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We are covering the latest Canadian Startup Visa program updates and news. Why are work permits for Startup Visa applicants being refused? How can you prepare for this? The first Startup Visa work permit refusal judicial review has been posted on the Federal court’s public records online, and more IRCC refusal cases are popping up on the Federal court dockets. And of course, we have the latest stats for the different nationalities which have applied and been approved for the SUV program.
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Here are the PR approvals under the SUV program from 2014 to 2020 totals per country/nationality:
A total of 4023 applicants were approved for Canadian PR from 2014 to 2020, with 2019 and 2020 representing more than 50% of all applicants. Always good to know that there were a total of 76 PR’s back in 2014, when the approval rate was 100%. You got to love the good old days! Remember, these are individual applicants, and not # of groups. Typically, as you know many groups can be up to 5 persons, so if you divide the entire number by 3 or 3.5, you can come up with a good estimate of the number of SUV groups that applied.
The top 10 nationalities for SUV approved applicants during this period were:
1) Iran (784)
2) Vietnam (729)
3) China (643)
4) India (451)
5) Hong Kong (245)
6) Turkey (121)
7) USA (110)
8) UK & it’s overseas territories
9) Brazil (81)
10) Tied in 10th place is Russia (71) & Nigeria (71)
Pakistan was in 11th place until 2020 - but is picking up and will be in the top 10 taking over Turkey, Ukraine, Russia between 2021-2023.
Another forecast we are making is that Iran will drop to third or fourth place between 2023 to 2025 and lose its place in the top 3 spots over time.
We expect China to remain strong and stay in the top 3, while we think Pakistan will enter the top 7, and the USA will reach the top 5 spot for SUV applicants approved for Canadian PR. Nigeria will also move to the top 6 or 7 spot under the SUV program. Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia as stated before will not be in the top 10 spots as per the future stats which IRCC will publish over the coming years.
Some interesting observations are that Zimbabwe had 4 total PR approvals in all of 2014-2020 (which were all processed in 2020) – meaning it was most likely just one SUV group who applied together. Venezuela had a total of 3, Kazakhstan had 49 approved PRs and Israel had 26 approved applicants under the SUV program in Canada.
If you are trying to make up your mind about applying to Canada or the UK through the Startup Visa Program, look no further. That’s our specialty here at INGWE Canada. We will guide and support you throughout the endorsement letter or Letter of Support process and the entire immigration process including work visas and permanent residencies. Get a FREE email assessment, click here.
Considering the # 1 spot for that time period, it’s also interesting to note that over 300 SUV work permits were refused for Iranian nationals in a 5-day span during the month of November 2022 by IRCC. I also mentioned this in our last webinar we hosted last month for the Startup Visa program.
This brings us to the main point of the work permit refusals which are becoming very rampant now under the Canadian Startup visa program.
Why are they being refused, and how can you reduce your chances of a refusal by IRCC?
As we already mentioned, the IRCC is cracking down hard on Startup Visa applicants, and instead of just approving the work permit applicants because they applied for a PR and have a Letter of Support, they are now checking to see if the applicant’s under this program meet the requirements of the C10 LMIA exempt work permit conditions. They have requested applicants to use the C10 code in the work permit applications instead of the previous A75 code. Now they are using these same instructions and conditions to refuse the Startup visa work permits on mass scale. If you fall under any of these conditions which we are discussing now, you will most likely have low chances of approval:
1: Applying from a high refusal region and not having serious traction & progress on your Startup business.
2: Previous refusals for other types of Canadian or US immigration, and no serious Startup business progress.
3: Not having a valid Canadian visitor visa or not being from a visa exempt country, and having no traction/progress on your Startup business.
On the other hand, if you do have a valid Canadian visa, or from a visa-exempt country such as the US, Europe, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Israel, Brazilians with valid US visas, Chile and so forth, you are in good shape and don’t need to worry as much about a work permit refusal under the SUV program. Just make sure you apply correctly.
If you’re interested in applying for the Canada Startup Visa, at INGWE we will guide and support you throughout the endorsement letter or Letter of Support process and the entire immigration procedure, including work visas and Canada PR. Get a FREE email assessment with one of our Business Immigration consultants. Fill out the form, click here.
It specifically states that according to the subsection 205(a) of the IRPR, the IRCC officer can approve or refuse this type of work permit “in situations where the employment activities of the foreign national would create or maintain significant social, cultural or economic benefits or opportunities for Canadian citizens, people registered as Indians under the Indian Act or permanent residents.” This C10 category falls under the International Mobility Program which covers all the LMIA-exempt work permits.
This is why IRCC has placed this Startup Visa work permit in this category, quoting directly from the IRCC website: “In the instructions provided to the IRCC officers under this type of work permit processing, it clearly states “circumstances sometimes present officers with situations where an LMIA is not available, and there is no specific exemption category, but the balance of practical considerations would indicate that the work of the foreign national would be a significant benefit to Canada, economically, socially or culturally. Paragraph R205(a) is intended to provide an officer with the flexibility to respond in these situations.”
You can read more about the C10 significant benefit work permit guidelines on the IRCC website, click here.
* Whoever is applying for this type of work permit needs to provide proof of previous experience in this role to be able to complete the responsibilities stated on the job offer you issued for yourself under the Startup Visa program.
* Although education is not mandatory under the SUV program, in this work permit category the officer can use this factor to decide on whether your education can have an effect of performing this job correctly in case you don’t have enough experience.
* The word ‘Significant benefit’ can also include job creation, export business development, development of rural and less developed regions, advancement of Canadian industry in terms of technology, research and sciences, healthcare or physical and/or mental health of the Canadian society, or increased tolerance, knowledge or opportunities to come together with other similar cultures.
This last part was related to cultural benefits, since both cultural & social benefits are also a factor in this work permit category known as C10, not just economic benefits.
This means the current situation with SUV work permits is that you can’t just apply because you have a Letter of Support from an incubator, VC or Angel Investor and expect to be approved if you are not from a visa-exempt country and don’t have a valid Canadian visa. You need to prove to the IRCC officer without a doubt that you are coming over to Canada and will create one of these benefits, the supporting documents and proof should be solid!
To understand how to apply correctly and not be refused by IRCC for this category work permit, you need to know how these applications are being refused and why. Here is the wording they use when refusing your SUV work permits. I am paraphrasing this refusal case:
“After assessing these criteria, the Officer determined that the Applicants were not eligible for C10 LMIA-exempt work permits, because they had not provided sufficient evidence of personal renown and expertise in their field, …The Officer, as a result, was not satisfied that the work sought by the Applicants would create or maintain significant benefits or opportunities for Canadians, concluding that the Applicants did not qualify for C10 LMIA-exempt work permits under para 205(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, …”
Here is another section of this type of refusal…“In light of these concerns, the Officer was not satisfied that the Applicants would be able to perform the work sought or provide a significant benefit, as required by R205(a) and R200(3)(a) of the Regulations.”
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You can read about the first Federal court Startup visa work permit refusal case by clicking here.
It’s about 2 Kazakhstani nationals who are partners for their Startup business and applied for a work permit together under this SUV program using the C10 LMIA exempt work permit code and were both refused because of various concerns of the officer based on the C10 requirements, namely language ability, work experience, significant benefit, and purpose of travel. The judge sided with the applicants and granted leave for this case as he believed that the officer was making up their own rules as they went along for this type of application. The judge’s comments were correct, but don’t expect other officers not to use the same absurd logic when reviewing your Startup Visa work permit case. Only few cases make it to Federal court and are granted leave – hence the IRCC officers know that many applicants will not pursue a Judicial review in case they are refused.
We highly recommend everyone to read this case ruling to understand the reasoning behind the IRCC officers in these types of work permit refusals for the Startup Visa program.
We will have more juicy information and updates about the Startup Visa program in the next 4-8 weeks and will keep our audience updated.
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