Qualify for Start-up Visa

Before you apply for the Start-up visa, you must convince a designated angel investor group or venture capital fund to invest in your business idea. If the investor organization decides to fund your business idea, they will give you a letter of support.

You must include your letter of support with your application as proof that an angel investor group or venture capital fund supports your business idea.

To obtain a letter of support, you must convince one of the organizations listed below that you have a business idea that is worth investing in. Each organization has different requirements in terms of what documents (for example, a business plan) they require in order to consider investing in a business idea.

You must secure a minimum investment of $200,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian venture capital fund.

• BDC Venture Capital
• Blackberry Partners Fund II LP (doing business as Relay Ventures Fund II)
• Celtic House Venture Partners
• Celtic House Venture Partners Fund III L.P.
• Celtic House Venture Partners Fund IV LP
• DRI Capital Inc.
• Golden Opportunities Fund Inc.
• iNovia Capital Inc.
• New Brunswick Innovation Foundation Inc. / Fondation de l’innovation du Nouveau-Brunswick Inc.
• Northwater Intellectual Property Fund
• OMERS Ventures Management Inc.
• Pangaea Ventures Fund III, LP
• PRIVEQ Capital Funds
• PRIVEQ III Limited Partnership
• PRIVEQ IV Limited Partnership
• Quorum Group
• Advantage Growth (No.2) L.P.
• Ontario SME Capital Corporation
• Quorum Investment Pool Limited Partnership
• Quorum Secured Equity Trust
• Rho Canada Ventures
• Summerhill Venture Partners Management Inc.
• Tandem Expansion Management Inc.
• Vanedge Capital Limited Partnership
• Version One Ventures
• Wellington Financial LP
• Westcap Mgt. Ltd.
• Yaletown Venture Partners Inc.

Or you must secure a minimum investment of $75,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian angel investor group.

• Angel One Network Inc.
• First Angel Network Association
• Golden Triangle Angel Network

Start-Up Language Requirements

Being able to communicate and work in English, French or both will help your business in Canada.

You must prove your ability in English or French in these four areas:

• speaking,
• reading,
• Listening, and
• writing.

You must meet the minimum level of CLB 5 in either English or French for all four language abilities.

If you do not meet the minimum language skills, we will refuse your application.

You must take a language test from an agency approved by CIC and include the results when you apply. If you do not, we will not process your application, and we will return your fees.

You will not have another chance to prove your language proficiency. The visa officer will only use the test results that you provide when you apply.

Acceptable documents for language requirements

You must send us proof that you meet the language requirement for the Start-up Visa (Canadian Language Benchmark/Niveau de compétence Linguistique Canadien
5). An original of any of the following documents showing that you meet the language requirement will be accepted as proof:

1. Designated third-party test results that you already sent to CIC for a previous application as a Federal Skilled Worker or for the Canadian Experience
   Class, if the results are dated no earlier than two years before you apply.
2. New third-party test results, including:
   1. CELPIP General (Canadian English Language Proficiency Index Program General test); or
   2. IELTS – General Training (International English Language Testing System); or
   3. Test d’Évaluation de Français (TEF) (in French only).