Harvest 2026 runs Sept 15–20! Lineup, schedules, venues and everything you need → The Hey Freddy shop is live — wear Fredericton, shipped across Canada. Shop now →
Hey Freddy Business Hey FreddyBusiness

The newcomer’s guide to building in Fredericton

For anyone new to Canada who wants to build, buy or practise something in Fredericton. Nearly everything here is free, and most of it runs through two doors: MCAF on Saunders Street and Ignite on Crowther Lane.

Checked September 19, 20267 partsNearly all of it free

Part 1

Start at MCAF

The Multicultural Association of Fredericton, at 28 Saunders Street (506-454-8292, [email protected]), is the settlement agency: free settlement counselling, English and French language support, employment services for adults and youth including a Hire a Newcomer program, settlement workers in the schools, and childcare during classes. Permanent residents are assessed for language classes at the CCNB Language Assessment Centre; work-permit holders are assessed at MCAF; LINC Home Study is the online option. Ignite’s Capital Region Integration Network is the federally funded partnership that coordinates all of it, and publishes the Welcome Guide.

Part 2

Paperwork in the first month

A Social Insurance Number is free, online or at Service Canada, with your permanent resident card or confirmation, or your work or study permit, plus passport. New Brunswick Medicare generally begins the first day of the third month after you establish residence, but newcomers arriving from outside Canada may be covered from the day they arrive; apply through Service New Brunswick. Since December 1, 2025, fourteen federally regulated banks, including the big six, offer newcomers a no-fee account for the first year.

Part 3

Starting or buying a business

Ignite’s Business Immigrant Essentials is a free five-to-seven-week workshop series for newcomers with a business idea (CLB 5 English), and its Economic Empowerment Program does the same for immigrant women. For money, Futurpreneur’s newcomer stream lends up to $25,000 to permanent residents under five years in Canada with thin credit history, and CBDC is piloting an Immigrant Loan Program for temporary residents aged 19 and up. The New Brunswick Business Immigrant Association, launched in Fredericton with ACOA funding, runs networking, training and mentoring for immigrant owners. Everything on the Starting and Funding pages applies to you too.

Part 4

The pathways, plainly

The New Brunswick Provincial Nominee Program’s Business Immigration stream wants a net worth of at least $500,000 ($300,000 for farming), an eligible investment of at least $150,000 that creates one full-time job, majority ownership, age 19 to 59 and CLB 4; the province issues a work-permit support letter while you build. The Atlantic Immigration Program is employer-driven: a Fredericton employer with two years of operation can be designated by Immigration NB after free intercultural training, then endorse a job offer that leads to permanent residence and a work permit. The federal Start-up Visa stopped accepting new applications on June 30, 2026; files accepted before that date are still processed.

Part 5

Working in your profession

Regulated occupations (nursing, engineering, accounting, teaching, medicine, the trades) need a licence from the New Brunswick regulator before you practise; the province’s Working in New Brunswick tool tells you which body and what it asks for. In August 2026 the province received $9.99 million in federal credential-recognition funding for nursing wage subsidies, teacher bridging and engineering employer engagement. Ignite’s Connector Program introduces internationally educated professionals to people in their field, and MCAF’s employment counsellors handle résumés, interviews and the Canadian-experience problem.

Part 6

In French

The Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick and RDÉE NB offer French-language business development and employability services (innovation, growth, succession) to members and non-members. Fredericton’s francophone community centre and school district are the social door; MCAF can register you for French classes.

Part 7

If you are the employer

Hiring from abroad in Fredericton mostly means the Atlantic Immigration Program: get designated (two years in business under the same management, in good standing with WorkSafeNB and Employment Standards, intercultural training done, a settlement plan for the hire), then endorse each offer. MCAF’s Hire a Newcomer service and Ignite’s quarterly job fairs are the local pipeline.

Checked

Every figure on this page was read off the linked primary source on September 19, 2026. Fees, thresholds and intake windows move; the sources are there so you can check the day you need them, and if we are wrong, tell us.

Next

Ready to register?

The seven steps, the fees and the phone numbers, from the Corporate Registry to your first hire. The same rules apply to everyone, which is the good news.

Starting a business

Ask Freddy, owner edition

The questions you’d rather not phone City Hall about

Keep reading

The longer reads on settling in

All guides
Newcomer & Immigrant Fredericton: Settling In, Start to Finish 🏙️ City life · 12 min Welcoming Newcomers in Fredericton: How to Help and How to Belong 🏙️ City life · 7 min Moving to Fredericton: The Real Talk Locals Give Newcomers 🏙️ City life · 9 min Internet, Cell and TV in Fredericton: The Newcomer's Guide 🏙️ City life · 12 min The Cost of Living in Fredericton in 2026: The Real Math 🏙️ City life · 9 min