The Start-up Visa Is Paused: How Founders Already in Canada Can Stay on a C10 or C11 Work Permit

The Start-up Visa Program has been paused since June 30, 2026. For founders who are already in Canada, the real question is not how to get here. It is how to stay long enough to build the business, and then how to stay for good.

Some of you hold the Start-up Visa work permit (exemption code A77). Others are running a company here on a post-graduation work permit, a spousal open work permit or another permit that will end. In both cases, the C10 and C11 work permits are the routes I look at first to keep you working in Canada, and if you hold a valid work or study permit, you can apply for them from inside Canada.

First, protect your status

Everything starts with the expiry date on your current permit. If you apply for a new work permit before that date, you have maintained status: you can stay in Canada while IRCC decides, and keep working under the conditions of your current permit. On an open permit, such as a post-graduation or Start-up Visa permit, that usually means you can keep running the business. What you cannot do is start work that only the new permit would allow. Miss the date and the only door left is restoration, which I explain in my guide to restoring your status.

If you hold the Start-up Visa work permit

You can still extend it, but only from inside Canada, only while your Start-up Visa permanent residence application, and every team member's, is still pending, and only if you intend to live outside Quebec. The first permit was issued on a promise. The extension is assessed on a record. IRCC asks for proof that the business has provided, and will continue to provide, a significant economic benefit to Canada, and it warns that a file without documents may be refused. Payroll records and T4 slips, contracts and invoices, product releases and funding rounds carry these files. You also need funds equal to the low-income cut-off for your family size for 52 weeks, separate from the money in the business.

Read subsection 98.08(2) of the IRPR twice. If you applied as a team, and one member the designated organization identified as key to the business withdraws or is refused, every permanent residence application linked to that business proposal must be refused, and IRCC tells officers to refuse the other members' work permits too, after a chance to respond. If the permanent residence file ends, the extension ends with it, and C10 or C11 becomes the route that keeps you here.

C11 and C10: how founders keep working in Canada

Both permits are issued under paragraph 205(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), both skip the Labour Market Impact Assessment, and both start with an offer in IRCC's Employer Portal. For a founder already here, they come with an advantage a first application from abroad does not have: the business is no longer a plan. It has a bank account, a payroll, customers and a track record, and those are the documents that carry these files.

C11: you own the business and run it

C11 is for a founder who controls at least 51% of the Canadian business. You submit the offer for yourself. The officer looks at the jobs the business creates, wages at or above the median, where it operates, and whether your plan is a concrete one rather than a market study. You also need support funds at the low-income cut-off for your family size for 18 months, separate from the business money. A business that already operates and earns revenue makes the strongest C11 file, and I plan these permits around 18 months. Here is how I handle C11 work permits.

C10: your Canadian company employs you

C10 fits a founder whose Canadian company offers a role that brings a significant economic, social or cultural benefit to Canada. The company submits the offer and pays the compliance fee. IRCC's current instructions, dated February 24, 2026, reserve C10 for unique or exceptional situations and ask for a benefit that is clear, compelling and documented. There is no ownership rule, but if you control the company, the record has to show a real employer: who directs your work, why the role is needed and how the salary is paid. Here is how I handle C10 work permits.

From staying to staying for good

Skilled employment on a C10 can count toward the Canadian Experience Class, although an officer may treat a controlling owner's work as self-employment, which does not count. For a business owner, the provincial entrepreneur streams are the main permanent residence path, and IRCC's C11 instructions point owners who already plan to stay permanently in that direction. I map the permanent residence route before we file the permit, never after. My comparison of C10 and C11 goes through the details, and my piece on the C60 work permit explains the provincial support letter.

How the Start-up Visa closed, in four dates

What I would do now

1. Write down the expiry date of your current permit and plan to file a few months before it.

2. Decide between C11 and C10 by two facts: who owns the Canadian company, and who directs your work.

3. Gather the record of what the business has done in Canada: payroll, T4 slips, contracts, revenue and product milestones.

4. If you hold the Start-up Visa permit and applied as a team, confirm in writing that every member still intends to continue, and get advice before anyone withdraws.

5. Choose the permanent residence route before you choose the permit.

This article reflects the rules as of October 2026.

If you want me to review your plan, you can book an online consultation. I work virtually, in English and Turkish, on flat fees. If a route does not fit your facts, I will tell you.

The articles on this site are general information, not legal advice, and reading them doesn't create a lawyer-client relationship. Immigration rules change often, so always consult a qualified Canadian immigration lawyer about your specific situation.