Program delivery update: Start-up business permanent program instructions – April 13, 2018

Regulations for the start-up visa business class as a permanent program came into effect on April 11, 2018. The pilot program, as it existed under the Ministerial Instructions, is no longer in effect.

There are minor changes between the Ministerial Instructions under the pilot program and the Regulations under the new permanent program.

The most significant changes for processing, which are reflected in the updated PDIs, include:

• a prohibition on charging fees to review a business proposal
• amendments to the definition of a qualifying business. There are now new requirements for:
  • the applicant to provide active and ongoing management of the business from within Canada
  • an essential part of the business operations to be conducted in Canada
• an amendment to substituted evaluation.
  • Substituted evaluation can now be applied to the requirement to have a valid commitment, but only in cases where the applicant did have a valid commitment at the time they submitted their application (and their designated entity was subsequently de-designated).

New instructions

• Substituted evaluation
• Suspension or de-designation of an entity

Updated instructions

• Start-up business class index
• Withdrawal or refusal of an application from an essential person
• Assessing the application
• Peer reviews
• Procedures at the Centralized Intake Office – Paper-based applications
• Admissibility and final decisions

Deleted instructions

• Start-up business class: Determining membership in the class
• Start-up business class: Putting the application into process

Note: The instructions from these pages have been updated and amalgamated into the new and updated PDIs.