The Start Up Visa gives founders permanent residence for building in Canada with the backing of a designated investor or incubator, with no personal net worth test attached.
We are able to provide a turnkey business with the necessary investor support, ready for your application.
The federal intake of new cases is currently paused. They will open briefly again before pausing as they reach their quotas quickly. Demand always outstrips supply.
So the founders who win are the ones whose cases are built, banked and ready for the door when it moves.
Designated backers commit the funds; the venture is your currency.
The cap that makes designated support the scarce resource.
Each holding at least ten percent of the votes.
Toronto and Waterloo form North America’s fastest growing tech corridor, Montreal leads the world in artificial intelligence research, and Vancouver ships games and film effects globally. Add federal research credits, talent visas that actually work and a currency that stretches venture dollars, and Canada is where founders build without begging for status.
The Start Up Visa outsources judgement to the market: designated venture funds, angel groups and incubators choose the founders, and immigration follows their commitment. That design made it the developed world’s most founder friendly route, and its popularity is exactly why caps and pauses now ration the door.
It suits founding teams of up to five with genuine, scalable ventures and the patience for federal timelines, especially those who can operate in Canada on work permits while the permanent file matures. Passive investors should look to Quebec; buyers of existing businesses to the provincial entrepreneur streams we also run.
Caps and pauses reward the prepared. We ready the venture, the designated relationships and the family file now, so yours moves the day the intake does.
Founders with a qualifying commitment from a designated organisation receive permanent residence for themselves and their families: up to five co founders per venture, each holding at least ten percent of the votes with the designated backer collectively over fifty. There is no minimum personal investment and no net worth test; the venture is the currency. Official designations and rules are published by IRCC at canada.ca.
A designated venture capital fund must commit at least 200,000 dollars, a designated angel group at least 75,000, or a designated incubator must accept the venture into its programme. Founders also show language ability at CLB 5 and settlement funds. The scarce resource is the letter of support itself: designated organisations could back only ten start ups a year before intake closed, and the federal intake is currently paused to new applications, and the final deadline for applicants holding a valid 2025 commitment certificate passed on 30 June 2026.
Serious founders use the pause instead of mourning it: perfect the venture and the pitch now, secure incubator relationships early, and enter Canada through the entrepreneur C11 route or intra company transfers, since new start up visa work permits are no longer issued, so the business builds while policy turns. If intake ever reopens, prepared files will move first. We maintain relationships across the designated list for exactly this moment.
Every major province runs entrepreneur streams of its own: performance based nominations for founders and buyers who invest from the low six figures and operate genuinely. British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and the Atlantic provinces each price entry differently, and owner operator strategies carry business buyers into work permits today and nominations tomorrow. For many families the provincial road is now the faster one.
Choose the designated backer for immigration craft as well as capital, because a beautiful term sheet with a sloppy letter sinks files. Cap tables must keep every founder above ten percent voting, and the essential work of the venture must genuinely happen in Canada. Work permits first, permanent residence second is now the professional sequence, and language points are the cheapest insurance in the file. We build to that standard from day one.
The ecosystem you choose shapes the designated relationships available to you. We match ventures to the cities, incubators and funds where their category actually wins.
North America’s fastest growing tech corridor: fintech, health tech and the deepest designated investor bench in the country.
Assess MeWorld leading artificial intelligence research and francophone advantages that pay again at the immigration stage.
Am I Eligible?Vancouver’s games and clean tech, Calgary’s energy transition: designated incubators with shorter queues than the east.
Contact UsPrepared ventures with designated relationships move first if intake ever reopens, and entrepreneur work permit routes build the business meanwhile. That preparation is exactly our trade.
Passports, birth and marriage certificates for every founder family member, consistent across the whole file.
Business plan, cap table keeping each founder above ten percent voting, incorporation documents and the evidence that essential operations will live in Canada.
The designated organisation’s commitment certificate, the scarce document the whole programme turns on, negotiated with immigration craft as well as capital.
CLB 5 language results for every founder and settlement funds statements sized to the family.
Extensions of existing start up visa work permits, which keep you in Canada building while the permanent residence file matures.
Prefer a conversation before anything formal? Our consultants answer Start Up Visa questions with complete candour, including whether a provincial stream would serve you faster.
Nearly three decades guiding successful emigrations worldwide.
Former Emigration Officials with deep, current knowledge of immigration law.
Considered, discreet guidance tailored precisely to your circumstances.
The federal intake is currently paused to new applications, and the window for applicants with a valid 2025 commitment certificate has closed. Preparation now positions you in case intake ever reopens; provincial entrepreneur streams carry founders meanwhile.
None of your own is required. A designated venture fund commits at least 200,000 dollars, an angel group 75,000, or a designated incubator accepts your venture into its programme.
Each designated organisation could support only ten start ups a year before the programme stopped accepting commitment certificates, so the letters ration the programme. Relationships and venture quality decide who gets them.
New start up visa work permits are closed. Existing permit holders can extend, and separate entrepreneur routes may still apply while the permanent file processes.
Up to five per venture, each holding at least ten percent of votes, with the designated backer collectively above fifty percent alongside the founders.
CLB 5 in English or French for every applying founder, modest and worth exceeding for the wider Canadian file.
Permanent residence, once granted, does not depend on the venture’s commercial fate. Canada bets on founders, not on individual outcomes.
Provincial entrepreneur nominations, owner operator acquisitions and Quebec’s programmes each carry business builders to PR on their own arithmetic. We map all of them in one assessment.
Book an assessment and our team will assess your options.
Receive tailored advice and a clear migration strategy built entirely around you.
Let us manage your application from lodgement to decision, or choose to be guided.
Tell us about your venture and team, and our specialists will give you the honest read: designated prospects, provincial alternatives and the sequence that gets you building fastest.