Background

• COVID-19 has almost halted the processing of permanent residency applications under the Start-Up Visa (SUV) Program;
• According to the website of the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), the processing time for the SUV program is currently 32 months, while it was 12 to 16 months before COVID-19;
• The application processing of many SUV applicants for permanent residency has not started yet (since March 2020);
• Many applicants have applied for work permits too. However, the work permit processing is longer than even a year for some countries;
• The nature of the SUV program necessitates a fast entry to the Canadian market in order for the start-ups to create jobs and grow in scale;
• As per IRCC Procedural Fairness policies, “Applicants should not be subject to unnecessary delays.”

Request

We, the undersigned, the entrepreneurs and start-up founders, call upon the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to expedite the processing of permanent residency applications under the SUV Program through allocating more processing capacity to this program to handle the backlog of PR applications for this program. As per the reports received from the Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) department of the Government of Canada, the number of SUV applicants is far less than those of other programs such as Express Entry, and one can argue that processing them should not take 32 months.

Prior to being an immigration plan, the SUV program is an opportunity for start-ups to enter the Canadian market and start contributing to the Canadian economy through creating jobs and attracting foreign investments to this country. We understand that COVID-19 has negatively impacted the IRCC operations; however, please do note that this long processing time can outdate innovative ideas and have them lose their competitive edge.

Now that the COVID-19 era is nearing its end, the economy in Canada needs to revive. Many Canadians have lost their jobs during this pandemic and many businesses have closed their doors. Start-up visa applicants can help tremendously in getting things back to normal by establishing their innovative start-ups, creating jobs for Canadians, attracting foreign investments, making partnerships opportunities with other businesses, and generating exponential revenues.

Again, we request that IRCC prioritizes Start-Up Visa applications and considers a logical processing time for this immigration stream.

Sincerely,

Start-Up Visa Applicants

#SPEEDUPSUV #CANADA #IMMIGRATION