Entrepreneur Route

Canada has two federal programmes for people who want to immigrate by building a business. Both are currently unavailable, and most of what is written about them online describes doors that are no longer open. That is the first thing worth knowing, because it is not usually the first thing you are told.

What is closed

The Start-up Visa Program. Designated organisations stopped issuing commitment certificates at the end of 2025, and the programme stopped accepting applications on 30 June 2026. Applications filed before that date are still being processed. IRCC has said a replacement — a smaller, more selective pilot aimed at high-impact founders — will follow, but at the time of writing it has no opening date and no published criteria.

The Self-Employed Persons Program. Paused to new applications since April 2024, until further notice. It was never a general business route: it was for people with a record in culture, arts, recreation or sport who would contribute to Canadian cultural life, and it closed because it had accumulated a backlog running to several years.

If a website or an agent offers to file either of these for you today, that is the point to stop and ask what exactly they are filing.

What is actually available

Plenty, but none of it is a single federal programme with "entrepreneur" on the label.

Provincial entrepreneur streams. The most realistic permanent residence route for a business owner right now. Most provinces run one under their nominee programme: you commit to investing a set amount, to living in the province, and usually to creating jobs there. They typically start with a temporary work permit and convert to a nomination once you have actually run the business for a year or two. Amounts, target regions and intake windows differ by province and change often.

An owner-operator work permit. Not immigration in itself — a temporary route for somebody buying or starting a Canadian business who will run it themselves. It is a work permit, so it leads to permanent residence only through whatever route you qualify for afterwards, often Express Entry once you have Canadian work experience. The rules around these have tightened, and a plan built on one should be built with advice.

An intra-company transfer. If you already own or work for a business outside Canada and want to open a branch or subsidiary here, this is usually the cleanest route — see Intra-Company Transfers.

Quebec. Quebec selects its own immigrants and runs its own entrepreneur and investor programmes on its own timetable. If Montreal is where you want to be, that is a separate conversation from everything above.

Buying a business is not a visa

The most expensive misunderstanding on this page. Purchasing a Canadian company, incorporating one, or putting money into one does not by itself give you any right to enter Canada, live here, or work in the business you own. Every route above requires a permit or a nomination that is applied for and assessed on its own terms. People do occasionally buy a business first and ask about the immigration afterwards; it is a difficult position to unwind.

Where Skylam comes in

Working out which of the available routes fits your capital, your sector and where you are willing to live — and telling you plainly if the honest answer is to wait for the pilot. Entrepreneur immigration attracts a great deal of confident advice about programmes that are shut, and knowing what is genuinely open this month is most of the value.

This page describes the position as at its review date below. Entrepreneur programmes are the fastest-moving part of Canadian immigration right now — check the date, and check IRCC's own notice before acting on anything here.