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How important is the Letter of Support? How much is it worth?
Either way we are going to explain to you why you should not be chasing waterfalls by looking for low cost Letters of Support. That’s the subject matter of our short article today.
The Letter of Support is a key eligibility criterion to apply for your direct Canadian permanent residency under the Startup Visa program. We are going to cover these 3 topics today:
* In what scenarios is the Letter of Support important and in what scenarios is it not?
* What component in the Letter of Support is important?
* Should the letter be updated?
* What you should be investing in rather than the Letter of Support? To increase your chances of PR approval by the IRCC.
At INGWE we are EXPERTS in the Canada Startup Visa Business Program. We will guide and support you throughout the endorsement letter or Letter of Support process and the entire immigration process including work visas and permanent residencies. Get a FREE email assessment with us, fill out our form, click here.
The Letter of Support is a component of the big picture for your Canada Startup Visa PR application. Just obtaining or paying for a Letter of Support will not guarantee you an approval by the IRCC for your Permanent Residency. This is a fact. If the designated organization, such as an incubator, supports you by issuing the Letter of Support, it will have no bearing on the final decision by the IRCC SUV processing team on whether you are approved or not. Therefore, we can comfortably claim that the Letter of Support without any financial investment or backing by the designated organization is only an eligibility criterion similar to an IELTS exam, police clearance certificate or a business plan.
How much is an IELTS worth or a police clearance certificate? Depending on your country of residence this price can vary.
If you have an IELTS or police clearance certificate or minimum settlement funds, will the IRCC approve you automatically for a Canadian PR under the Startup Visa program? The answer is ‘No’. Therefore, we can conclude that the Letter of Support will get you into the program, but not help you successfully get out of the program with a PR.
This is why you should not be chasing a letter of support on its own. You need to be checking the reputation of the designated organization within the immigration world and seeing if they are issuing high volumes of letter of support, what the IRCC thinks about the quality of their startups, and so forth.
Who issues your Letter of Support is more important than the actual Letter of Support itself. It’s like paying to get an educational degree. You can buy it from Trump University – but how much credibility and weight will that degree carry for your career?
At INGWE we are EXPERTS in the Canada Startup Visa. We will guide and support you throughout the endorsement letter or Letter of Support process and the entire immigration process including work visas and permanent residencies. Get a FREE email assessment, click here.
A key part of the Letter of Support includes the detailed description by the designated organization such as VC, Angel Investor, or incubator on what your startup is about and why they endorsed it, as well as the urgent requirement for the co-founders to come to Canada with a work permit. Many parts of the Letter of Support are not available to you, as it’s part of the commitment certificate that is sent by the designated organization to IRCC directly. You will only see 2 pages of this entire document, where you can read about the reasoning the entity has provided IRCC on why you need to apply for your work permit.
How and what the designated organization writes on the Letter of Support and commitment certificate is quite important for your application. Many Startup Visa applicants request their designated organization to re-issue the Letter of Support or Commitment Certificate for IRCC purposes. This request can stem from either wanting to apply for a work permit when the previous one has expired (max 6 months validity), in the event of a structural change to the co-founders, or a request by IRCC of a new valid commitment certificate to prove that the designated organization is supporting and endorsing this startup business.
In the latter two scenarios, there needs to be a detailed and updated explanation on the newly issued commitment certificate by the designated organization to explain about these changes or updates on the startup. What you do not want is to re-issue the same Letter of Support that was originally issued 1-2 years ago with no changes or updates mentioned on it when sending it to the IRCC by the designated organization. IRCC will scrutinize this commitment certificate, of which you have hold the 2 pages called the ‘Letter of support’, and if there are any discrepancies or missing updates, they will use it against your PR application by stating that the designated organization did not complete it’s due diligence properly – because the information they included on this new commitment certificate or Letter of Support is outdated compared to the progress or activities or group structure you have now as a Startup group.
Remember that we’re always posting about these key details for Canada’s Startup Visa program and other immigration programs for business investors & entrepreneurs– and if that’s what you are interested in, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel for more deep dive videos.
Instead of paying for just a Letter of Support and a PR immigration application you should be investing in the following:
* An actual startup business with a product or solution that can be commercialized.
* Clear business development and pilot project investments in Canada.
* Investing in starting operations and hiring inside Canada. Hint: IRCC loves it when you hire Canadian staff and can show real traction.
If you are trying to make up your mind about applying to the Canada Startup Visa Program, look no further. That’s our specialty here at INGWE Canada. We will guide and support you throughout the endorsement letter or Letter of Support process and the entire immigration process including work visas and permanent residencies. Get a FREE email assessment, click here.
We are going to list in order of priority of value what you should be paying for:
A: The most important aspect is investing in developing the business. A person or organization that can help with this aspect should be your priority.
B: The immigration & business advising & support. You need clear guidance from either immigration and/or business consultants on what to do after the Letter of Support, as well as preparation for the IRCC questions. Your designated organization cannot do that, and they are not experts in the immigration field.
C: Paying for market research and business plans. This should be your 3rd priority.
D: The designated organization cohort or accelerator program. 90% of the programs are of little value and overpriced, and IRCC does not consider them as serious traction for your business, investment, or any help in proving your true intentions of setting up and operating your business from inside Canada. This is the truth and evidence based on IRCC’s decision on recent startup visa cases. No matter what price you pay for these accelerator or cohort programs with your incubator or designated organization.
F: The Letter of Support. This is probably the last part of your investment and least important. The only time this is an exception is if the designated organization such as VC or Angel Investor commits and invests money in your startup before you become a PR – in which case their Letter of Support is worth more than anything else. Another scenario for a high value Letter of Support is when the designated organization takes equity in your startup and does not charge you an admission fee. But at the end of the day, in either of these two cases, if you don’t have real progress for your Startup you could be a sitting duck for IRCC.
You should not be paying more than $25,000 to join a cohort and accelerator program for an incubator. There are incubators who charge $8,000 to $90,000 and everything in between. Be careful who you choose to work with. Consider potentially higher fees for designated Angel Investors and Venture capital entities.
Do you still want a $1 Letter of Support? Or do you want IRCC to approve your PR application? Which one is the most important result for you? This is the $1m question which you need to plan for and answer with your co-founders who are planning to apply for your Startup.
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