Ottawa"s Start up Visa Program made Permanent to Attract Foreign Entrepreneurs

The Canadian government is planning to embed an immigration pilot project which is known as start-up Visa program, that offers the permanent residency to those Overseas entrepreneurs, who would agree to bring their companies to Canada.

Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussein during a small event at Ryerson University's DMZ in Toronto stated that For Canada's economy to prosper, it is important to have an innovative skill plans by the government which would nurture the entrepreneurship and the growth of start-ups.

This visa program was started under the Haper government in 2013. This visa program was proposed to expire in 2018, but will now be a part of IRCC ( Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada) policy.

As per the reports, this starts up program have pointed to a very low volume of new Citizens and Companies. In the first 4 years, approximately 117 people representing 68 companies have received the startup visas.

One of the most crucial points that cease the program from growing is the amount of work that is passed on to the private sectors. As per the reports, for the program to be successful the candidate must have a commitment from any one of the sets of qualified Canadian investors. If the candidate has an investment from any one of the investors or private sources, then IRCC would consider the visa application, which would then take a processing time of six months.

Mr. Hussen also said that as the program is permanent, one of the biggest changes that his department will make is to develop an online portal that will help to remove the unqualified applicants, even before they approach the investors.

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