Start-up Visa: founder permanent residence with designated-organisation support (intake paused)

Eligibility requirements

• A qualifying business: each applicant held at least 10% of the voting rights, and the applicants together with the designated organisation held more than 50%. On approval the business had to be incorporated in Canada, actively managed from within Canada and carry out an essential part of its operations in Canada.
• A letter of support from a designated organisation (a venture capital fund, angel investor group or business incubator on IRCC's list). The organisation sent a commitment certificate directly to IRCC; IRCC's eligibility page states that a commitment certificate received before 1 January 2026 gave applicants six months to file.
• Language ability of at least Canadian Language Benchmark 5 in listening, reading, writing and speaking, in English or French, from an approved testing agency.
• Settlement funds sufficient for the family size. IRCC published a table (updated 29 July 2025) that cannot be met with borrowed money; check the current figures on the linked authority.
• From 1 April 2024 IRCC considered only 10 complete group applications per designated organisation per year; applications received after the cap were returned, and incomplete applications still counted toward the cap.
• Admissibility, medical and security checks apply to every family member, as for any permanent-residence class.

Legal framework

Build the evidence

Prepare records that substantiate the relevant criteria. The final checklist depends on the applicant, route and filing authority.

• The commitment certificate and letter of support issued by the designated organisation, with the organisation's name exactly as listed by IRCC.
• Corporate records of the qualifying business: incorporation or incorporation plan, share register and voting-rights analysis demonstrating each founder's 10% and the collective majority with the designated organisation.
• Approved language test results at CLB 5 or above for each founder applicant, valid at the date of application.
• Proof of unencumbered settlement funds matching the family size, with provenance where the balance is recent.
• Identity, civil-status, police and medical documents for every family member, and a travel history for the principal applicant.
• Where a founder entered Canada earlier on a work permit, the permit, Employer Portal offer and evidence of the business activity carried out in Canada.

How to apply

1. 01

   Confirm current intake status

   Before any other step, check IRCC's Start-up Visa page and the program delivery update. At the date of review intake is paused; a 2025 commitment certificate was the only basis for filing, and that window closed on 30 June 2026. A successor pathway is expected but unpublished.

2. 02

   Secure designated-organisation support

   Historically the decisive step. The founding team pitched to a designated venture capital fund, angel group or incubator, negotiated the investment or incubation terms, and obtained the letter of support. The organisation, not the founder, transmitted the commitment certificate to IRCC.

3. 03

   Assemble the permanent-residence application

   Founders filed as a group with the commitment certificate, language results, settlement funds and admissibility documents. The group's application was assessed together; a founder dropping out could affect whether the remaining applicants still met the voting-rights test.

4. 04

   Peer review and assessment

   IRCC could refer the commitment to an independent peer review panel to test whether the designated organisation's due diligence followed industry standards. Officers then assessed eligibility and admissibility, and decided the application.

5. 05

   Manage the business during processing

   Applicants already in Canada on a work permit were expected to work on the business. IRCC's page marks the optional work permit and its extension as closed to new applicants; existing permit holders may be able to extend while an application is processed.

After approval & family planning

• A spouse or partner and dependent children were included in the permanent-residence application and received permanent residence at the same time, with the same rights to work and study as the principal applicant.
• Permanent residence carried the residency obligation of 730 days in every five-year period under section 28 of IRPA. Founders dividing time between Canada and an overseas parent company should count days from landing.
• Permanent residents could apply for citizenship after 1,095 days of physical presence in the five years before applying, subject to tax-filing, language and knowledge requirements.

What this route builds, and what it opens

WG assesses every route on three returns: the knowledge it adds, the cognitive capability that sustained work abroad develops, and the institutional opportunity it opens or closes. Real work is the mechanism in each case.

Programme context. Not a transfer route. Where a participant's family enterprise establishes a genuine Canadian affiliate, the intra-company transfer and later Express Entry routes are the more relevant assessment; founder routes depend on the successor programme once published. Read the framework ↗

Frequently asked questions

Points to consider

• Pending applications filed before the pause remain subject to the ordinary tests, including the genuineness of the founders' involvement; a team that has stopped working on the business should take advice before IRCC requests updated evidence.
• Any successor programme is likely to carry its own designated-entity, cap and priority rules; planning a Canadian launch around an unpublished programme is not a sound strategy.