In the last 5 months, a record 250 foreigners have settled in Canada under the Start-Up Visa (SUV) program. This is an indication that several immigrants have set up new businesses in the country. 

That puts Canada on track to welcome 600 new permanent residents through the program in 2022, the highest number since the program was first launched as a five-year pilot program in 2013, a Canada Immigration News reported 

As many as 55 new permanent residents immigrated to Canada in 2015 under this programme, while it increased more than nine times to 515 in 2019.  Following this, inviting permanent residents under this programme was stalled owing to Covid-19 global pandemic. 

After welcoming 341,175 new permanent residents to Canada in 2019, immigration fell by 45.9 per cent, to only 184,585 new permanent residents in 2020. The number of foreign nationals who came to Canada under the SUV and set up business took a similar hit that year, dropping 49.5 per cent to only 260 new permanent residents, the report said.