The Canadian Government has a lot of incentives to attract foreign people to live in their country; I am sure that I am not telling you anything new here. But, did you know that there is a particular program focused on startups? It’s called the Canada Business Visa, or Start-Up Visa (SUV).

Yes, that is true! Canada Business Visa (SUV) is focused on bringing entrepreneurs from all over the world to grow their companies in Canada. And, therefore, boost the country’s economy. In exchange for innovative ideas with high growth potential, Canada offers a permanent Canadian business visa. They also provide all the necessary infrastructure to start a business over there.

This program is appealing to foreign entrepreneurs for many reasons. Firstly, it will help the person and his/her family to live in a country. This country has one of the highest quality of life in the world. Besides that, the government can provide a new business with funding, guidance, and help to open and operate their enterprise in Canada. This country can be known as one of the biggest economies and innovation systems in the world.

Requirements

To be eligible to apply to the Canada Business Visa (SUV) you need to:

• Provide a letter of support from either an angel investor group, venture capital fund, or business incubator/accelerator that is designated by the government.
• Meet minimum language requirements in English or French.
• Completed at least one year of post-secondary education.
• Sufficient funds to settle in Canada prior to earning an income with the company.

Application Criteria for Canada Business Visa

The first step to start your application is to get the acceptance letter from a designated institution. I believe that we can agree that this is the hardest part, but it is not as bad as it sounds.

The application process is different for each one of them. You can apply for all of them if you want, but they all have a different focus and are looking for different features in companies. We suggest you evaluate each one of the programs and apply only for the ones that your business fits better.

In general, all of them are going to analyze your business plan and see the following criteria:

• If the business is already earning income if it is scalable, and if there is potential to become a global business.
• Is the company’s business plan in line with Canadian laws and do they impact any local market negatively?
• If you are already self-sustainable and have the potential to receive investments.
• The applicant must have at least 10% of the company’s rights. The Canadian government requires that together the applicant and intuition must have at least 50% of the business rights.
• Does your company bring innovative solutions, especially to renewable energy, bioscience, and business services, or any other field by using technology?

If you want to expand in even other locations, have a look at our E-book about Startup Visa Worldwide, which you can download for free!

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