Further to the latest measures implemented by IRCC, the official policy, procedures and guidance used by IRCC staff when assessing a Start-up Visa (SUV) application have also been updated. This update from IRCC complements the recent announcement and clarifies the Government’s position notably on the following aspects of a file’s processing:
- The commitment certificate/letter of support retain their validity of 6 months from the date of issuance, and they will be considered valid thereafter provided a complete application for permanent residence was submitted before their expiry date – an extension is not required for a commitment certificate/letter of support expiring while an application is being processed.
- The list of designated business incubators that are members of the Canada’s Tech Network was released for prioritization and includes, as of the date of this operational instructions and guidelines’ update, nine recognized business incubators.
- For all applications, whether before or after the April 30th, 2024 announcement:
- commitment certificates can only be updated until the first SUV permanent residence application from any member of the entrepreneurial team listed on the certificate is received (lock-in date);
- if an essential member of the team is granted PR through another program or passes away, officers will assess the rest of the group and can provide an approval if all other requirements are met;
- a group application is considered complete and ready to be processed once all applications for the same business venture have been received and have met the completeness check under section R10 of the Regulations.
As IRCC starts to implement the new procedures, and with NACO’s scheduled meeting on May 16th, 2024, additional instructions and guidelines will likely be communicated in the upcoming weeks. It will be interesting to obtain some clarity namely on whether updated commitment certificates before the lock-in date for a pre-April 30th, 2024 business team will now be assimilated as a ‘’new’’ team and require to use one of the 10 slots, or even how/if it will be possible to amend a commitment certificate to adjust a team member to ‘’essential’’ if said member becomes urgently needed in Canada for business reasons as the start-up grows, one or two years post-submission.
If you or anyone you know is interested in accessing the SUV program, our firm has experienced team members who can help. Please contact us for more information and to schedule a consultation.
