Canada launched its first-ever Tech Talent Strategy to widen pathways to invite more talent through immigration.
The strategy announced by Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship (IRCC) lists new measures and improvements to help businesses.
One of the measures included improving Canada’s existing Start-Up Visa Program to benefit workers in high-skilled tech occupations. This will make it easier and more appealing for founders and entrepreneurs to come to Canada and develop their business while they wait for their permanent residence application to be processed.
The Start-up Visa (SUV) Program provides a path to permanent residence for foreign entrepreneurs who gain the support of a designated Canadian venture capital fund, angel investor organization or business incubator for their start-up.
The detailed improvements are:
- More spots were allocated to this program under the 2023–2025 multi-year levels plan.
- IRCC will change the temporary work permit option for SUV applicants and will allow them to apply for an open work permit of up to three years, rather than a one-year work permit that limits them to work solely for their own start-up.
- The work permit will be available to each member of the entrepreneurial team. Currently, only members of the entrepreneurial team who are identified as essential and urgently needed in Canada by the designated organization supporting the start-up can apply.
- IRCC will prioritize applications supported by venture capital, angel investor groups and business incubators and have capital committed, along with applications that are supported by business incubators who are members of Canada’s Tech Network.
IRCC is expecting to be able to announce additional strategies for addressing processing times and improving program effectiveness later this year.
Contact us to know more about the SUV process and get a headstart in your application!
Read more about Canada’s Tech Talent Strategy here.
No comment