Canadian startup visa

The Canadian startup visa is suitable for entrepreneurs who want to launch their innovative ideas in Canada. After receiving a letter of support from authorized organizations, this group of entrepreneurs has the possibility to apply for immigration to Canada for themselves and all their family members. These innovative people combine with the Canadian private sector and form businesses on a global scale.

ویزای استارتاپ کانادا

How about immigrating to Canada through a startup?

With the Canadian startup visa (Start-up), this country seeks to attract entrepreneurs who have the potential to launch innovative companies and can create jobs. The Canadian startup visa has been launched with the aim of making Canada more competitive in attracting startups, and Canada’s view of the future of this visa is very clear.

Innovative idea, a condition to enter the startup world

Are you a creative person and have an innovative idea? Does your idea have the ability to grow in a short period of time? So now you can get approval from one of the organizations approved by the Canadian government and convince them to invest in your idea. Did you manage to receive a letter of support? So now the Canadian Immigration Department must also be convinced that you intend to launch a startup. At the end of all the steps, Canadian residency will be granted to you and your family through the startup visa.

Conditions for obtaining a Canadian startup visa

As an applicant for a Canadian startup visa, you need the following prerequisites:

-Take IELTS 5.
-Have at least one year of university education.
-Get a letter of support.
-You have the ability to financially support yourself and your family for 6 months.
-Do not have a bad history or medical problem that would lead to a ban on entering Canada.

Conditions for registering a company in the startup program

The business in question must be established and operated in Canada.
The applicant must have at least 10% of the voting rights in the company.
No other person can have 50% or more of the voting rights in this company.

Know the 7main steps of the Canadian startup visa

First step: In this step, you have to prepare your idea or business. It is necessary to present a new and creative idea, based on technology and on a global scale. Therefore, you need to write a business plan and find the right organization to support. If you do not have enough knowledge and mastery in writing a business plan, you can get help from the consultants of the ISS Immigration Organization.

Second step: Well, optimistically, your presentation went well and you passed the first stage, which of course is Haft Khani alone. Now, after agreeing with the sponsoring organization, you will receive the letter of support. At the same time as the sponsoring organization sends you the letter of support, it also sends the letter of commitment to the Canadian Immigration Department.

Third step: In this step, you have a letter of support. So it’s time to work with the Canadian Immigration Department. Prepare the documents and submit the application for residence visa and work visa (for essential persons).

Fourth step: Usually, the answer to the work visa application will reach you soon. The question most applicants ask at this stage is: “How many months?” Our answer is between three and six months. Don’t forget that your permanent residence project is going on at the same time. So you are still under the supervision of the Immigration Department.

Fifth and sixth steps: If the Immigration Department decides to check your project, the heads of other organizations will be found here. In the peer review phase, one of these organizations starts collecting information. The information is obtained from the sponsoring organization and the immigration department, and the result of the investigation is presented to the immigration department.

Seventh step: Congratulations, now it’s time to get your permanent residence and from now on you are not responsible for the project.

شرایط گرفتن ویزای استارتاپ کانادا

What are the conditions of sponsoring organizations (Venture Capital, Angel Investor and Incubator)?

Venture capitals usually look for big ideas that have gone through the early stages of growth. Therefore, if you go to them, do not send an email with an idea that has been in your head for several years. Ventures usually ask about your sales record at the very beginning. Our experience shows that venture capital is looking for an idea that has the ability to generate several million dollars and currently has sales of several hundred thousand dollars.

Angel investors are a group of personal investors or medium-sized companies that accept projects relatively easier than ventures. Angels usually offer them sums in exchange for receiving a percentage of the companies’ shares, with which the companies get new blood to move forward.

Incubators are known as growth centers. Incubators don’t give money to startups, but basically they also receive money. The role of incubators is to prepare startups to start working. Incubators provide information on how to start and grow a business, and also teach ways to raise capital. Another role of incubators is supervision or mentorship and they examine the initial growth process of companies.

Canadian startup visa fee

One of the first questions that most applicants ask us at the beginning of the Canadian startup visa process is how much money and capital is required? But don’t worry, we have presented this topic completely in this section of the article.

Expenses of investing companies

Angel investors and ventures usually invest in bigger ideas that have taken off and inject an amount to invest in these ideas. So the applicants who work with these groups are not required to pay any amount to these companies.

But as we said, incubators, which are growth centers, receive an amount that varies from center to center for holding business training courses and mentorship. These amounts are usually between fifty and one hundred thousand dollars for each group.

هزینه ویزای استارت آپ کانادا

Fees for handling the case at the Immigration Canada

The amount of work visa application in the startup program per main applicant

Job offer  

$230

Work permit

$255

Wife’s work permit

$255

Visa for visiting children   

$100

Application amount for permanent residence in the startup program per main applicant:

permanent residency

$2.140

Spouse’s permanent residence

$1.365

Residence of each of the children   

$230

Funding amount for Canada startup visa

As an applicant for a Canadian start-up visa, you must have enough capital for the first year of living in Canada to cover your and your family’s initial expenses. Please note that this fee has nothing to do with investing in Canada and you do not need to invest in this type of visa.

Officers usually expect you to have 50% of your and your family’s living expenses. This amount is determined based on the LICO table. This table is announced annually by the Canadian Immigration Department.

Number of family members

Required financial resources (Canadian dollars)

1

13.310

2

16.570

3

20.371

4

24.733

5

28.052

6

34.638

7

35.224

For each additional person

3.586

You can pay this amount through a bank account in Riyal currency.

Important definitions in startup immigration program

Support letter in the Letter of Support startup program

The first step in the Canadian startup program is to apply for a letter of support from approved investors. In this letter, one of Canada’s approved organizations express their support for you and their interest in supporting your idea or project. The support letter will be sent directly to you as the project manager.

At the same time, a letter is issued by these supporting organizations to the Canadian Immigration Department.

Be careful that the letter of support must be submitted to the immigration office in the work visa and permanent residence application file.

Commitment certificate in Canada’s startup program Commitment certificate

The company that provided you with the support letter will simultaneously send a letter to the immigration office, where they will inform the members of the group and the desired plan. So the certificate contains information about the agreement between the applicant and the investor organization.

What do key and non-key members mean in a startup?

Key members or Essential Applicants are members who are inseparable members of the startup project. For example, imagine that your idea is about a computer software, well, in this plan, the person who is the developer of the software or the developer of the idea will definitely be one of the essential people of the group, and the development of the idea will be impossible without him. If the case of key members is rejected for any reason, the case of other people mentioned in the letter of commitment will also be rejected.

Non-essential members are people without whom the project will not work. Let’s go back to the previous example, imagine that the marketing manager of the project is most likely an unnecessary member of the group. If he is not in the group, the development of the idea may not be seriously affected.

If one of the key members of the group is rejected for any reason, all members will be rejected and the case will be declared closed. It should be noted that even if one of the dependents of the key members is rejected, for example, the child or spouse of one of the essential members, the file of the whole group will still be rejected.

Canada Startup Visa Work Permit

The Canadian Start-up Visa work permit allows you to work as an entrepreneur in the development of your business. This permit will only be valid for one year and will allow you to work in Canada while your application for permanent residence is being processed. Most of the permanent residence applications are processed in this one year. Otherwise, it will be possible to extend this license.

This short-term work permit is only for people who have received a letter of commitment and a letter of support from the introduced organizations. If you are eligible for this permit, you must apply for it before applying for permanent residence.

Conditions for obtaining a work permit for a Canadian startup visa

To qualify for a Canada Startup Visa work permit, you must:

Pay the Employer Agreement Fee ($230)
Have enough capital to cover your and your family’s living expenses for 52 weeks
Intend to live in a province or territory of Canada other than Quebec
Have received the letter of commitment and letter of support from the introduced organizations

If you apply for a Work Permit, you have the possibility to bring your spouse and dependent children with you when immigrating to Canada.

Spouse

Is your spouse planning to work in Canada? So, as a spouse of a skilled workforce, she can obtain an Open Work Permit and complete the relevant forms.

children

Are your children planning to study or work in Canada? So, they should apply for a study permit (teacher permit) and work and complete the relevant forms.

This is one of the questions that all Canadian startup visa applicants should know the answer to. The answer is through Peer Review. Now, the next question is, what is Peer Review? Peer Review is the quality control of investment organizations’ work by the secret police.

Who is the secret police? The NACO organization, which is responsible for controlling the work of angel groups, and the CVCA organization, which is responsible for controlling the activities of venture capitals, are the secret police of startups.

All efforts of the Canadian immigration department are to prevent fraud, and the role of Peer Review is precisely to make sure that the transaction between the investor and the idea investor is legal.

It is interesting to know that Peer Review can sometimes be due to the officers doubting the relationship between the investor and the entrepreneur, or sometimes they are done randomly.

Officers provide the letter of commitment to the organizations responsible for Peer Review so that they are aware of the agreement between the parties. Investor organizations should also provide the package according to which they agreed with the investor so that these associations can perform their quality control work.

The purpose of all these activities is to make sure that sufficient checks are done at the time of issuing the letter of support.

What do we mean by the reviews that ventures, angels, and incubators should do before issuing a letter of support?

What was the amount of review done by the organizations that issued the letter of support?
What were the obligations between the applicant and the organization that issued the letter of support?
Ensuring that the startup is registered in Canada.
Ensuring that the stock structure is followed.
Ensuring that the startup’s focus is on ideas with the potential for rapid growth.
Ensuring that the startup has participated in the incubator programs (in regards to the support letter of the incubators).
Ensuring that the startup’s management team has protected the intellectual property of the business.
The immigration status of family members of the startup applicant

All family members of the applicant can apply for accompanying visa. This law includes spouses and children under the age of 22.

Accompanying visa at the time of work permit

If the applicant is on the list of key business members, it is possible for the applicant to apply for a work visa. At the same time, his wife will be able to apply for an open work visa. This visa allows the spouse of the Canadian startup applicant to work in Canada without restrictions.

Children of Canadian startup applicants can also benefit from the advantage of studying at a Canadian cost.

Accompanying visa for permanent residence

Usually, his wife and children will accompany him when applying for permanent residence in Canada. It is possible for all family members of the applicant, including spouse and children under 22 years of age, to apply for permanent residence in Canada at the same time.

شرایط اخذ مجوز کار ویزای استارت آپ کانادا

Should a startup be launched after immigrating to Canada?

As you know, the nature of any startup is risk. Therefore, Canada does not expect all startups to succeed. But the very important point before applying for residency is that the applicant intends to launch the idea and after obtaining the work visa, the startup must be launched.

As long as you are in Canada with a work visa, the progress of the startup will be reviewed by the Immigration Department, and if their conclusion is that the startup was launched only to obtain permanent residence, the issue of permanent residence will be at risk.

How much chance do I have with limited capacity and high demand?

The capacity of the Canadian startup visa is very limited. According to the law approved in 2012, this capacity will not exceed 2,750 cases per year. In 2020, the capacity of startup program and self-employment program together was 2000 applicants. In 2021, this capacity will be reduced to 1000 cases.

Yes, only a thousand cases for two immigration programs. So the capacity is very limited.

After the federal investment immigration programs were closed and the Quebec investment program was limited, many applicants and immigration companies and lawyers saw this program as a good alternative to those programs. But we should not forget that Canada’s startup program is very limited.

اقامت کانادا به روش استارتاپ

Up to 5 applicants. Of course, the launch of the desired idea must require introduced people. Each person is carefully checked by the Immigration Department and must meet the minimum requirements mentioned in this article. Also, each of these people must have at least 10% of the company’s voting rights.

No, there is no requirement in this regard. Sometimes in the teams that are formed, each member of the group has a special expertise and all the people promote a single idea.

First, your referred organization will check the efficiency of your business.

In the next step, the Canadian Immigration Service will review your case after you have received the necessary support from the organization. Finally, your case may also be reviewed by an independent person.

no Your business should be among the businesses whose products have high growth potential.

Yes. But you should receive the minimum amount of investment related to the group that has a larger amount as capital, and one of them should have the main role. For example, if two companies approved in angel are interested in your idea and intend to invest, they must invest a total of $75,000. For example, if an angel company and a venture company plan to invest in your idea, a total investment of at least 200,000 dollars should be made.

Applicants can receive support from a number of specified organizations, which are called syndicates. In this case, all sponsoring organizations together issue only one certificate of commitment and one letter of support to the applicants.

Once a venture capital firm invests in a business, the minimum total investment of that business will be $200,000, even if an angel investor group also invests in the same business.

If the business is backed by one of the angel investor groups, but does not receive backing from venture capital firms, the minimum total amount to be invested in that business will be $75,000.

ISS immigration Organization is made up of the most experienced immigration attorneys and trusted advisors, with over 2,000 successful cases in all stages from immigration to residency in Canada

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