Fuelled by a spike in Start-Up Visa (SUV) immigration in British Columbia in June, monthly entrepreneur immigration levels to Canada hung onto the high levels of new permanent residents to the country set the previous month.
The latest data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reveals the country welcomed another 560 new permanent residents through the SUV in June, the exact same level as in May.
With that second month of high SUV immigration to Canada, the number of foreign nationals who had become new permanent residents to Canada by the end of June hit 3,010, or 785.3 per cent more than the 340 new permanent residents through the program during the comparable six-month period last year.
At this rate of SUV immigration, Canada could welcome 6,020 immigrant entrepreneurs to the country by the end of this year.
In June, SUV immigration softened somewhat from May’s highs in New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta.
But those losses were offset by a 34.5-per cent gain in British Columbia which welcomed 195 new permanent residents through the SUV in June, up to 195 from 145 in May.
The entrepreneurial immigration program’s performance in June outshone that of the country’s for total monthly immigration which declined by 4.9 per cent in June, to 44,540 new permanent residents from 46,835 the previous month.
Launched in 2015, the SUV saw only 55 immigrant entrepreneurs come to Canada through that program in its initial year.
That number, though, doubled to 110 new permanent residents in 2016 and rose another 22.7 per cent the following year. By 2018, the program had more than quadrupled in popularity with 240 new permanent residents arriving under the SUV that year.
In 2019, the last full year before the arrival of COVID-19, the SUV welcomed 515 new permanent residents to Canada.
As the pandemic swept across Canada and public health and travel restrictions were imposed, though, immigration plummeted 45.9 per cent – and the number of people who arrived under the SUV fell in tandem with that overall drop in immigration to Canada.
In 2020, only 260 immigrant entrepreneurs became new permanent residents of Canada through the SUV.
With immigration rebounding strongly in 2021 to hit 406,020 new permanent residents, the SUV also saw increased activity with 385 new permanent residents coming to Canada through it that year, an improvement of 48.1 per cent over 2020.
It took until 2022 for the SUV to fully recover from the pandemic-fuelled downturn but it more than doubled in popularity last year compared to the previous year.
Ontario Is The Top Destination For SUV Immigration
Ontario remained the most popular destination for SUV immigrants the first half of this year despite is somewhat softer performance in June with that province welcoming 1,630 immigrant entrepreneurs as new permanent residents.
British Columbia welcomed 955 during those six months.
Alberta added 70 new permanent residents through the program during the first half of the year and Manitoba added 305 immigrant entrepreneurs through the SUV during those six months.
Thirty immigrant entrepreneurs became new permanent residents through the SUV in Nova Scotia during the first six months of this year and 25 more gained their permanent residency through the program in New Brunswick.
None of the other provinces or territories had added any new permanent residents through the SUV by the end of May.
Due to these smaller numbers, the monthly and even yearly fluctuations in the number of new permanent residents under the SUV can sometimes seem exaggerated when examined in percentage terms.
Candidates applying under the SUV program can initially come to Canada on a work permit supported by their designated Canadian investor before their application for permanent residence is finalized.
A designated venture capital fund must confirm that it is investing at least $200,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more commitments from designated venture capital funds totalling $200,000.
A designated angel investor group must invest at least $75,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more investments from angel investor groups totalling $75,000.
A designated business incubator must accept the applicant into its business incubator program. It is up to the immigrant investor to develop a viable business plan that will meet the due diligence requirements of these government-approved designated entities.
That investing and the development of the business is usually done with the help of business consultants in Canada’s start-up ecosystem with oversight from experienced corporate business immigration lawyers who can ensure a start-up’s business concept meets all industry-required terms and conditions.
The basic government-imposed candidate eligibility requirements for the SUV are:
