One-third of business owners with paid staff are immigrants in Canada. The Canadian government has changed the rules of the game for start-ups and entrepreneurs wishing to establish businesses in Canada. To address backlogs, enhance processing time, and focus more on potential ideas, the government has announced various reforms to Canada’s federal business programs.
To improve the Start-up Visa Program, Canada will encourage designated venture capital firms, angel investor groups and business incubators to focus on the most promising proposals by capping the number of permanent residence applications that will be accepted for processing each year to those associated with no more than 10 start-ups per designated organization.
Further, entrepreneurs whose start-up is supported by Canadian capital or by a business incubator that is a member of Canada’s Tech Network, including applications in the inventory and new applications as they are submitted will be given priority processing by the government.
In addition, the Canadian government has announced a full pause on application intake for the Self Employed Persons Program to focus on processing applications from the inventory, starting April 30, 2024.
The Self-Employed Persons Program provides a pathway to permanent residence for people with notable experience in art, culture, recreation, or sports and who will contribute to Canada’s cultural vitality. Due to the high number of applications submitted for this program, processing times have increased to beyond four years. While the pause is in place, IRCC will continue finalizing applications from the backlog while assessing options for reforming the program and ensuring its integrity.
Canada ranked number one as the most attractive destination for start-up founders in a 2023 report by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The rankings were based on a wide variety of factors, including access to capital, corporate tax rates, skills of the workforce, strength of its universities and quality of life, as well as immigration policies for entrepreneurs and their families.
To qualify to apply for the Start-up Visa Program, a foreign entrepreneur must have the committed support of a designated venture capital fund (investment of $200,000), an angel investor group (investment of $75,000) or a business incubator (acceptance into their incubation program).
Since the program began in 2013, about 900 entrepreneurs have become permanent residents through this category, representing the launch of more than 300 start-ups.