Start Up Visa Programs
To qualify for the Start-up Visa Program, you must meet all 4 eligibility requirements:
You must:
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have a qualifying business
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have a letter of support from a designated organization
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meet the language requirements, and
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have enough money to settle and live in Canada before you make money from your business
As well as the admissibility requirements to enter Canada.
To meet the language requirements, you must show that you have reached Canadian Language Benchmark 5 in listening, reading, writing and speaking.
Successful applicants are required to secure a minimum investment for their Canadian start-up. If coming from a designated Canadian venture capital fund, the investment must be at least $200,000. If coming from an angel investor group, it should be at least $75,000. You don’t need to secure a financial investment from a business incubator. You must be accepted into a Canadian business incubator program.
In order to demonstrate that the applicant has obtained support from either a venture capital fund, angel investor group, or business incubator, the investor organization must submit a completed Commitment Certificate directly to IRCC. In addition, the applicant will receive a letter of support from the investment organization, which the applicant will need to submit with their application for permanent residence.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada will review the immigration application, if the applicant has received the necessary support to apply, to make sure they’re eligible to become a permanent resident.
Finally, the application may also be subject to an independent peer review process. This is designed to protect against fraud and to ensure that the applicant's activities and those of the designated organization are in line with industry standards for this type of support.