Verified against canada.ca on 30 August 2026. The guidance below explains how the programme worked and is kept for reference.
Routes still open: provincial entrepreneur streams, other entrepreneur routes, the Quebec investor programme. Book a consultation if you are unsure which applies to you.
IRCC’s own operational data tells a story about the Start-Up Visa that almost nobody is reporting: the approval rate has fallen from 87% to 26%, and at the current pace of decision-making the existing queue would take more than two decades to clear.
The figures below come from IRCC operational data — decisions to 31 October 2025, inventory to 16 December 2025.
Approval rate: three years, three different programmes
- 2023: 945 approved, 140 refused — 87% approval
- 2024: 1,590 approved, 285 refused — 85% approval
- 2025 (Jan–Oct): 50 approved, 145 refused — 26% approval
That is not a seasonal wobble. Within ten months, the probability of approval fell to roughly a third of what it had been.
Broken down by designated organisation type, the shift is sharper still:
- Angel investor networks: 91% in 2024 to 18% in 2025
- Business incubators: 83% to 32%
A queue measured in decades
As at 16 December 2025, 5,540 applications sat in inventory. Across the first ten months of 2025, IRCC issued 195 decisions in total.
Hold that rate steady and clearing the current queue takes roughly 24 years. Set that against the marketing that still describes this programme as a fast route.
Where the queue is stuck matters as much as its size:
- 3,015 pending eligibility
- 2,410 pending admissibility
- only 105 pending final decision
The bottleneck is at the front of the process, not the end.
Intake has stopped too
- 2023: roughly 1,610 applications received
- 2024: roughly 875
- 2025 (Jan–Oct): reported as zero or suppressed across all three organisation types
Near-zero intake, a very large queue, and a quarter of the previous approval rate — together these describe a programme in a materially different state from the one most published guidance still assumes.
Designated organisation type matters
Across 2023 to October 2025:
- Business incubators: 83% approval
- Angel investor networks: 81%
- Venture capital funds: 74%
Volume is distributed very unevenly. In the organisation-level breakdown, a single incubator accounts for more than 1,350 files in the queue. A large caseload at one organisation is not in itself a mark of quality — sometimes it just means a longer wait.
What this data does not show
- IRCC rounds all values to the nearest multiple of five and suppresses values between zero and five so individuals cannot be identified. The figures are therefore approximate and may not sum exactly.
- This is operational data and subject to change.
- The low 2025 approval rate may partly reflect which cases reached decision, rather than a uniform tightening applied to every file.
With those caveats stated, all three indicators point the same way.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Start-Up Visa approval rate?
On IRCC data: 87% in 2023, 85% in 2024, and 26% across the first ten months of 2025.
How many applications are waiting?
5,540 as at 16 December 2025, most of them still at the eligibility or admissibility stage.
How long is the wait?
At the 2025 rate of decision-making, clearing the current queue would take around 24 years. That is an arithmetic projection from the data, not a published service standard.
Which designated organisation type performs best?
Incubators at 83% and angel networks at 81% across the whole period — though both fell steeply in 2025.
Is the programme still worth applying to?
That decision should be made against these figures rather than against marketing. If your timeline is short, weigh them carefully.
In short
The Start-Up Visa still exists, but the programme these numbers describe is not the one most guidance still portrays. Before making any financial commitment, have your position reviewed by a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC).
Source
- IRCC operational data on Start-Up Visa applications — decisions to 31 October 2025, inventory to 16 December 2025 (IRCC-EDW/CBR)
