At Canada Startup Co., we help you immigrate to Canada and set up and scale your businesses in Canada with the help of the Government of Canada’s Start-up Visa Program. The Start-up Visa Program also lets budding and talented immigrant entrepreneurs and their families apply for permanent residence status. While in wait for their permanent residence, these immigrant business owners are eligible for a short probationary work grant, permitting them to head out to Canada to start working on their businesses.

Starting as an experimental program in 2013, the Visa Program has helped several foreign entrepreneurs to shift their base of operations to Canada, and the number of immigrants keeps expanding every year.

In 2017, the program was deemed a permanent alternative for foreign business owners keen on moving to Canada.

As the Canadian economy keeps growing (due to government and private support), the Start-up Visa Program is one of the many migration programs established to let gifted and talented individuals call Canada their new home.

Start-up Visa for New Entrepreneurs

The Start-up Visa Program is ideal for business founders with an existing business plan backed by investors. To qualify for the Start-up Visa Program, candidates are required to set-up their businesses and get investment commits from a designated authority (in this case, the Canadian business investor or hatchery).

Instructions to meet all requirements for the Start-up Visa:

There are four significant prerequisites that all candidates must meet to apply for a Start-up Visa:

1. Have a valid business

To be viewed as a qualified business, the candidates should have set up companies where the immigrating candidates own no less than 10 percent of the voting rights connected to the business’s share. The program allows up to five applicants to apply together as co-proprietors. The candidates and their assigned organization should collectively hold more than 50 percent of their business’s total voting rights.

Candidates are responsible for making sure that the business is incorporated within the borders while being inclusive of all the essential processes in Canada through the active management of foreign entrepreneurs to get permanent residence via the Start-up Visa Program.

2. Get an investment commitment from a Designated Organization

Unfamiliar business owners and entrepreneurs must ensure that their businesses have an assured backing via a Designated Organization in Canada before applying to the Start-up Visa Program.

There are three different classes of Designated Organizations.

• A designated angel investor and venture capitalist funders
• A designated investment reserve
• A designated business incubator

A designated organization’s investment commitment is conveyed to the respective authorities via a Letter of Support, which must be made a part of the candidate’s official application. The validity of the Letters of Support lasts for six months from their issue date.

3. Show proficiency in English or French

All candidates for the Start-up Visa Program must be proficient in at least one of Canada’s two main languages: English or French. New applicants must show results from a known language test, verifying their proficiency via the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) test, with scores of Level 5 or higher to fit the program’s bill. The test outcomes must be no more than two years old at the time of application.

As of now, the immigration authorities in Canada acknowledge two standard English test results from the following test administrators, which are:

• IELTS
• CELPIP

Test results from both of these two French tests may also be submitted:

• TEF
• TCF

4. Provide proof of funds to the IRCC

All interested candidates for the Start-up Visa Program are required to reveal their financial status and prove that they have enough cash reserves to support themselves and their famiIntrigued candidates must show that they have enough cash to help repay in Canada for themselves and their family members.

 

Size of Family Unit	Required funds (in CAD) for 6 Months	Required funds (in CAD) for 12 Months
1 (single applicant)	$13,213	$26,426
2	$16,449	$32,898
3	$20,222	$40,444
4	$24,553	$49,106
5	$27,847	$55,694
6	$31,407	$62,814
7	$34,967	$69,934

And for each additional family member, an additional amount of CAD 3,560 (for 6 months) and CAD 7,120 (for 12 months) must be shown.

 

Instructions to apply to the Start-up Visa Program

On the off chance that an immigrant entrepreneur meets all of the business person ticks all of the qualifications check-boxes for the Start-up Visa Program, they should work on preparing a paper-based application utilizing IMM 5759 on the IRCC website and submit it to the authorities.

The Start-up Visa Program application requires documented proof stating that the candidate qualifies by meeting all of the four prerequisites necessary for the Program. Moreover, the application also asks for additional documentation showing the candidate’s qualification and financial prowess to settle in Canada and take care of their family members. This part of the application involves multiple medical and clinical tests and police verifications, and authentications to ascertain that the candidate is medically and legally fit to migrate and settle in Canada. Candidates will likewise be needed to submit biometrics and certified translated copies of their official documents (if the original documents are not written in English or French).

The cost for applying for the Start-up Visa Program is CAD 1,575 for the principal and an additional $500 as a Right of Permanent Residence fee. A charge of $825 is levied for an accompanying partner/spouse, with a similar amount for Right of Permanent Residence ($500) and a further $225 for each dependent minor.

All parts of the Start-up Visa application should be created in printed hard-copies, sealed in a single envelope, and should be couriered to IRCC’s Centralized Intake Office in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

It usually takes about 12-16 months for the applications to be processed. Within this timeframe, candidates can apply for a temporary work permit to allow them to start working in Canada before their PR statuses get approved.

Post the application approvals, the primary candidate and all their dependents are awarded Permanent Resident status in Canada.