Longer than the petition. Preparation of the source of funds file, adjudication, visa availability for the relevant category, two years of conditional residence and then the conditions filing form a sequence measured in years. Availability differs between the reserved allocations and the unreserved category and should be checked in the Visa Bulletin.
Five stages, each with its own clock
Mapping the whole sequence prevents most disappointment. Stage one is documentation, and for a business owner whose wealth was built over decades this is months of work. Stage two is adjudication of the petition.
Stage three is visa availability, which depends on the applicant's chargeability and on which allocation the investment falls into, since the 2022 legislation created reserved shares for rural, high unemployment and infrastructure investments alongside the unreserved category; the Visa Bulletin is where that is checked, and it moves. Stage four is two years of conditional permanent residence, during which the capital must remain sustained as required and the jobs must be created. Stage five is the petition to remove conditions and the wait for its adjudication.
A change of business plan by the project can add a whole cycle at stage two. Households should therefore plan around a range rather than a date, and should place a child's twenty-first birthday on the same chart.