- IRCC labeled the Start-Up Visa program Paused for new applications, with only a narrow 2025 exception.
- New permanent residence filings stopped December thirty-first, twenty twenty-five, except for certain commitment-certificate holders.
- Government planning materials mention a new high impact pilot, but IRCC has announced no launch date.
IRCC has paused new Start-Up Visa applications and set up a narrow exception for a small group of 2025 filers. Existing cases keep moving, but only within limited capacity.
The agency's live immigration page now labels the program “Paused”. It is not accepting new applications, except for applicants who received a valid commitment from a designated organization in 2025 and had not yet applied by June 30, 2026. Existing files stay in process. Slowly.
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IRCC's 2026 planning materials point to a replacement pilot. They call for a “new high impact Start-Up Visa pilot” that would “replace and address observed issues with” the current program. The same materials describe a turn toward “elite entrepreneurs” and a more targeted model built around business development and economic growth.
“new high impact Start-Up Visa pilot”
The cutoff dates landed in stages. On December 19, 2025, the agency stopped taking new optional work permit applications for applicants in the program. On December 31, 2025, at 11:59 p.m., it stopped accepting new permanent residence applications, aside from the limited carve-out for some 2025 commitment-certificate holders. That group then faced the June 30, 2026 filing deadline.
The replacement is still only a plan
The old route is not open to new intake now. The queue already inside the system remains there, but the agency has tied processing to limited capacity under the levels plan. Nothing in the planning material turns the replacement idea into an operating program.
IRCC has also left the rulebook unwritten. It has not published detailed eligibility rules for the new pilot, including any confirmed revenue threshold, investment minimum, employee requirement, fundraising requirement, intellectual-property requirement, or designated-organization structure. No launch date has been announced.
No launch date is on the calendar
As of September 10, 2026, the government materials still describe a future pilot, not a live one. The documents point to a model meant for higher-impact founders, but they stop short of giving applicants a calendar. The agency has not put the fundraising requirement, intellectual-property requirement, or designated-organization structure on paper yet. No date is fixed.
