[mysterypie]

Typical case went like this: Immigrant investor to Canada spent $300K (Canadian) to buy a pizza joint, hired 5 minimum wage workers, operated business for 3.5 years, then sold it or closed it. Minimum investments and required duration of the business have varied over the years, and by province as well.

The typical immigrant investor was not starting Google, a genomics lab, a 3D printing business, or anything even vaguely innovative.

[emilyfm]

That was the "investor" visa ("owner-operator").

The US International Entrepreneur Rule is more like the "Start Up Visa" [1] that was introduced in Canada a few years ago, which allows entry for founders of a business supported by local venture capital or incubators (subject to certain monetary amounts and conditions).

A major difference: the Canadian start-up visa gives immediate permanent residence, rather than a number of years of temporary status with no guaranteed route forward.

[1] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/

[nopinsight]

What happens to them afterward? Do they get a permanent residency just from operating that venture for 3.5 years?

(Do they need to pass the point-based qualification as well to get the visa in the first place?)

For the US, small business investor-entrepreneurs typically use an E-2 visa but it is non-immigrant and they need to leave the country when the business stops operating.