Mark Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship of Canada, announced a set of changes to federal business programs aimed at reducing processing times and alleviating the backlog of applications, effective April 30, 2024.
As part of improving the startup visa program, the following will be done:
- Accepting 10 startups annually for each accredited organization.
- Giving priority to startups backed by Canadian capital or from Canadian business incubators.
- Temporarily restricting the reception of applications for the “Self-Employed” program to focus on processing the backlog of applications.
By limiting the acceptance of applications for “Self-employed persons”, and concurrently increasing acceptance for the federal business category as outlined in the 2024-2026 plan, the Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Department will be able to reduce wait times for businessmen and investors.
