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Owner operator LMIA, Work permit and PR

canadavisaQs

Hero Member
Aug 15, 2019
283
75
Hey, Hope you are well!. You have done a great job by outlining your experience of applying for Owner/Operator LMIA pathway. We are on the same boat as you and this has helped us enormously. Thank you.

I'm about to make a decision on which consultant to hire. I have spoken to a few and the cost for the entire experience as per agent A is CAD 75,000 + Government fee, as per agent B is CAD 35,000 + government fee and agent C is CAD 25,000 + Government fee. I'm yet to get a quite from Agent D. :)

This discrepancy in fee has driven me mad and wanted to know how much you paid and who the agent/consultant/lawyer was ?

PS : Tried writing to you via messenger option and did not work. Can you please write to me at your earliest convenience. It would mean a lot.

i went through the same experience of quotes ranging from 10k to 50k. I paid $12,000 USD which is roughly $17,000 CAD. This fee includes initial calls, creating business plan, submission of LMIA, and submission of work permit application.

All government fees are extra and paid by me (So far CAD $1000 for LMIA and around CAD $625 for work permit for myself, open work permit spouse and study permit of child).

The firm i used is pretty good as far as experience they have and document preparation, but i do not recommend them for anyone because of how slow they are and how hard is it to reach anyone when you need to speak with someone.

I will check on my PM thing, good luck with your application.
 

canadavisaQs

Hero Member
Aug 15, 2019
283
75
It appears that consideration is also given to whether the owner/operator has demonstrated that such temporary entry will result in the creation or retention of employment opportunities for Canadians and permanent residents and/or skills transfer to Canadians and permanent residents.
It seems here in your case, Officer is not satisfied regarding the level of required ownership, the timing of its acquisition and the amount of your involvement in the business. Since the purchase agreement is conditional, officer have taken the stance that the applicant is not actually yet an “owner/operator" thats is why officer has not cleared your application under NOC 00 ie officer treated your case as an 'employee' and not an 'employer' and asked you to apply again for LMIA after 1 year elapses. At that time officer will check to confirm keeping your business involvement in mind whether to clear under NOC 00 or not and you fulfill Regulatory Requirements Sub-section 203(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations.

That could be true but based on what officer told me, she said she can clearly see there is a need for my company to hire some people to run the business. I think overall, they are just very careful with Owner operator program and if they have any doubt, they don't want to give any benefit of doubt to the candidate.

Purchase agreement you mentioned is not conidtional, officer actually made me purchase a lot of equipment before issuing me the positive LMIA.

Appreciate your input though.
 

canadavisaQs

Hero Member
Aug 15, 2019
283
75
Update

Work permit application for myself, Open work permit for Spouse, Study permit for child has been submitted. Bio-metrics request for spouse came in couple of days after submission and bio-metrics has been done.

I am guessing another week before they ask for medical. I did upfront medical and submitted with my application but for spouse and child we are waiting for medical request.

Does anyone knows how good the chances are of getting work permit now with positive LMIA? Keeping in mind, my TRV has been refused twice.
 

rahul01818

Newbie
Oct 18, 2019
5
1
Virtual office, costs me around $10 a month and they handle all incoming physical mail. I told the officer about it and she said, its ok for now and you can look for office after you get work permit.
Thank you for the information. Can you please share details of which service / company, you are using for virtual office?
 
Feb 24, 2020
2
0
i went through the same experience of quotes ranging from 10k to 50k. I paid $12,000 USD which is roughly $17,000 CAD. This fee includes initial calls, creating business plan, submission of LMIA, and submission of work permit application.

All government fees are extra and paid by me (So far CAD $1000 for LMIA and around CAD $625 for work permit for myself, open work permit spouse and study permit of child).

The firm i used is pretty good as far as experience they have and document preparation, but i do not recommend them for anyone because of how slow they are and how hard is it to reach anyone when you need to speak with someone.

I will check on my PM thing, good luck with your application.
Thanks a lot. This put me at ease. Can you please DM me the name of the law firm. I'm about to make decision as to which one to go with and your input would really help.
 

WR ACCA

Full Member
Oct 25, 2018
39
2
Hi @canadavisaQs,

May I know at which stage PR could be applied under this program?
Immediately after getting a Positive LMIA "00"?
or after residing 1/2 years in Canada?
Or Can he apply for the PNP immediately?

Many Thanks
 

canadavisaQs

Hero Member
Aug 15, 2019
283
75
thanks for Res.
if in case "000" is not approved, then can I apply for relevant PNP?
i looked into PNP a little bit and i think its a much longer process than Express entry. They want you submit a business plan and then if approved, they revisit your business after 18-24 months to see if your business meets the requirements you initially stated before giving you the PNP certifications

i could be totally wrong though
 

Glookahead

Newbie
Feb 10, 2020
2
0
The business plan was written by a company that does this full time. I provided them a lot of information regarding my business and they turned it into a very nice presented business plan. If you need info of the firm, feel free to PM me and i will be happy to share.

I also did the corporation myself and thats fairly simple process.
would you mind tell me the company name who helped you wrote the business plan. Thanks a lot ;)
 

WR ACCA

Full Member
Oct 25, 2018
39
2
thanks @canadavisaQs for guiding us, can you please clear another confusion: I am going to open a small company in partnership of a PR friend who is already settled there. Whether we should initiate our bus now( take small office & employ one resident) before lodging my application or to start operations once I am landed there. Considering my aim to gain managerial LMIA (200 points) asap, what do you suggest us?
Thank u again!
 

fatima99

Star Member
Aug 27, 2018
88
1
Can someone guide me with LMIA too? Im looking to go through a law firm, but im unsure how much the law firms there charge? can someone recommend good immigration consultants?
 
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fishinfall

Full Member
Mar 6, 2020
25
5
@canadavisaQs
Thanks for your informational posts here. I'm also starting the owner operation LMIA program recently.
I wanted to ask you about the business registration process.
1. Did you use a service provider to help you to create your business or you created the business all by yourself?
2. What type of business did you create? I see there are business corporation, professional corporation, sole corporation, general partnership etc. not sure which type I should choose. Also, is there any specific business type requirement like limited, Corp. or Incorp.?
3. I see you mentioned you used a virtual address while registering the business. My lawyer said that I at least should lease a shared office before the LMIA application. I wanted to check office nature as well, because if I start renting the office right now, it may stay empty at least half year until I onboard.
4. Also, did you wire your in to business account or your own personal account? You wired from US to Canada because the bank statement in US didn’t count?
 
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