Start-up Visa Canada (SUV)

Start-up Visa status at a glance

If you are already in process

• Permanent residence application already accepted: IRCC continues to process it. In December 2025 IRCC said it is prioritizing applications from people already in Canada with a Start-up Visa work permit, as Levels Plan targets allow. IRCC's About page lists the processing time as more than 10 years.
• Holding a Start-up Visa work permit: IRCC says you may be able to extend it while your permanent residence application is processed. The open work permit is valid for up to 3 years.
• Holding a commitment certificate but never applied: the June 30, 2026 deadline for 2025 commitments has passed, and IRCC says the program is closed to all other applications.

What the Start-up Visa was (historical)

The Start-up Visa targeted immigrant entrepreneurs with the skills and potential to build businesses in Canada (outside Quebec) that are innovative, can create jobs for Canadians and can compete on a global scale. An applicant needed the support of a designated organization (a venture capital fund, angel investor group or business incubator), which issued a commitment, and then applied to IRCC for permanent residence. Designated organizations set their own process and criteria for assessing proposals.

Did the Start-up Visa need a business plan?

An SUV business plan went to the designated organization, not to IRCC as a listed document: the founder pitched the business proposal, the organization assessed it under its own process and criteria, and if it agreed it sent IRCC a commitment certificate and gave the founder a letter of support (canada.ca, read 13 October 2026).

• What IRCC asked for: its application page lists the letter of support, language test results, proof of funds, police certificates and identity documents among the uploads, and its eligibility page lists four requirements: a qualifying business, a letter of support, CLB 5 language results and enough money to settle.
• What the organization had to confirm: IRCC's instructions say the commitment certificate must describe the business, the applicant's role and the legal and financial structure, and confirm a due diligence assessment of the applicant and the business, including the provenance of funds.
• No fee to review the plan: the commitment certificate had to be issued without the designated organization charging a fee to review and assess the business proposal.
• Where that leaves a business plan now: with the program paused, a new plan cannot lead to a Start-up Visa application, and founders compare the open provincial entrepreneur streams instead, each with its own business requirements.

What entrepreneurs can look at now

In its December 2025 notice IRCC said a new, targeted pilot program for immigrant entrepreneurs would follow, with more information in 2026; as of 13 October 2026 its Start-up Visa page still lists the program as paused. The same notice extended the pause on the Self-Employed Persons Program until further notice. That leaves provincial entrepreneur streams, which have their own investment, net worth and residence rules and are compared on our Provincial Nominee Programs page, and, for founders with skilled work experience, Express Entry. Wild Mountain Immigration works under a licensed RCIC (CICC #R706497); start on the contact page for an honest assessment.