Anyone who pays attention to Canada’s immigration knows that Canada has many immigration programs. However, the application details differ for each immigration program. Exaggerated propaganda frequently appears in the news, which can easily mislead those who want to immigrate.

In addition, there are also many rumors saying that the most famous Canadian entrepreneur immigration program, Start-up Visa program (SUV), is very simple. But is this true?

In 2013, Canada launched a five-year pilot project, Start-up Visa (SUV) program. Its purpose was to attract international talents and entrepreneurs with technical expertise and entrepreneurial potential to come to Canada, establish innovative enterprises, settle down and introduce new technological to Canada, create more jobs for local residents, contribute to economic growth and increase global competitiveness. In 2017, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that it would turn the program into a permanent immigration policy.

The reason is that from the perspective of application requirements, the most obvious feature of this project is that the conditions for applicants are simple and the threshold is low.

The SUV immigration program has no requirements for the applicant’s personal tax and source of funds. As long as the applicant has a letter of support from the designated agency, and has a certain innovative idea, sufficient settlement fund and IELTS score of 5 or more, the immigration application could be approved.

In reality, certain immigration applicants cannot provide the source of personal tax and funds. Given the SUV project does not require these but only needs to provide enough settlement fund to apply, many people feel that the project is very simple.

1. Concept innovation
2. Technological innovation
3. Service innovation
4. Product innovation

It is worth noting that in addition to the high-tech industries that we are familiar with, innovative projects actually have many traditional industries that incorporate innovative elements and can contribute to the Canadian economy.

1. Standalone mode

Solo Founder:

Applicants who have entrepreneurial capital, have entrepreneurial ideas and are unwilling to share business secrets, or are worried that the progress of others’ applications will affect their own applications.

2. Team Mode

Main founders:

Applicants who have entrepreneurial ideas and are willing to recruit funds in the market and entrepreneurial teammates.

Co-founder:

Applicants who have no entrepreneurial idea but have spare funds, understand the SUV program and want to obtain status through this path.

In addition, in the SUV immigration project, the official website has also clearly stipulated that if the Essential Worker (ie the main worker) is rejected, and all co-founders in the project will be rejected together.

Applicants must have a qualified business and meet the following requirements:

• Each applicant must hold at least 10% of the company’s equity at the time of obtaining a letter of support from a Canadian government-appointed agency.
• The Canadian government-designated agency and all applicants must jointly hold more than 50% of the company.
• Innovative businesses other than hotels, restaurants, cafes and convenience stores.
• When obtaining Canadian permanent residence, the applicant’s company must be incorporated in Canada and must carry on business in Canada.
• The applicant has active, ongoing management of the company’s business within Canada.
• Applicants must obtain a letter of support from an agency designated by the Canadian federal government (venture capital funds, angel investment groups and business incubators).
• Commitment to invest no less than C$75,000 from angel investment groups.
• A commitment to invest no less than CAD 200,000 from the venture capital fund.
• Institutional admissions to business incubator programs promise to accept applicants into their programs.

According to the above conditions, although the SUV immigration program does not have high requirements on the applicant, it is still relatively complicated to complete the entire application process independently. Therefore, in order to protect the applicant, it is recommended to find a professional immigration consultant. If you want to know more about Canadian immigration, contact us please. Simard & Associates brings together a team of professional and experienced immigration consultants and lawyers, who have completed various Canadian immigration program applications for countless families and applicants, providing one-stop immigration consulting services, helping your new life in Canada.