Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has announced that it will be making some changes to the Start-up Visa program and Self-Employed Persons program in order to reduce backlogs and increase visa processing times to bring in required entrepreneurs to the country. The changes consist of the pausing of Self-Employed program due to the high number of applications that it has received, and decreasing the processing time of Start-up visa program. The changes will be in effect beginning 30th April, 2024.
Hence, as of Tuesday, 30 April, the Self-Employed program will be paused for the next two years, that is, till the end of 2026. It is one of the integral programs of Canada as it brings in the required immigrants. However, since the number of applications in the program rose so much that an application took 52 months to get processed, it was necessary for IRCC to put it on hold.
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As for reducing the processing time, IRCC will be encouraging venture capitalists, angel investors, and business incubators to carefully select immigrant applications. For this, each designated organization will be allowed to support 10 start-ups only. Moreover, entrepreneur immigrants who are supported by business incubators or Canadian capital will be prioritized. The immigrants must be supported by a business incubator which is a member of Canada’s Tech Network.
The Self-Employed Persons Program is one of the business immigration programs of Canada, and brings in the required entrepreneurs. While the program is paused, IRCC will try to improve the program and clear the backlog so that when it reopens, it processes applications much faster.
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