Immigration
Canada.
The Start-Up Visa, and Where It Now Stands.
Canada paused the Start-Up Visa on 1 January 2026. IRCC stopped accepting new applications after 31 December 2025, and the transitional window for holders of a 2025 commitment certificate closed on 30 June 2026. No reopening date has been announced.
It was the rare immigration route where the money came to you: a designated Canadian incubator, angel group or venture fund backed your business, and permanent residence followed. We can tell you where a 2025 commitment leaves you, and which Canadian routes are still open.
Endorsed, Not Purchased.
Made permanent in 2018, the Start-Up Visa asked innovative founders for something no citizenship or residency program does: not a contribution, but the backing of a designated Canadian investor. Qualify, and you moved on a work permit while the business got going, with permanent residence to follow.
The Money Came To You
A designated fund, angel group or incubator backed the business. No contribution, and no purchase.
Permanent Residence
The program granted residence outright, with a three-year work permit as the bridge to it.
Citizenship at Three Years
Canadian citizenship can be applied for after three years of permanent residence.
Spouse and Children Included
The principal applicant carries their spouse or partner and dependent children on the same file.
And Relatives Afterwards
Once resident, holders can sponsor relatives to Canada under the family programs.
Healthcare and Education
Access to Canada's universal healthcare and its education system once residency is granted.
Banking and Markets
A stable banking system, real financial infrastructure, and a market to expand the business into.
No Source-of-Funds Tracing
Settlement funds had to be shown, but their origin did not have to be traced the way a contribution program requires.
Canada paused the Start-Up Visa on 1 January 2026. IRCC stopped accepting new applications after 31 December 2025, and the transitional window for holders of a 2025 commitment certificate closed on 30 June 2026. No reopening date has been announced.
If You Hold a 2025 Commitment Certificate
The transitional window let entrepreneurs with a valid 2025 letter of support file their permanent residence application up to 30 June 2026. If yours went in before that date it is in the queue and being processed normally. If it did not, the certificate no longer opens this route, and the question becomes which other Canadian program fits — that is a conversation worth having rather than a form to fill in.
Everything below describes the program as it stood. The routes, thresholds and fees are reproduced so you can see what it asked for, not because they can be acted on today.
Your Whole Position, In One Panel
Program statuses move, and this one moved. The Bayat Group panel keeps your documents, your eligibility across every Canadian route, and your advisor's notes in one place — guided by Pathinnova AI and reviewed by our legal team.
Three Endorsements. None of Them a Cheque From You.
Read the figures in Article I carefully: they are what a designated Canadian entity put into your business. What you paid was the government fee schedule, and it came to a few thousand dollars.
Historic terms · non-binding
Any one of the three qualified. The amounts are invested into your business by the designated entity, not paid by you.
Acceptance into the incubator's program. There is no investment threshold on this route at all — the endorsement itself is the qualification.
Two figures, never added: one is money paid to the government, the other is money you must show you hold.
The CAD 200,000 and CAD 75,000 in Article I are what a designated venture fund or angel group invests into your business. You do not pay either figure, and neither appears in any total below. The incubator route carries no figure at all.
These are the program's terms as published while it was open; intake closed on 31 December 2025 and the transitional filing window on 30 June 2026, so nothing here can be acted on today. The source publishes its fees with a bare dollar sign; they are Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada fees and therefore Canadian dollars, and are labelled as such. The Right of Permanent Residence Fee is published twice and inconsistently — CAD 500 on its own row, CAD 490 within the spouse row — and both figures are reproduced where the source puts them rather than reconciled. The source also gives two processing times for permanent residence: approximately 18 months in its overview and 33 months in its own step five; the road repeats the figure attached to the step that describes the wait. Settlement funds are restated by IRCC annually and the amounts above will have moved. Language proficiency in English or French at Canadian Language Benchmark 5 was required of the principal applicant. Legal and professional fees are additional.
Five Steps, and Where They Stopped
Select a step to see what happened at it. Step three is where the pause bites: no designated entity can endorse into a closed intake.
Internal Due Diligence and Qualification Assessment
Bayat Group's compliance team conducts an internal due diligence check — a background security screening of the applicant, preparation of KYC (Know Your Client) documentation, and a qualification assessment against the program's requirements.
One Route Closed. Not the Country.
Tell our concierge where you stand — whether you hold a 2025 commitment, or you are starting from the beginning — and it will map the Canadian routes that are actually open to you.
Canada paused the Start-Up Visa on 1 January 2026. IRCC stopped accepting new applications after 31 December 2025, and the transitional window for holders of a 2025 commitment certificate closed on 30 June 2026. No reopening date has been announced.
Sending opens your secure Bayat Group account, where an advisor picks the thread up.
Assessed against your own circumstances, in about five minutes.
- It asks about your circumstances, not your paperwork
- It names the trade-offs before you commit to a route
- It ends with the programs you actually qualify for
A scripted example. Your own assessment is private, and takes about five minutes.
Assessment
An adviser that reads your circumstances, then the rulebook.
40+ official programs, each with its own arithmetic. The assessment maps those rules to your situation in a short conversation and tells you where you actually stand.
- It asks about you, not about paperworkWhere your family is going, what your work needs, what you would not give up. Navigating the rules is our business, not your burden.
- Clear, unbiased reasoningWhen options pull in different directions, it calls out the compromise, detailing what each path costs you before you decide.
- A shortlist tailored to youNo generic marketing. Just the programs your profile actually unlocks, with realistic timelines and capital commitments.
Step one of three
Where should we send your code?
One address, one five-digit code. No password to invent, and nothing sent to you that you did not ask for.
Step two of three
Check your email
We sent a 5-digit code to . It expires shortly, so it is worth doing now.
Setting up your assessment…
One moment.