{"id":265442,"date":"2020-08-16T05:55:13","date_gmt":"2020-08-16T09:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=265442"},"modified":"2020-08-16T05:55:13","modified_gmt":"2020-08-16T09:55:13","slug":"canada-an-immigration-destination-for-self-employed-cultural-workers-musicians-artists-and-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/08\/16\/canada-an-immigration-destination-for-self-employed-cultural-workers-musicians-artists-and-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada: An immigration destination for self-employed cultural workers, musicians, artists and athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The program is aimed at a wide range of foreign nationals working in the arts and sports such as music teachers, painters, illustrators, filmmakers, freelance journalists or athletes. (File photo: Alice Dietrich\/Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canada’s federal program for self-employed persons allows people with experience in athletics or arts and culture to apply for Canadian permanent residence.<\/em><\/p>\n

Self-employed individuals have the possibility of becoming permanent residents in Canada, based on their work experience, and their intention to continue working for themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s\u00a0Federal Self-Employed Persons Program<\/a>\u00a0allows eligible individuals who have relevant experience in athletics, arts and culture to apply for\u00a0Canadian permanent residence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The program is aimed at a wide range of foreign nationals working in the arts and sports such as music teachers, painters, illustrators, filmmakers, freelance journalists or athletes. It also includes those working behind the scenes like choreographers, set designers, coaches and trainers.<\/p>\n

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada<\/a>\u00a0(IRCC) assesses candidates for the program based on their experience, intent and ability to create their own employment in Canada.<\/p>\n

Candidates must demonstrate that they have at least two years of relevant experience, either (a) by taking part in \u201ccultural or sporting activities at an international level\u201d, which means that they are internationally known or perform at the highest level in their discipline; or (b) by being self-employed in the field of cultural or sporting activities.<\/p>\n

Candidates must also be able to contribute to what the federal government calls the \u201cenrichment of Canadian culture and sport\u201d and make \u201ca significant contribution to specific economic activities\u201d in the country. A music teacher destined for a small town may be considered to be of local importance, as may a freelance journalist writing for a Canadian publication, both of which are cited by the government as examples of what a significant contribution can be.<\/p>\n

The extent of the contribution is, however, determined and left to the discretion of the visa officer processing the individual\u2019s file.<\/p>\n

To be considered for\u00a0immigration as a self-employed person<\/a>, interested candidates must also meet or exceed a minimum score under the program\u2019s selection criteria.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s\u00a0Federal Self-Employed Program<\/a>\u00a0is an excellent option for many people who may not qualify for some economic immigration programs and whose employment status or type of occupation may be limiting their\u00a0Canadian immigration options<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are economic immigration programs in Canada that do not take self-employment into account as part of the minimum work experience requirements.\u00a0 Such is the case, for instance, of the\u00a0Canadian Experience Class<\/a>\u00a0(CEC). CEC is one of three\u00a0federal programs<\/a>\u00a0managed through the\u00a0Express Entry<\/a>\u00a0application system and one that ranks candidates for immigration to Canada against each other on a point scale. Candidates are awarded points for various factors, such as age, education, skilled work experience and proficiency in English or French.\u00a0 Earning points for Canadian work experience in specific occupations can be a key factor in determining whether a candidate\u2019s score is high enough to receive an\u00a0Invitation to Apply<\/a>\u00a0for permanent residence.<\/p>\n

The federal self-employed program is not subject to such conditions and does not have a ranking system or competitive selection for candidates.<\/p>\n

While long processing times under Canada\u2019s federal self-employed program could have been a deterring factor in the past, this has now been rectified. Last year, IRCC provided an update on the situation and the federal government now reports processing times of 23 months\u2014 a major improvement over the seven years it took a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Individuals interested in\u00a0immigrating to Quebec<\/a>\u00a0should note that the province has a separate selection system for self-employed persons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Canada’s federal program for self-employed persons allows people with experience in athletics or arts and culture to apply for Canadian …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":265443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-265442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","mauthors-alexandra-miekus","mauthors-cic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265445,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265442\/revisions\/265445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}