Canada Startup Visa Program


The Start-up Visa Program is for business owners who have a qualifying business, have a letter of support from one of the designated organizations, meet the language requirements, and have enough money to settle and live in Canada before any money is generated from their own business.

Start-up Visa Program

The Start-up Visa Program applicants must get the support and present their Business Plan to one or more of the following designated organizations listed below:

  1. Venture capital funds
  2. Angel investor groups
  3. Business incubators

Organizations choose which business proposals to review. Each organization has its own intake process for proposals and criteria used to assess them. The above organizations may choose to support applicants’ business ideas by providing them a letter of support.

The applicants must secure a minimum investment of $200,000 if the investment is coming from a designated Venture Capital Fund and $75,000 if the investment is coming from Angel Investor Group. The applicants don’t need to secure financial investment from a business incubator. But they must be accepted into a Canadian business incubator program.

A letter of support is given to the applicant by the designated angel investor group or venture capital fund. It is proof that they will support applicants’ business ideas.

A qualifying business means applicants’ created a business that at the time of commitment from a designated organization each applicant holds 10% or more of the voting rights attached to all shares of the corporation outstanding at that time (up to 5 people can apply as owners) and applicants and the designated organization jointly hold more than 50% of the total voting rights attached to all shares of the corporation outstanding at that time.

The applicants at the time of receiving their permanent residence must be providing active and ongoing management of this business from within Canada with a business incorporated in Canada and all operations of the business happen in Canada

A minimum level of the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) is 5 in either English or French in speaking, reading, listening, and writing.

The applicants are not required to invest any of their money rather minimum investment required comes from the designated organizations.

To qualify for the Start-up Visa Program, you must meet all 4 eligibility requirements, as well as the admissibility requirements to enter Canada.

Eligibility requirements for the Start-up Visa Program

The candidates must:

  • have a qualifying business: A qualifying business means applicants’ created a business that at the time of commitment from a designated organization each applicant holds 10% or more of the voting rights attached to all shares of the corporation outstanding at that time (up to 5 people can apply as owners) and applicants and the designated organization jointly hold more than 50% of the total voting rights attached to all shares of the corporation outstanding at that time.
  • have a letter of support from a designated organization:A letter of support is given to the applicant by the designated angel investor group or venture capital fund. It is proof that they will support applicants’ business idea.
  • meet the language requirements: Minimum level of the Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 in either English or French in speaking, reading, listening and writing and
  • have enough money to settle and live in Canada before you make money from your business

Quebec Investor Program

​This program is available to Foreign Nationals who are Business Owners or Managers and have a significant Net worth. The total investment is made for a period of 5 years and would be returned without interest.

To be eligible for this program, you must provide:

  • Proof of net assets of at least $2,000,000 CAD obtained legally before the date on which the application was filed.
  • Proof of experience as a Business Manager with at least ttwo full-time employees for an international agency or a government or one of its departments or agencies
  • Proof of intention to settle in Québec and sign an agreement to invest $1,200,000 CAD
  • Proof of investment of $1,200,000 CAD for a five year term is guaranteed by the Quebec government
  • Banks and trust companies offer the possibility of financing the investment. At the end of the five year term, the government of Quebec will reimburse the applicant $1,200,000 CAD without interest.

Note: The majority of popular Canada Business immigration programs under Business Entrepreneur categories are run by the Canadian provinces known as Canadian PNP Entrepreneur Immigration Streams.

Please contact us by filling our contact us form if you need more information or want to start the process for any available Canada Business Immigration Program.