: You still need $600,000 net worth for the base category in the greater Vancouver area or $300,000 for the regional pilot.
B: And a min. investment of $200,000 for the base category or $100,000 for the regional pilot.
C: You need a language score of minimum CLB 4 which is not required at the initial application stage, only before you are nominated for PR (18 months down the line) – although the regional pilot program does require proof of language at the beginning registration stage.
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Minimum Language Test Scores Required |
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Listening |
Reading |
Writing |
Speaking |
|
|
IELTS |
4.5 |
3.5 |
4.0 |
4.0 |
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CELPIP |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
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TEF |
145 |
121 |
181 |
181 |
D: Post-secondary education is not mandatory in the base category although you will lose some points and will require 100% business ownership experience in the past 5 years to make up for the education aspect.
The Points matrix for these Entrepreneur/investor programs is out of a total of 200 points of which 120 are self-declared and 80 points are graded by the BC PNP on your business concept.
Min total score of 115 to be eligible to move on and have a chance of being invited to apply. (105 for the regional pilot with a different scoring matrix)
Here are the rest of the quick facts you need to know when applying under the base category of the BC PNP Entrepreneur stream:
1: Registrations are scored within six weeks for the base category.
2: In-person Interviews are mandatory.
3: Net worth audit is mandatory after you have been invited to apply (pre-interview).
4: $300 to register & $3500 to apply after being invited.
5: Franchises are accepted as a business concept in BC if the franchise is well established in the province – unlike Ontario which is the reverse and accepts only Franchises which are new to the province and not as well established.
6: Purchase of a new or existing business is also possible under the base category and regional pilot as well.
7: Co-Registrants under the BC PNP base category are also accepted.
Your profile & business concept scores will be assessed at the registration stage where you have to enter all the data through the BC PNP portal as your Expression of Interest (EOI). Your registration will expire in 6 months if it is not selected & invited to apply – so please make sure you do your calculation estimates in advance so you don’t waste your money & time.
After you have been invited to apply, you have 120 days to submit all supporting document copies including the net worth audit by a designated and authorized accounting firm which has been approved by the BC PNP office.
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Here are the points matrix changes for the BC PNP Entrepreneur base category and a deep dive into the existing points structure which is a mix of the old and the new, published as of November 2022:
1: The business ownership and senior management experience points have been broken down in more detailed time gaps, making it more difficult for applicants with less experience to claim more points here.
2: You do get bonus points for 100% business ownership experience in the past 3 years from the time of applying.
3: For the personal net worth scoring, you will gain points for liquid & cash assets as well as for your entire net worth, they have broken down the points so it will be difficult for you to gain more points if you have a lower net worth. Remember you need $600,000 total net worth of all your assets to be eligible but can gain 3 or 4 bonus points if you have $200,000 to $400,000 or more ready in liquid assets (such as cash or equities).
4: The total personal investment points have been changed which makes it more difficult to gain maximum points with minimum investments. So, if you are investing a minimum of $200,000 you are only claiming 8 out of 20 points at this stage, meaning that you need to make up the points in a different category such as location or new hires.
5: But again, the points breakdown for the job creation section has been divided up making it challenging to claim maximum points. If you are hiring 1 person only, then only 4 points, and you need to hire more than 6 or 7 Canadians if you want to claim more than 9 out of the 12 available points. It’s up to you to decide where you want to invest and maximize your points. Keep in mind that some points are ‘free’ and based on your work experience or ownership, the city or region you are investing in, previous visits to BC, your age, and education and language ability.
6: The points breakdown for the location of your investment is similar to the previous version where you will gain no points by investing in the main areas of Vancouver known as Mainland but can potentially gain up to 6-12 bonus points if you are outside this region such as Vancouver Island, or the Okanagan area, or the northern parts of BC. Okanagan and Vancouver Island are probably one of my favorite spots outside Vancouver which I recommend for entrepreneurs who want to go with smaller investment amounts.
7: For Adaptability factors, the BC PNP will allow students and workers to claim points for studying anywhere in Canada for a min. of 2 consecutive semesters or owning and running a business inside Canada (self-employed) or being employed by any other company inside Canada for a minimum of 12 months. Either of these will give you 8 bonus points.
8: You can gain an easy 8 points for an exploratory trip if it was less than 12 months, and you did visit the site/location of your proposed business investment.
9: For the age points, remember that there is no age limit for this program, you could be 60,70, or even 90 and still be eligible to apply. The max. points are given to applicants between the ages of 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 with slightly fewer points, although you can still claim points between 55 to 64 (4 points).
10: For education points, which are not mandatory, you can easily claim max 10 points if you have a master’s degree or higher, or 7 points for a Bachelor’s or higher.
11: If you have a good command of language ability such as English or French, you can easily score 6 bonus points for the language category by achieving a language exam score of CLB 5 or higher, which is quite easy for many applicants. You can also skip language requirements if you do not have the ability now but would need a low score of CLB4 before you are nominated for PR in the 18-20th month after running your business inside Canada.
12: The next section is the Business concept which is a total of 80 points and depends on the research and business plan you have. 15 points out of these 80 will be again based on your own business experience and language ability (so it does overlap here again in the points matrix)
13: 30 points are based on the business model, research, and investment amount. While 35 points are based on how many jobs and highly skilled positions you create with your investment in Canada and whether it is a priority sector for BC.
14: The points in this section of the business concept have not changed much and it all depends on how you or the person writing the business plan for you incorporates all the details as well as their research. If it’s a good business plan you can expect anywhere from 65 to 70 points out of the 80 points available in this section.
15: You can claim potential of 10-16 points, or even 23 if you invest in one of the key sectors and have at least 1 significant benefit which is not too difficult if you plan your business and application correctly. Those sectors are:
* Agriculture, Food & Beverage: food production and food processing
* Clean Technology
* Digital Media and Entertainment
* Forestry: includes manufacturing of wood products
* Information and Communications Technology
* Life Sciences
* Mining
* Natural Gas
* Aerospace
16: Last but not least you can claim 10 or 15 points on your previous related business management or ownership experience if you invest in the same or related industry. These are also great ‘sweat’ points you can claim.
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At the conclusion of all this, you can take away the following regarding the BC PNP Entrepreneur points matrix changes since November 2022:
* A good business model & plan can push your points higher without significantly investing higher.
* It is possible to be an international student or graduate or foreign worker already in Canada and claim bonus points and apply under this Entrepreneur program.
* There are some ‘easy’ points that you can claim under this points matrix which are based on non-monetary factors which I call ‘sweat points’ such as location of investment, language, age, education, past business management and ownership experience, as well as investing in the related industry. You’ve worked hard to get these ‘sweat’ points, so we prefer not to call them ‘free’ points.
* If you do not have the language or education and want to invest inside Vancouver, not the surrounding regions, then all you need to do is push up your personal investment, net worth, and Canadian hires. It’s possible, but then your points strategy is based a lot on your financial strength.
* It’s easy to gain 116 to 120 points in the BC PNP if you know what you are doing and plan your application and business concept correctly. Currently, the draws are 116 to 120, and don’t expect to be selected if you have less than this at the moment.
* If you like, reach out to us, and for qualified applicants, we can do a free email assessment and points engineering for your PNP Entrepreneur profile, click here.
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