Start-Up Visa

Applicants needed a valid 2025 commitment certificate and a submission date on or before 30 June 2026. What is a commitment certificate? It is paperwork proving that a recognized Canadian business group has promised to back your start-up. Such a group is known as a designated organization.

If a commitment certificate reached the government before 1 January 2026, the applicant then had half a year to submit the application.

You were allowed to apply alone or together with other owners, up to five in total, but in both cases the business had to qualify. Voting rights had to be divided according to fixed rules:

• Every applicant had to own at least 10% of all voting rights.
• Applicants plus the designated organization together had to own over 50% of all voting rights.

Since 1 April 2024, IRCC looks at only ten complete group applications per designated organization each year. Once the annual cap is hit, anything sent after that gets sent back and the fees are refunded.

Applicants had to hit the level of Canadian Language Benchmark 5 across all four skills, listening, reading, writing and speaking, using either of Canada's official languages. If you've taken a test, our CLB calculator can show you what level your scores match. The benchmark is the yardstick Canada uses to rate your language ability. Only test results issued by an approved agency count.

Your application has to show you can support yourself and your family once you are in Canada. How much depends on how many family members you have, and IRCC revises the figures each year.

Here is what a household of each size must have, in Canadian dollars:

Before the pause, applicants had to apply online through the Permanent Residence Portal, unless they needed an alternative format. Full step-by-step guidance is in the application guide, IMM 5759, which also explains how to gather each required document. A document checklist helps you confirm every item is included.

When an online application is not possible for you or your representative, for example because of a disability that needs accommodation, you can ask for the package in a different version, such as braille, large print, or a plain paper copy. If you would like more support with any of these versions, IRCC offers help by phone from within Canada only.

Every supporting document written in something other than English or French needs two pieces:

1. A translation into English or French. Either a certified translator stamps it with a seal showing their membership number, or the translator signs an affidavit for it. An affidavit is a sworn written statement that the translation is true and correct. Only turn to the affidavit when no certified translator is available.
2. A copy of the paperwork the translator worked from, sent as a scan: either the document itself or a photocopy that has been certified.

Stamps and seals in any other language also need a translation. If your translator was certified, you may attach a letter saying an affidavit is unnecessary.

An authorized person must compare the copy with the original and write on the copy a statement confirming it is a true copy of the original.

Hiring a representative is not required. Helpers who charge nothing, like family, friends, or anyone else helping for free, do not have to be authorized or certified.

Paid or unpaid, the process for naming a representative works the same way:

1. Get form IMM 5476, which names your representative.
2. Fill it in and sign it.
3. Get your representative's signature on it.
4. Include it when you upload your application.

A paid representative can complete forms and deal with IRCC for you using their own account. Even then, once you have read the declaration, typing your name is something only you can do.

The current posted processing time for start-up visa applications is more than 10 years. During the wait, it is possible to ask for an extension of your temporary open work permit. Right now, extensions filed from inside Canada run at roughly 121 days.