CANADA'S STARTUP VISA: PUTTING LIVES ON HOLD

Legal uncertainty has left entrepreneurs stuck despite building businesses and putting down roots

- Shilpashree Jagannathan

Over the last couple of decades, Canada's startup scene has grown from a few regional tech hubs into a nationally recognized innovation ecosystem.

(ISTOCKPHOTO)

When Maulik Pandya, founder of Eatance, a food tech startup based in Toronto, posted on LinkedIn in October that after years of waiting, he was giving up on his Canadian dream and moving back to India, the message went viral across WhatsApp groups and founder circles in both countries. His note became a talking point for hundreds of immigrant entrepreneurs stuck in Canada's Startup Visa (SUV) backlog.

Pandya's emotional post captured a crisis unfolding across Canada: many Indians had reached the country's shores, lured by the SUV programme, family in tow, with plans to start up and make it big. They now find themselves stuck, unable to raise funds, unable to travel, and in some cases, unable to stay.

Gaurav Chauhan is a case in point. The co-founder of KonarkPro, a time-tracking platform for employees, and Jellyfish Technologies, a software company, moved to Canada in 2022 under the SUV programme. His co-founder, Amit, remains in India, because his permanent residency (PR) file is still being processed. "When I applied, the processing time was around 18 months," Chauhan says. "By the time I landed, it had crossed 30 months. Now, the tracker says more than 10 years."

Chauhan's business is profitable. He pays himself a salary, employs 70-80 people in India, and pays taxes in Canada. But his legal status is unstable and he cannot plan beyond a few months. The entrepreneur says his first work permit in Canada expired in June 2023. Renewal requests took months and came back with reduced validity. His wife has been unable to leave Canada for over a year because travelling would risk her immigration status and reentry. The couple's children's study permits are tied to expiring passports and are renewed only with six-month expiry.