Allegations of a "cash-for-visa" scheme have forced the abrupt cancellation of Canada's Startup Visa Program, casting a shadow over the country's efforts to attract global entrepreneurial talent. The program's demise, announced in December 2025, followed a series of cases where applicants appeared to pay large sums to designated incubators for support, while their actual role in the proposed businesses was questionable.
Questionable Applications Reveal Systemic Flaws
Internal reviews of several applications highlighted critical problems. In one instance, a woman from Vietnam applied to develop wearable sensors for weightlifters. However, immigration officers discovered the technology was actually being created by a professor at a Canadian university with a local incubator's support. The officer could not identify the applicant's genuine contribution to launching the startup.
Another case involved an applicant proposing a robo-adviser for Canadian financial products targeting Chinese investors. An official assessment concluded that most of the work was performed by an employee of the supporting incubator, with the supposed founder receiving only "cursory" updates.
A third applicant planned an Uber-like app for daycare providers in Southeast Asia. The reviewing officer questioned why she needed to be in Canada to build this company and suspected her primary motivation was obtaining citizenship. This suspicion was amplified by a $300,000 fee she had paid to the incubator backing her application.
The Common Link: Empowered Startups Inc.
All three of these cases shared a common sponsor: Vancouver-based Empowered Startups Inc.. These examples provided a clear window into how the program's framework was being exploited. The program required applicants to first secure support from a designated Canadian venture capital firm, angel investor, or startup incubator.
Isabelle Dubois, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, stated the program "stopped working as intended." She acknowledged that some designated organizations ended up "stretching the program’s goals and rules by supporting lower-quality or even non-genuine startup proposals."
A Warning for New Immigration Initiatives
The collapse of the Startup Visa Program serves as a stark warning about the risks of using permanent residency and citizenship as recruitment tools. This is particularly relevant as the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney is launching new economic immigration initiatives.
The government plans to replace the scrapped program with a new pilot for immigrant entrepreneurs. Dubois indicated that while designated organizations might still play a role, there would be fewer of them operating under much clearer and stricter rules.
Concurrently, the Carney government is preparing a separate initiative aimed at poaching tech workers from the United States. This move is a direct reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration, specifically the imposition of a prohibitive $100,000 fee on the popular H-1B visa commonly used by major tech companies.
These twin strategies are part of a broader effort to reinvent Canada's economy amidst challenges like U.S. tariffs and years of sluggish productivity growth. The flawed Startup Visa Program underscores the delicate balance Canada must strike between attracting genuine talent and maintaining the integrity of its immigration system.
