Business Immigration to Canada

Licensed RCIC and CPA guidance on Canada’s federal and provincial business immigration options in 2026, current program status, thresholds, and how to plan a defensible application.

Written and reviewed by Usman Khalil, RCIC (R709592), a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant and member of the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC). Last reviewed: September 7, 2026.

Business immigration to Canada is not a single program and it is not a way to buy permanent residence. It is a set of federal and provincial routes, each with its own eligibility rules, current status, and staged process that usually starts with a work permit. This page explains the routes realistically available in 2026 and where a licensed RCIC working with a CPA adds the most value.

Status in 2026: The federal Start-Up Visa Program is paused. IRCC is not accepting new permanent residence applications, and the June 30, 2026 deadline applied only to applicants who already held a valid 2025 commitment certificate. IRCC’s page carries the status label “Paused” and states that the program is closed to all other applications (IRCC, checked 7 September 2026, page last modified July 21, 2026). Applications accepted before the pause continue to be processed. The Self-Employed Persons Program is also paused. Ontario has closed every OINP stream except the new Ontario Workforce Priority stream (Government of Ontario, checked 7 September 2026, page last updated July 14, 2026), and Saskatchewan permanently closed all Entrepreneur and Farm immigration pathways effective March 27, 2025 (Saskatchewan.ca, checked 7 September 2026). Provincial entrepreneur streams in the remaining provinces, and the C11 entrepreneur work permit, are the routes worth assessing right now, and their status varies sharply by province.

1. The federal picture in 2026

IRCC’s Start-Up Visa page carries the status label “Paused” and states that the program is closed to all other applications. The June 30, 2026 deadline that appears on it applied to people who already held a valid 2025 commitment certificate, not to new applicants (IRCC, checked 7 September 2026, page last modified July 21, 2026). IRCC will continue processing applications accepted before the pause. The Self-Employed Persons Program, which is for certain cultural and athletic applicants rather than general entrepreneurs, also carries the status label “Paused” on IRCC’s own page (IRCC, checked 7 September 2026, page last modified March 11, 2026). IRCC’s 2026–27 Departmental Plan says the department intends to create a new high-impact Start-up Visa pilot, but eligibility criteria and launch details have not been published, so it is not a current application route.

Two provincial changes matter as much as the federal ones. Ontario states on its own OINP page that the new Ontario Workforce Priority stream has launched and that all other streams are now closed (Government of Ontario, checked 7 September 2026, page last updated July 14, 2026). Saskatchewan states that, effective March 27, 2025, the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program has permanently closed all Entrepreneur and Farm immigration pathways, with no new applications, no new expressions of interest and no further invitations to apply (Saskatchewan.ca, checked 7 September 2026). That leaves provincial entrepreneur streams in the other provinces, and the federal C11 entrepreneur work permit, as the routes worth assessing right now. Section 2b below gives the published thresholds for each one.