Immigration consultant's notes. Startup in Canada.

The Canadian Startup Visa program is designed for entrepreneurs with the skills and potential to create a business in Canada, and allows to obtain the status of permanent residence in the country.

Startup Visa was organized in 2013 and at that time was regarded as a kind of “immigration exotic”. It was believed that its main participants could be businessmen in the high-tech sector who did not receive US resident status. At present, this is the shortest way to the country for business owners - authors of original ideas.

Requirements for a business idea (project) submitted by a visa applicant:

• innovativeness,
• the possibility of creating jobs for local residents,
• competitiveness,
• scalability.

If the project received support from one of the authorized organizations:

• venture capital funds (consent of one of the funds to invest $ 200,000),
• angel investor groups (consent of one of the group members to invest $ 75,000),
• business incubators (consent to participate in one of the programs developed by business incubators),

then the applicant gets the right to apply for Start-up Visa.

At the time of obtaining the consent of an authorized organization, the following conditions must be met:

• each applicant (up to 5 people) and an authorized organization own at least 10% of the company’s shares,
• applicants and an authorized entity jointly own more than 50% of the shares.

At the time of receiving permanent residence:

• the applicant provides active and ongoing business management in Canada,
• a significant part of business operations takes place in Canada,
• the business is registered in Canada.
• each applicant must be able to communicate & work in English or French, as evidenced by the results of a language test passed at an authorized agency. Minimum Level - Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5.

Each applicant must have sufficient finances to support themselves and their family members during their stay in Canada.

A characteristic feature of the program is that the applicant is not required to invest his own funds in the project at the time of applying for a visa.

It should be noted that the province of Quebec is developing its own immigration programs that require separate consideration.

For questions regarding the organization of Startup projects in Canada, obtaining a residence permit & work permit, arranging financing, and optimizing taxation, please contact our specialists.