A Class With No Figure in It: Somebody Else Has to Back You First
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Portugal on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
107 exceptions recorded across 42 countries · none match Portugal to Canada · Residency through investment
Canada's federal route for a business founder is the start-up business class, and its central requirement is not money of yours. It is a commitment from an entity Canada has designated - a business incubator, an angel investor group or a venture capital fund - obtained within the six months before the application. The Regulations do not state how much that entity must invest: subsection 98.05(1) makes the Minister establish the amount. What the applicant must show is language at benchmark 5, settlement funds of half a published low income cut-off, and a business already started. The class is open only to people who intend to live outside Quebec.
At a glance
- Minimum investment
- Not in the Regulations - the Minister establishes it
Subsection 98.05(1).
- Language
- Benchmark level 5 in all four skills
Paragraph 98.01(2)(b).
- Settlement funds
- Half the Statistics Canada low income cut-off for a group your size
- Applicants per business
- No more than five
- Where you may settle
- A province other than Quebec
- Quebec's own routes
- The Quebec investor class and the Quebec entrepreneur class, selected by the province
Both are named in the list of classes at subsection 70(2) of the Regulations.
Requirements
- A commitment from a designated entity, less than six months old
- Benchmark level 5 in English or French across all four skills
- Transferable funds of half the low income cut-off for your family size
- A qualifying business, already started
- An intention to reside in a province other than Quebec
Country-level policy
Almost every answer on this page has a second half written by a province, and the Act says so out loud. Section 8 lets the Minister enter into agreements with a province, and then makes selection, sponsorship and the acquisition of status consistent with those agreements despite the other provisions of the Act. The Regulations carry the consequences one by one. A permanent applicant intending to live in Quebec and not in the family class meets the selection criterion by the province's opinion rather than Canada's. A labour market assessment for a job in Quebec is made in concert with the province. A study permit for Quebec cannot be issued without the province's certificate where its own laws require one. The start-up business class is prescribed for people who intend to live somewhere else entirely. Three of the eleven economic classes are Quebec's own. The result is that the question 'what does Canada require' is incomplete by design, and a reader who stops at the federal answer has half of one.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Portugal
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«98.01 (1) For the purposes of subsection 12(2) of the Act, the start-up business class is prescribed as a class of persons who may become permanent residents on the basis of their ability to become economically established in Canada, who meet the requirements of subsection (2) and who intend to reside in a province other than Quebec. - Marginal note: Member of class (2) A foreign national is a member of the start-up business class if - (a) they have obtained a commitment that is made by one or more entities designated under subsection 98.03(1), that is less than six months old on the date on which their application for a permanent resident visa is made and that meets the requirements of section 98.04; - (b) they have submitted the results of a language test that is approved under subsection 102.3(4), which results must be provided by an organization or institution that is designated under that subsection, be less than two years old on the date on which their application for a permanent resident visa is made and indicate that the foreign national has met at least benchmark level 5 in either official language for all four language skill areas, as set out in the Canadian Language Benchmarks or the Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens , as applicable; - (c) they have, excluding any investment made by a designated entity into their business, transferable and available funds unencumbered by debts or other obligations of an amount that is equal to one half of the amount identified, in the most recent edition of the publication concerning low income cut-offs published annually by Statistics Canada under the Statistics Act , for urban areas of residence of 500,000 persons or more, as the minimum amount of before-tax annual income that is necessary to support a group of persons equal in number to the total number of the applicant and their family members; and - (d) they have started a qualifying business within the meaning of section 98.06.»The exclusion of Quebec is in the prescribing subsection itself, not in a proviso: the class is defined as people who intend to reside elsewhere.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«(3) No more than five applicants are to be considered members of the start-up business class in respect of the same business.»About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«98.05 (1) The Minister must establish the minimum total amount that the designated entities involved in the commitment must invest»The sentence that would have carried the number, and does not. Subsection (3) lists the factors the Minister must weigh in setting it.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«70 (1) An officer shall issue a permanent resident visa to a foreign national if, following an examination, it is established that - (a) the foreign national has applied in accordance with these Regulations for a permanent resident visa as a member of a class referred to in subsection (2); - (b) the foreign national is coming to Canada to establish permanent residence; - (c) the foreign national is a member of that class; - (d) the foreign national meets the selection criteria and other requirements applicable to that class; and - (e) the foreign national and their family members, whether accompanying or not, are not inadmissible. - Marginal note: Classes (2) The classes are - (a) the family class; - (b) the economic class, consisting of the federal skilled worker class, the Quebec skilled worker class, the provincial nominee class, the Canadian experience class, the federal skilled trades class, the Atlantic immigration class, the Quebec investor class, the Quebec entrepreneur class, the start-up business class, the self-employed persons class and the Quebec self-employed persons class; and - (c) the Convention refugees abroad class and the country of asylum class.»The complete list of classes through which a permanent resident visa can be issued. Three of the eleven economic classes are Quebec's own.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The commitment is the gate, and the entity giving it is designated by Canada rather than chosen by the applicant. A proposal no designated entity will back cannot reach this class however well funded it is.
Section 89 disqualifies an applicant whose compliance with these requirements rests on transactions entered into primarily to acquire a status under the Act.
- consolidatesImmigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
Justice Laws Website, Department of Justice Canada
About this source
Canada's consolidated federal statutes and regulations, served whole as plain HTML at a stable address built from the Act's chapter or the regulation's registration number. Each consolidation states the date it is current to and the last amendment applied.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The consolidations are official under the Legislation Revision and Consolidation Act, but the site itself warns that where a consolidation and the original statute differ, the original prevails. The date a page is current to is printed in a side panel our capture does not carry, so a stored reading here shows the text without the line that dates it. Immigration practice in Canada also sits largely in ministerial instructions and programme delivery guidance, which are not law and are not published here, and Quebec selects its own immigrants under an accord this site does not carry.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source