Applicants under Canada’s Start-Up Visa (SUV) immigration program must be active in their businesses or run the risk of being denied permanent residence under Canadian case law.
That obligation is even greater for those applicants who are the essential or primary applicants on the SUV application and who have also obtained work permits for the express purpose of establishing and building up the business.
“Your work permit lets you develop your business as an entrepreneur. It is not an open work permit,” notes Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
When Canadian immigration officials conclude an SUV applicant’s only goal is to secure permanent residence, this can be grounds for the refusal of an application.
Even candidates who do not choose to come to Canada on a work permit through the SUV must still show they have developed their business from overseas.
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Candidates who thought they only needed a letter of support from an angel investor, venture capital fund or business incubators. are mistaken.
Applicants must show their project is thoroughly planned and have done the groundwork, where it is possible to do so. This can include securing intellectual property and letters of intent for potential sales, developing prototypes of the business, developing websites and other meaningful undertakings.
Showing incremental progress of the business during the application process is highly recommended.
Immigrant entrepreneurship through the SUV is on the upswing, the latest data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reveals.
In October, Canada welcomed 200 new permanent residents to Canada through the SUV, up 37.9 per cent over the 145 new permanent residents in September.
The October surge in SUV immigration set a new record for monthly immigration through the program for 2023, with the previous record being established in July.
By the end of October, Canada had welcomed 1,000 new permanent residents through the SUV in 2023, putting the country on track for up to 1,200 new permanent residents to settle in Canada under the SUV by the end of 2023.
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That level of SUV immigration would be 108.7 per cent higher than the 575 new permanent residents who immigrated to Canada under that program in 2022.
The most popular destinations for immigrant entrepreneurs arriving under the SUV in the first 10 months of 2023 were Ontario and British Columbia.
Ontario had received 635 new permanent residents through the program at the end of the first 10 months of 2023 and British Columbia had welcomed 240 through that immigration program during the same period.
Alberta had added 20 new permanent residents through the program by the end of October, showing no change from the previous month, and Manitoba had welcomed 95 immigrant entrepreneurs through the SUV in the first 10 months of 2023.
Ontario And British Columbia Most Popular Destinations For SUV Candidates
The only other province to see the arrival of immigrant entrepreneurs through the SUV in 2023 was Nova Scotia which had by the end of October welcomed 10, unchanged from the previous month.
None of the other provinces or territories added any new permanent residents through the SUV in the first 10 months of 2023.
The SUV program generates much lower overall numbers of new permanent residents than federal worker programs, such as the Federal Skilled Worker (FSW) and Federal Skilled Trade (FST), the Provincial Nominee Programs (PNP) or the regional economic development programs including the Atlantic Immigration Program (AIP) or Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP).
Due to these smaller numbers, the monthly fluctuations in the number of new permanent residents under the SUV can sometimes seem exaggerated when examined in percentage terms.
The entire process of applying for permanent residence to Canada through the SUV is currently estimated by the IRCC to take 37 months.
Under the SUV, a designated venture capital fund must confirm that it is investing at least $200,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more commitments from designated venture capital funds totalling $200,000.
A designated angel investor group must invest at least $75,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more investments from angel investor groups totalling $75,000.
A designated business incubator must accept the applicant into its business incubator program. It is up to the immigrant investor to develop a viable business plan that will meet the due diligence requirements of these government-approved designated entities.
Immigration Lawyers Can Help Immigrant Entrepreneurs
That investing and the development of the business are usually done with the help of business consultants in Canada’s start-up ecosystem with oversight from experienced corporate business immigration lawyers who can ensure a start-up’s business concept meets all industry-required terms and conditions.
The basic government-imposed candidate eligibility requirements for the SUV are:
- a qualifying business;
- a commitment certificate and letter of support from a designated entity;
- sufficient unencumbered, available and transferable settlement funds to meet settlement funding, and;
- proficiency in English or French at the minimum Canadian Language Benchmark level 5. However, it frequently occurs that higher levels of English are needed to meet due diligence requirements imposed by designated entities.
Applicants who want a work permit under the SUV must provide:
- a letter of support from the designated entity and;
- proof they have sufficient funds to meet the low-income cut-off (LICO) for their family size, for one year.
