Frequently Asked Questions

The Start-Up Visa (SUV) is Canada's federal immigration pathway for entrepreneurs building innovative, scalable businesses. To apply, founders need a letter of support from a designated organization — a venture capital fund, angel investor group, or business incubator approved by IRCC — plus qualifying language ability and settlement funds.

There is no fixed personal investment requirement for the Start-Up Visa itself. You must show settlement funds for your family size and, if your designated organization is a VC fund or angel group, secure their minimum committed investment (typically $200,000 from a designated VC or $75,000 from a designated angel group). Incubator-backed applications do not require committed investment.

Permanent-residence processing for the Start-Up Visa has typically run two to three years. Most founders use an optional open work permit under the entrepreneur stream to move to Canada and start building while the PR application is in process.

Yes. Up to five co-founders can apply under one qualifying business, and each essential founder must hold at least 10% of voting rights, with founders and the designated organization together holding more than 50%. If an essential applicant is refused, the whole group's application can be refused as well.

A Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) entrepreneur stream lets a province nominate you for permanent residence in exchange for starting or buying a business there and actively managing it. Most streams use a two-stage model: you first arrive on a work permit, operate the business to agreed milestones, then receive the nomination for PR.

Minimum eligible investments typically range from about $100,000 to $600,000 depending on the province and location — for example BC PNP's base stream requires at least $200,000, while regional and rural streams are often lower. Personal net-worth minimums apply on top, commonly $300,000 to $800,000, and provinces verify net worth through third-party accounting reviews.

There is no universally 'easiest' stream — each province optimizes for different profiles, weighing factors like business experience, investment size, location, language, and adaptability differently. The realistic question is which stream best fits your capital, industry experience, and willingness to operate outside major metros; a scored comparison across all active streams answers that faster than anecdotes.

Yes — essentially every active PNP entrepreneur stream ties the nomination to creating or maintaining jobs for Canadians or permanent residents, most commonly at least one to two full-time positions. The commitment is written into your performance agreement, and provinces verify payroll records before nominating.

Missing the targets in your performance agreement — investment amount, job creation, or active management — normally means the province will not issue your nomination, and your work permit runway becomes the constraint. Provinces evaluate substance over paperwork, so credible planning at the application stage matters more than optimistic projections.

C11 is an LMIA-exempt work permit for entrepreneurs and self-employed people whose business will deliver a significant benefit to Canada — economic, social, or cultural. There is no fixed minimum investment; officers assess whether the benefit is real and near-term, so the business case and evidence matter more than the dollar figure.

The ICT permit moves executives, senior managers, or specialized-knowledge employees from a foreign company to a related Canadian entity — a parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate. The Canadian and foreign entities must have a genuine qualifying relationship, and the applicant needs at least one year of full-time employment with the foreign company in the last three years.

Specialized knowledge means an unusual, company-specific depth of expertise — proprietary systems, processes, or products that cannot readily be found in the Canadian labour market — held at an advanced level. Officers reject files that describe general professional skill; strong applications document how the knowledge is proprietary, hard to transfer, and essential to the Canadian operation.

Yes, indirectly. Time worked in Canada on a C11 or ICT permit earns Canadian work experience and often substantial Express Entry points, and it can position you for PNP streams. The permits themselves are temporary; the PR strategy should be planned from day one rather than improvised later.

An immigration business plan is written to satisfy a program's legal test — significant benefit for C11, performance-agreement viability for PNP streams, innovation and scalability for the Start-Up Visa — not to raise money. Officers check that the plan matches the applicant's verified experience and capital, that its market claims survive scrutiny, and that jobs and milestones are realistic for the timeline.

Officers increasingly flag template-like and AI-generated plans because they tend to make generic claims disconnected from the applicant's actual finances and experience. Using AI tools for drafting isn't prohibited — but the plan must be grounded in verifiable, applicant-specific evidence, and the applicant must be able to defend every number in an interview.

Most provinces require a third-party verification report from an approved accounting firm, which traces the source and accumulation of your declared assets — bank statements, property valuations, business ownership, and the funds' legal origin. A simple certified statement of net worth is not enough; unexplained gaps in the accumulation story are among the most common reasons files fail.

Two to three years, matched to the work-permit or performance-agreement window. For C11 files in particular, officers assess benefit that materializes during the initial permit period — long-horizon projections about year five contribute little and can signal that near-term benefit is thin.

GenesisLink is a Canadian business consulting firm that handles the business side of business immigration: pathway strategy, business plans, financial modelling, market research, and execution support after landing. We work alongside licensed immigration lawyers and RCICs, who handle the legal side — we do not provide legal advice or representation.

No. GenesisLink is a business consultancy, not a law firm or licensed immigration consultancy. Legal advice and application representation come from the partnered immigration lawyers and RCICs we coordinate with on each file.

Start with the free PNP assessment at assessment.genesislink.ca — it scores your profile across 21 Canadian entrepreneur streams in about five minutes and emails you a detailed report. For a human read on the results, book a consultation directly at calendar.app.google/ZJHHvvpjbFnWtA7EA.

The initial consultation is free. It's a working session: we review your profile and goals, tell you which pathways are realistic and why, and outline what the business side of a strong file would look like — whether or not you engage us afterward.