After a 12-month process, the SUV lasted up to 53 months amid concern about the improper use of the program.
Bye Speak a whirlwind About the potential for Canada to attract foreign technological talents after changes to the H-1B visa of the United States, the waiting time within the existing Canadian program to attract entrepreneurs-immigrants increased to 53 months.
Canada Startup visa (SUV) The program offers a direct path to constant residence for foreign entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas. But SUV processing time Currently surpassed four years, and the terms with an air scale have forced some to ask if the program is an effective mechanism for attracting foreign founders to the country.
“As if entrepreneurs will wait for a full economic cycle to open a business in Canada,” wrote the president of the Testband Kirk Lubimov laboratory in X PostField
The processing time of SUVs translated from 12 months in 2022 to four years today.
It was launched as a pilot in 2013 after the end of the federal entrepreneurship program (FEP), the SUV became permanent in 2018. While the introduction of the time for the expectation of SUVs has increased significantly since then July 2022when they were more modest from 12 to 16 months, 2023 report From immigration, refugees and citizenship of Canada (IRCC) recognize that the processing of these applications was a growing problem over the most part of the SUV.
In 2018, it took 11 months, compared with 16 months in 2019. The waiting time for the program has grown to 28 months in 2020 and has grown since then, reaching 32 months in 2022, which has been covered by a report last year. Archive web -danai indicate the processing of SUVs at about this time in 2023 It took about 37 months, and By 2024He reached 40 months.
IRCC I took over the only administration SUV SUV last year from the Canadian venture association and private joint -stock capital (CVCA) and the National Organization of Angel Capital (NACO), which was responsible for verification and approval Assigned organizations– Since the federals examined the “current problems” with the program, including processing time and a large lag of applications.
At that time, IRCC stopped the approval of new appointed organizations and introduced a new tough annual limit of 10 new statements accepted for one organization, noting the abolition of Previously reported Plans to increase the consumption of SUVs. IRCC also began priorities in the ideas supported by investors who made capital to startups and incubators, which are part Technical network of Canadawhich represent only part of the prescribed Orgs.
IRCC told Betakit that federals Significantly decreases Through the programs of the SUV and self -employed persons last year in an effort to reduce immigration “to a sustainable level”. The Federal Department said that this year the target number of shares were reduced from 6,000 to 2000 to 2000, on the eve of another planned reduction of to 1000 in 2026. This reduction contributed to the lag of the SUV, which totaled more than 42,000 statements as of July – and a longer waiting time, IRCC reports.
To help soften the influence of these times, IRCC presented Three -year work permit In October last year, allowing the applicants of the SUV to come to Canada to build their business in anticipation of processing.
Canada New immigration bill It offers another potential answer to what the feds can do to solve this problem: with the Bill C-2, the Canadian government seeks to cancel, suspend or amend the statements “for reasons determined in public interests” in an obvious application to help reduce the soaring immigration reports and waiting time. Canadian immigration lawyer Marina Sedai said The Toronto Star That the applicants of the SUV can be among target groups.
At the end of 2023, Podkast Betakit He discussed the struggle of the SUV with the former NACO Director General Yuri Navarro, who previously helped to create and manage the program and the immigration researcher Stein Monteiro, the reporter of the report, who found that the SUV was Inability to fill the shoes of his predecessorFEP. Monteiro analysis showed that the SUV will not reach a number of key areas, from creating jobs to global trade and long -term business vitalness.
In order to apply for an SUV, an incoming founder must have a devoted support for the designated venture capital (VC) (with investments in the amount of 200,000 US dollars), Angel Investor Group (using investments in the amount of $ 75,000) or a business incubator (through the adoption of incubation program).
At that time, Navarro explained that the program was developed in order to distract from the decision -making process far from state bureaucrats, and also provided investors and incubators with the opportunity to check these technological startups in order to nominate them, while ensuring that the immigration service employees had the last word. Navarro attributed some problems with an SUV with his design, and organizations assigned to make these decisions.
CONNECTED: IRCC takes on the only administration of the starting visa program from NACO, CVCA
“While Angel Stream and VC Stream had to invest money to support the companies … Incubators did not need to, but they were also able to levy from companies for services,” he said in the podcast, adding that this structure created opportunities for some organizations to “use the program in their interests.”
Navarro noted a large volume of “low -quality” applications represented by “bad actors”, monetizing the SUV for their own strengthening, scored the system and put officials in a difficult place. Several sources Betakit spoke last year, Historically participated in the SUV program, they also expressed concern about some incubators charging high payments in exchange for letters of support.
The fact that the IRCC SUV since 2023 showed that the incubators were responsible for four fifths of all performances. The report also states that “most of the problematic” ups of SUVs came from these incubators.
The report also noted the abuse of immigration lawyers and consultants selling business planes of SUVs, and it was recognized that high volumes of weak applications may assume that many applicants are not going to start or conduct business in Canada, but simply consider the program as an “accelerated path” to PR. Despite this, starting from the report, not a single organization had access to the program involuntarily withdrawn from “problems with honesty”.
CONNECTED: The influence of the Canadian visa H-1B can go beyond 10,000 applicants
In a recent interview with Betakit, Navarro said that the SUV “was not a real option” for entrepreneurs who strive to immigrate in its current form. Although he believes that Canada still needs an SUV, Navarro argued that the federals need power, and the desire to either withdraw the access of bad actors, or replace it with something the best.
The current general director of NACO Claudio Rohas told Betakit that the SUV “has enormous potential to help Canada attract the best and brightest innovators from around the world”, but claims that in order to realize this potential, “it is recognized as a strategic economic tool that reflects the urgency of entrepreneurship”.
NACO Director General Claudio Rohas argued that the SUV program “should be recognized as a strategic economic instrument that reflects the urgency of entrepreneurship.”
Some people think That the new H-1 US fee provides an opportunity for Canada. During a recent trip to the UK, Prime Minister Canada Mark Carney even disclosed Canada considers a “clear proposal” for people in the technological sector, otherwise it has the right to H-1B.
But this is the desire to attract talents, in contrast to the effectiveness of existing Canadian immigration programs for entrepreneurs and technical talents.
The representative of CVCA told Betakit that these long SUVs are delaying “the risk of undermining confidence in the programs intended to attract talents.”
The SUV is not the only federal program suffering from inefficiency. The global stream of talents, the initiative for quick tracking, which allows Canadian technological companies to quickly and temporarily hire qualified foreign workers, has also collided criticism To increase the waiting time.
Past programs, such as Targeted stream of work permits H-1B The fact that the feds launched in July 2023, which reached its restriction of 10,000 applications in just two days, give some evidence that Canada can sometimes get this right, at least the data received Logics Only 1625 people shows who actually came to the country on new permits to work between this until December 2024.
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