The Start-Up Visa (SUV) entrepreneur immigration program exploded in popularity last year, setting a new record as 1,460 new permanent residents arrived through it, the latest data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reveals.
After finally exceeding pre-pandemic levels and allowing 575 new permanent residents to come to Canada through the SUV last year, that immigration program spiked to 153.9 per cent in 2023.
IRCC has allocated substantial planned admissions for permanent residence to Start-Up Visa applicants. In 2024, 2025 and 2026, it plans to welcome 5,000, 6,000 and 6,000 newcomers respectively.
Launched in 2015, the SUV saw only 55 immigrant entrepreneurs come to Canada in its initial year.
That number, though, doubled to 110 new permanent residents in 2016 and rose another 22.7 per cent the following year. By 2018, the program had more than quadrupled in popularity with 240 new permanent residents arriving.
In 2019, the last full year before the arrival of COVID-19, the SUV welcomed 515 new permanent residents to Canada.
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As the pandemic swept across Canada and public health and travel restrictions were imposed, though, immigration plummeted 45.9 per cent – and the number of people who arrived under the SUV fell in tandem with that overall drop in immigration to Canada.
In 2020, only 260 immigrant entrepreneurs became new permanent residents of Canada through the SUV.
With immigration rebounding strongly in 2021 to hit 406,020 new permanent residents, the SUV also saw increased activity with 385 new permanent residents coming to Canada through it that year, an improvement of 48.1 per cent over 2020.
It took until 2022 for the SUV to fully recover from the pandemic-fuelled downturn but it more than doubled in popularity last year compared to the previous year.
Ontario and British Columbia remain the most popular destinations for SUV immigrants.
Ontario had received 900 new permanent residents through the program in 2023 and British Columbia welcomed 275 that year.
Alberta added 20 new permanent residents through the program in 2023 and Manitoba welcomed 140 immigrant entrepreneurs through the SUV last year.
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The only other province to see the arrival of immigrant entrepreneurs through the SUV in 2023 was Nova Scotia which welcomed 25.
None of the other provinces or territories added any new permanent residents through the SUV in 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).
SUV Applicants Can Come To Canada Under Work Permits To Jumpstart The Process
Due to these smaller numbers, the monthly and even yearly fluctuations in the number of new permanent residents under the SUV can sometimes seem exaggerated when examined in percentage terms.
Candidates applying under the SUV program can initially come to Canada on a work permit supported by their designated Canadian investor before their application for permanent residence is finalized.
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, three types of private-sector investors are considered: angel investors, venture capital funds, and business incubators.
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.
Three Types Of Private-Sector Investors Are Considered Under The SUV
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.
That investing and the development of the business is 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.
