A lot of people had planned to reach Canada through the Start-up Visa. That door is shut for now. So what is actually left for an entrepreneur?
What happened to the Start-up Visa
IRCC describes the programme as paused, not permanently closed. For anyone hoping to apply today, that distinction makes no practical difference.
Until recently one group could still apply: applicants holding a 2025 commitment certificate from a designated organisation. They had until 30 June 2026. That deadline has passed, and the programme is closed to all other applications.
There is one exception. If you already hold a Start-up Visa work permit and your permanent residence application is in progress, you may be able to extend that work permit.
None of this came out of nowhere. The approval rate had been falling for some time, and the queue behind it had stretched into years.
The provincial route
Several provinces still run entrepreneur streams: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
They work in broadly similar ways. In most cases you have to:
- Start a business, or buy an existing one.
- Invest the amount that province sets.
- Show you have previously owned or managed a business.
- Actively run the business yourself.
How much experience? British Columbia asks for three years of ownership or management, New Brunswick for two. Other provinces set their own figures, and Manitoba runs its own stream again.
Here is the part that surprises people most. When a province accepts your application, you are not yet its nominee. You have to run the business for roughly two years and meet the province’s conditions before the nomination itself is issued. In Quebec that period runs to three years.
The work permit on this route is usually valid for two years. It can normally only be extended if your permanent residence application is already in progress by then, or your circumstances are exceptional. So a nomination that arrives late creates a real problem.
Conditions, investment amounts and intake dates differ by province and change often. Check that province’s own site before making any decision.
Alberta, for graduates from outside Canada
Alberta runs four entrepreneur streams. One is specifically for people who earned their degree outside Canada, alongside a rural stream.
It is only open to innovative businesses, not to any business at all. And it carries a condition worth noting: you must work with a designated agency and submit your application through it.
The work permit: C11 or C60?
These two codes are often mixed up, and getting them the wrong way round can damage a file.
C11 is for someone seeking only temporary residence — entering Canada to run, or to establish, their own business, with no intention of staying permanently.
If you are seeking permanent residence, your file belongs under a different code. With a province behind you, that is C60. Through the Start-up Visa it was A77.
The order matters: secure the provincial support first. The work permit follows from it, and is issued on that basis.
Quebec runs its own
Quebec has three programmes — investor, entrepreneur and self-employed. Quebec decides who it accepts, not the federal department.
French carries real weight in Quebec files. Quebec has also closed and reopened intake to these programmes repeatedly, so check Quebec’s own site before counting on it.
If entrepreneurship is not your only route
You do not have to enter through business. If your language score, education or work history is strong, these routes also lead to permanent residence:
- Express Entry
- Provincial Nominee Programs
- Programmes for smaller cities and rural communities
- Work or study routes
For many people these are simpler and cheaper than starting a business in a country they have just arrived in. Put both side by side before deciding.
In short
The Start-up Visa is paused, but the entrepreneurial route into Canada has not closed entirely. Most of what remains runs through the provinces, and it asks for more patience.
Before you commit money or time, check the current status of that specific programme on IRCC’s site and on your province’s own site. These programmes have changed a great deal this year.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and it describes published official rules rather than any individual case. Hadi Imani is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, licence R522575, practising in Toronto; that licence covers Canadian immigration only.
