UK → CANADA · BUSINESS
For British founders who want their business and their life in Canada. Start with a real business, a credible operating plan and the role you will play. Temporary work permission and permanent residence need separate assessment. We do not present passive investment as guaranteed immigration.
Led by the Team of Sean McKinsley and Kimberly White: Sean G. McKinsley, RCIC, CICC R529731 · Kimberly J. White, RCIC, CICC R712483.
C11 is an LMIA-exempt temporary business-owner work-permit category under section 205(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, for a genuine temporary plan to operate a business that can demonstrate significant benefit to Canada. It does not itself confer permanent residence, and it is not an investor visa or an automatic bridge to settlement. C11 may suit a genuine temporary plan to operate a business that can demonstrate significant benefit to Canada.
Sources (business evidence checked 18 October 2026): IRCC — Business owners seeking only temporary residence, R205(a) C11: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/exemption-codes/entrepreneurs-self-employed-seeking-only-temp-residence-r205-c11.html · Justice Laws — IRPR section 205: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2002-227/section-205.html
Assessment looks at genuine business activity, a practical business plan, separate business and personal-support funds, and evidence that the stay is temporary. Capital alone is not enough. prepare evidence of commercial viability, the owner's role, funding and the intended temporary stay. No investment amount, success rate or permit-duration promise is stated here.
Source (checked 18 October 2026): IRCC C11 page above: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/exemption-codes/entrepreneurs-self-employed-seeking-only-temp-residence-r205-c11.html
IRCC's C11 instructions say entrepreneurial work does not qualify as Canadian Experience Class experience, and the CEC rules also exclude self-employment, subject to a specific physician exception. any permanent-residence strategy needs a separate eligibility assessment. Do not assume a year running your own company creates a PR route.
Sources (checked 18 October 2026): IRCC C11: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/temporary-residents/foreign-workers/exemption-codes/entrepreneurs-self-employed-seeking-only-temp-residence-r205-c11.html · IRCC — Canadian Experience Class: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/who-can-apply/canadian-experience-class.html
Provincial entrepreneur streams have their own selection and operating requirements, distinct from the temporary federal category above. This page makes no claim about which provinces' programmes are currently open, and states no thresholds.
As a matter of our practice scope, we do not promote passive investment as an immigration product, sell businesses, or imply that capital alone produces status. If a province's programme or a permit route does not fit your plans, a straight answer at the start is worth more than an application that was never going to land.
Alberta’s rural entrepreneur route is about active business and community planning in a rural community. Keep the community and operating plan beside any immigration question, and check the current provincial requirements before relying on them.
Succession needs ownership-history and seller-relationship checks: what you are buying, who ran it before, and how you will run it. Buying a business is not buying status.
Whether a partner or children can accompany you needs its own assessment alongside the business plan; it does not follow automatically from the business route.
The temporary business-owner category above and provincial nomination or permanent residence are distinct steps. A permanent-residence strategy needs a separate eligibility assessment.