SINP's Entrepreneur category is permanently closed. Here's what to do instead

If you are searching for how to apply to the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program's Entrepreneur category, the accurate answer is that you can't. Saskatchewan permanently closed all SINP Entrepreneur and Farm immigration pathways effective March 27, 2025 — no new applications, Expressions of Interest, or invitations. The closure covers every entrepreneur pathway the province ran, including the International Graduate Entrepreneur sub-category. Plenty of pages still rank for "SINP Entrepreneur requirements" and walk you through an EOI you can no longer submit. This guide covers what closed and when, what a legacy applicant still has to prove, and where a Saskatchewan-style entrepreneur plan realistically goes in 2026: three provincial doors remain open, and a fourth is expected to reopen later this year.

What exactly closed, and when?

Everything, permanently, on March 27, 2025. Saskatchewan closed all SINP Entrepreneur and Farm pathways as of that date, and the closure works in three parts:

• No new applications. The province accepts no new Entrepreneur or Farm files.
• No new EOIs or invitations. The Expression of Interest pool is closed; no invitations to apply are being issued.
• Legacy files continue. Applications submitted before the closure continue through processing under the rules that applied when they were filed.

The word that matters is permanently. This is not an intake pause with a reopening date — Saskatchewan removed the pathway itself, and its main SINP site no longer presents Entrepreneur as an open category.

Much of what still ranks online is therefore materially outdated. Any page telling you to "submit an SINP Entrepreneur EOI today," or presenting the old points grid as a score to optimize, describes a program that no longer accepts anyone — with no new EOIs possible, those points have no current selection value. Every SINP figure in this article carries the same label: legacy — closed to new applications since March 27, 2025.

What if my file was already in process?

Your application continues — and so do your obligations. Saskatchewan processes pre-closure files to completion under the applicable legacy rules, meaning the path you entered is the path you finish: EOI → invitation to apply → application with Business Establishment Plan and financial verification → Business Performance Agreement → temporary work permit → establish or acquire the business → prove performance → provincial nomination → federal PR application. Saskatchewan's approved third-party providers for net-worth and source-of-funds verification included KPMG and MNP.

The legacy thresholds those files were assessed against (legacy — closed to new applications since March 27, 2025):

Legacy SINP Entrepreneur requirement	Figure
Net business and personal assets	$500,000 minimum
Business experience	3 years of relevant entrepreneurial or business-management experience in the previous 10 years
Minimum investment	$300,000 in Regina or Saskatoon; $200,000 elsewhere in Saskatchewan
Ownership	At least one-third of the business, unless investing $1 million or more
Job creation	At least 2 employment opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent residents not related to the applicant, for a new business in Regina or Saskatoon

Three parts of the legacy process still matter operationally if your file is in the system.

The Business Establishment Plan still binds you. The BEP was never an explanatory attachment: Saskatchewan required it to correspond to the business for which EOI points had been claimed and to demonstrate an eligible operating business, the investment, and the applicant's active management role — and reserved the ability to have professional third parties assess aspects of it. For an existing-business purchase, the legacy conditions added a qualifying history of continuous operation, an exploratory visit, purchase at fair market value, a complete change in ownership, and protection of existing employment and wages.

The BPA turned the plan into conditions. After assessment and a final interview, Saskatchewan issued a Business Performance Agreement — a legal agreement specifying the investment amount, business sector, and other commitments originating in the BEP, with 20 days to sign. Statements about investment, ownership, employment, and business activity stopped being marketing copy at that point and became nomination conditions.

The 12-month rule and proof of performance. The nomination stage requires that the business has been run in accordance with the BPA for at least 12 months before requesting nomination. Candidates must transfer the promised investment, reside in Saskatchewan with their family, and actively operate the enterprise. The proof Saskatchewan can require is documentary and specific — evidence of the actual acquisition or investment, ownership, operating activity, financial transactions, staffing, and fulfilment of the particular BPA — not just a corporate registration certificate, plus a progress report before nomination.

The work now is delivery: operate the business you described, keep the evidence trail, and close out the BPA — the closure changed nothing about what your file has to prove.

Where do new applicants go instead?

If SINP was your plan, three provincial entrepreneur streams are open right now, and Ontario is expected to reopen later in 2026. They differ meaningfully in capital, geography, and process — for the full side-by-side across every province, see our PNP entrepreneur streams comparison.

Manitoba: next door, with lower minimums

The MPNP Business Investor Stream's Entrepreneur Pathway is the most natural substitute — structurally similar, with a business plan, designated net-worth verification by KPMG or MNP, a work permit, and a Business Performance Agreement fulfilled before nomination.

The current minimums: $250,000 personal investment in the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region or $150,000 outside it, against $500,000 minimum net worth, three years of full-time business experience in the previous five (as an owner with at least 33⅓% or as a senior manager), CLB/NCLC 5, and a Canadian-equivalent high-school education. The business must create or maintain at least one qualifying job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, excluding owners and close relatives. Both investment floors sit below Saskatchewan's legacy $300,000/$200,000 tiers.

Two things the older articles get wrong. First, Business Investor EOI draws are not currently being conducted — under Manitoba's interim procedure, every submitted EOI is reviewed within four weeks, so there is no 2026 cutoff score to chase. Second, the old $100,000 Entrepreneur deposit is gone from the Entrepreneur Pathway; the current model is work permit plus BPA, with nomination after performance. (The Farm Investor Pathway is different: it retains a $75,000 deposit and a mandatory research visit.) A business research visit is encouraged but not mandatory.

Alberta: the lowest investment floor, but rural and community-gated

The AAIP Rural Entrepreneur Stream is open to EOI submissions and carries the lowest capital requirement of the open streams: $100,000 minimum own-equity investment (cut from $200,000 on April 3, 2023) and $300,000 minimum net worth, with CLB/NCLC 4 and either three years as an active business owner-manager or four years as a senior manager in the previous 10.

The trade-off is geography and process. The business must be in a community of under 100,000 people outside the Calgary and Edmonton census metropolitan areas, and before you can even submit an EOI, a participating community has to endorse your Business Proposal Summary and issue a Community Support Letter. The exploratory engagement can now be done in person or by web video. A new business requires at least 51% ownership and one full-time job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident maintained at least six months; a qualifying succession requires a complete ownership change. Approval brings a Business Performance Agreement with at least 12 months of operation before nomination — the same promise-then-prove logic Saskatchewan used. Capacity is tight: Alberta's 2026 allocation for all entrepreneur streams is 60 nominations — 30 issued and 228 applications in process as of July 30, 2026 — with Business Applications evaluated on receipt rather than through scheduled draws.

British Columbia: open and actively drawing, at a higher price

The BC PNP Entrepreneur Immigration streams are the most active of the group — the July 28, 2026 Base draw invited 10 candidates at a minimum score of 117, following a June 30 Base cutoff of 118 and a Regional cutoff of 113. The Base stream requires $200,000 in eligible personal investment and $600,000 net worth; the Regional stream drops to $100,000 and $300,000 for a new business aligned with a host community's priorities, community referral included. Both run on a performance-agreement model: establish and operate the business, then seek nomination. The Base net-worth bar is the highest of the open streams, but the invitation record is the most visible and regular.

Ontario: expected later in 2026, rules not yet published

Ontario closed its old Entrepreneur Stream on November 4, 2024 — the 91 Entrepreneur nominations in its 2024 results came from the legacy pipeline. The province then proposed a redesigned Entrepreneur Stream on December 2, 2025, implemented Phase 1 of the redesign on June 25, 2026, and says the remaining redesigned streams, Entrepreneur among them, are expected to launch later in 2026.

What is officially proposed is a business-operation-first concept: applicants who have established and are actively operating an Ontario business, or have purchased and are operating an existing one. What is not published is everything you would plan around — minimum investment, minimum net worth, job requirements, scoring, and application mechanics. Treat any page quoting precise thresholds as an assumption until Ontario enacts the rules: this is a watch-and-prepare option, not a file-now option.

Program	Status	Minimum investment	Minimum net worth
SINP Entrepreneur	Permanently closed to new applications since March 27, 2025; legacy files continue	Legacy: $300,000 Regina/Saskatoon; $200,000 elsewhere	Legacy: $500,000
MPNP Entrepreneur Pathway	Active intake; no EOI draws — all EOIs reviewed within 4 weeks	$250,000 Winnipeg region / $150,000 outside	$500,000
AAIP Rural Entrepreneur	Open to EOI; community support letter required first	$100,000 own equity	$300,000
BC PNP Base	Open; draws through July 2026	$200,000	$600,000
BC PNP Regional	Open; community referral required	$100,000	$300,000
OINP Entrepreneur (redesigned)	Not launched; expected later in 2026	Not published	Not published

The federal picture narrowed at the same time: the Start-Up Visa closed to new applicants at the end of 2025, leaving the provincial streams above — plus the C11 owner-operator work permit, a work-permit route rather than direct permanent residence — as the realistic lanes for a business-owning applicant in 2026.

Every open stream in that table runs on the same underlying mechanism Saskatchewan used: the plan's commitments become a performance agreement that decides the nomination. Bridge Note writes the business plan and financial model for provincial entrepreneur applications — the Manitoba Business Concept, the Alberta Business Proposal Summary and full plan, the BC business case — built so the commitments on paper are ones the applicant can actually deliver in month 12. We do not file immigration applications or promise nominations; a licensed immigration consultant or lawyer handles the immigration side, and the province decides the outcome.

The bottom line

SINP Entrepreneur is permanently closed — no new applications, EOIs, or invitations since March 27, 2025, and no reopening signalled. If your file predates the closure, it continues under the legacy rules, and the job now is delivering the Business Establishment Plan and Business Performance Agreement, including at least 12 months of operation under the BPA before nomination. If you were planning to apply, the plan needs a new province: Manitoba is the closest substitute with lower investment minimums and a four-week EOI review; Alberta's Rural Entrepreneur Stream has the lowest capital floor but needs rural community backing; BC is drawing regularly at higher net-worth thresholds; Ontario's redesigned stream is expected later in 2026 with rules unpublished. The programs differ; the mechanism does not: the plan you submit becomes the agreement you must perform, so it has to be one you can live with, not just one that clears a minimum.

Frequently asked questions

Is the SINP Entrepreneur program permanently closed, or just paused?

Permanently closed. Saskatchewan closed all SINP Entrepreneur and Farm immigration pathways effective March 27, 2025, and describes the closure as permanent — not a pause or an intake freeze. No new applications, EOIs, or invitations are accepted, and the closure covers every entrepreneur pathway including the International Graduate Entrepreneur sub-category. Files submitted before the closure continue under the legacy rules.

I applied to SINP Entrepreneur before March 27, 2025. Is my application cancelled?

No. Saskatchewan says pre-closure files continue through processing to completion under the applicable legacy rules. If you hold a Business Performance Agreement, your obligations are unchanged: establish or acquire the business described in your Business Establishment Plan, transfer the promised investment, actively operate the enterprise, and run it in accordance with the BPA for at least 12 months before requesting nomination. The closure removed the pathway for new applicants, not the terms for files already in the system.

What is the closest open alternative to the SINP Entrepreneur category?

Manitoba's MPNP Entrepreneur Pathway — next door, structurally similar (business plan, KPMG/MNP net-worth verification, work permit, then a Business Performance Agreement before nomination), and with lower investment minimums than Saskatchewan's legacy rules: $150,000 outside the Winnipeg Metropolitan Region versus the legacy $200,000 outside Regina and Saskatoon. Alberta's Rural Entrepreneur Stream has the lowest investment floor at $100,000 own equity with $300,000 net worth but requires a rural community's support letter first; BC PNP runs Base and Regional streams with active 2026 draws.

Is Ontario's new Entrepreneur Stream open yet?

Not as of this writing. Ontario closed the old stream on November 4, 2024, published a redesign proposal on December 2, 2025, and implemented Phase 1 on June 25, 2026, with the remaining streams — Entrepreneur included — expected later in 2026. No launch date, investment minimum, net-worth figure, job requirement, or scoring grid has been published. The official proposal targets applicants who have established and are actively operating an Ontario business, or have purchased and are operating an existing one. Treat any precise threshold quoted for the new stream as an assumption.

Do legacy SINP applicants still have to meet the 12-month operation rule?

Yes. The legacy rules still govern in-process files, and the nomination stage requires the business to have been run in accordance with the Business Performance Agreement for at least 12 months before requesting nomination. Saskatchewan can require a progress report and documentary proof of operation — evidence of the actual acquisition or investment, ownership, operating activity, financial transactions, staffing, and fulfilment of the specific BPA commitments — not just a corporate registration certificate. Falling short of the BPA can prevent nomination.

Sources

1. SINP Entrepreneur Applicants — Government of Saskatchewan, 2026
2. MPNP Entrepreneur Pathway — Eligibility — Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, 2026
3. MPNP Entrepreneur Pathway — How to Apply — Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, 2026
4. MPNP EOI Draws — Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program, 2026
5. AAIP Rural Entrepreneur Stream — Eligibility — Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, 2026
6. AAIP Processing Information — Alberta Advantage Immigration Program, July 30, 2026
7. BC PNP — For Entrepreneurs and Businesses — WelcomeBC, 2026
8. BC PNP — Invitations to Apply — WelcomeBC, 2026
9. 2026 Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program Updates — Government of Ontario, 2026
10. Ontario Modernizing Immigration Program to Fill In-Demand Jobs — Ontario Newsroom, June 26, 2026
11. OINP Redesign — Regulatory Registry Proposal 52773 — Government of Ontario, December 2, 2025
12. 2025 Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program Updates — Government of Ontario, 2025