The Rural Entrepreneur Stream is an opportunity for Whitecourt to offer permanent residency to entrepreneurs who want to start a new business or invest in an existing business within the Town of Whitecourt. The program will provide an opportunity to help expand the local economy and support succession planning for our local business community.
To be eligible for the Rural Entrepreneur Stream, candidates must meet the following criteria including but not limited to:
- Minimum 3 years of experience as an active business owner/manager or a minimum of 4 years of experience as a senior manager within the past 10 years;
- Completed a minimum of high school equivalent to the Canadian standard;
- Minimum Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level of 4 for each English language skill or Niveaux de compétence linguistique canadiens (NCLC) of 4 for each French language skill: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Official test results must be less than 2 years old at the time your Expression of Interest is submitted;
- Minimum net worth of $300,000. All assets must be candidate’s own personal holdings or spouse's or common-law partner’s;
- Minimum investment of $100,000 from candidate’s own (and/or spouse/common-law partner) equity. Higher levels of investment will be awarded more points;
- Minimum ownership of 51% for a new business. Business Partners must be Canadian Citizens or Permanent Residents OR 100% ownership for business succession (the succession buy-out must result in a complete change in ownership where the candidate will assume full control of the business);
- Business must not be on the list of ineligible businesses;
- New businesses must create at least one full-time job for Canadian Citizens or Permanent Residents (not including relatives); and
- Candidates must have a Community Support Letter from a participating rural Alberta community.
Please carefully review all of the eligibility requirements here or use the self-assessment tool to find out if you meet the basic requirements.
Candidates interested in the program that meet the eligibility requirements are encouraged to follow the below steps and connect with Economic Development at ecdev@whitecourt.ca to discuss their business proposal:
- Interested Candidates read the AAIP terms and conditions as well as the eligibility criteria and complete a self-assessment: https://www.alberta.ca/aaip-rural-entrepreneur-stream-eligibility
- Candidates are asked to provide a detailed Business Plan for review to ecdev@whitecourt.ca or enquire about the current businesses opportunities available. All documents are confidential and only shared internally for review.
- Candidate will work with Economic Development to schedule an exploratory visit and update the business plan as necessary.
- Candidate must complete a Rural Entrepreneur Stream Business Proposal Summary and if deemed a success a Community Support Letter will be provided. This letter must be submitted along with the Expression of Interest (EOI) to the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program under the Entrepreneur Stream.
- Candidates will work with the Government of Alberta and Canada for the nomination process and immigration processes.
For further information on the program or if you have questions about this program please connect directly with entrepreneur.supportservice@gov.ab.ca