Canada ~ Startup Visa Program
Time to Permanent Residency: 0 Year ~ Time to Citizenship: 5 Years
The Startup visa is a permanent residence permit granted to entrepreneurs who start a business venture in Canada.
To be eligible for this visa, your Canadian company must have the support of a designated organization.
Support can assume the following forms:
– Agreement with an authorized venture capital firm to invest a minimum of CAD200,000 in your business, or
– Agreement with an authorized Angel Investor to invest a minimum of CAD75,000 in your business, or
– Your business has been accepted in an authorized business incubator.
The designated organization that supports your business will provide you a Letter of Support, which has to be attached to your permanent residency application.
Up to five people may apply for a startup visa as owners of a single business. However, you must hold at least 10% of the qualifying business and the designated organization and the applicants must jointly hold more than 50 per cent of the voting rights in the business.
To keep your permanent residency status, you must physically be in Canada at least 730 days (2 years) in a five-year period. Failure of your business will not affect your permanent resident status.
After 5 years holding the permanent residency status, you will be eligible to apply for citizenship, provided that you have lived 1,095 days in Canada within the five years, and 183 days during each of three calendar years that are fully or partially within the six years right before the date you apply.
To apply for citizenship, you must also have met your personal income tax filing obligations in three tax years that are fully or partially within the five years right before the date you apply. And you must take a language (French or English) test and pass an exam regarding Canadian values, history, symbols, institutions, rights, responsibilities and privileges of citizenship.
Requirements
In addition to the above requirements, you must prove that you have enough money to support yourself and your dependents. For a single applicant, the amount required is CAD12,300, for a 2-member family CAD15,312, 3-memberCAD 18,825, 4-member CAD22,856, 5-member CAD25,923, 6-member CAD29,236 and for a 7-member family CAD32,550. For each additional dependent, you will be required to have CAD 3,314.
If you are not an English or French native speaker, you must take a language test from an approved agency and include the results with your application.
You must be in good health and do not have any contagious disease. You must have a clean criminal background.
Documents Required
Certified copy of passport- Evidence of language skills
- Letter of support of designated entity
- Original or Certified copy of Birth Certificate (if applicable)
- Original or Certified copy of Marriage Certificate (if applicable)
- Certified copy of ID Card
- Evidence of Residential Address
- Affidavit of support for Dependents
- Original Police Clearance Certificate
- Two passport-size photos
- Bank Statement
- Original Bank Reference Letter (Not older than 6 month)
- Proof of net wealth
- Statement of Source of Funds
- Medical Certificate
