The City of Merritt is officially taking applications as one of three Thompson-Okanagan communities part of the government’s Entrepreneur Immigration Pilot program.

Will George, Merritt’s Economic Development and Tourism Manager says they’ve got interest from several countries, including China, India and the United States.

“We’re looking at light industrial – the warehousing, storage as well as the truck transportation – to really look at Merritt as a central location to larger markets,” he said.

“As well, we’re looking at that commercial type businesses, looking at our downtown core as well as highway commercial to really promote and encourage increased investment and to fill some of these empty storefronts that we have.”

George adds they’ve had over 60 inquires to date, since the program got underway two weeks ago.

Interested applicants have to invest at least $100,000 and create at least one job for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

But Will George points out that the City of Merritt will prioritize businesses who invest more than that minimum amount and offering more than one permanent job for a current Canadian resident.

“As long as we have some businesses that go from the inquiry section to putting in an application then we will be having the site exploratory visit with those entrepreneurs that come over from their home countries and then the applications go in after the city referral and it goes to the province,” he added.

“At the end of the day, as long as we have some new businesses that are opening up and filling some empty buildings in Merritt, that’s a success in our eyes.”

The other Thompson-Okanagan communities part of the pilot are Barriere and Vernon.