Introduction

Canada is urgently seeking “made in Canada” strategies to bolster economic resilience, encourage investment and boost productivity. International students may present a promising source of entrepreneurism, but current immigration pathways are not effectively supporting their transition to permanent residency (Graham & Pottie-Sherman, 2024).

Canada’s immigration and international education landscape is at a crossroads. With the Canadian federal government’s new plan to reduce overall immigration levels, Provincial and Territorial Nominee Programs have also seen their immigration allocations reduced. At the same time, the federal government has suspended its federal business immigration program and commited to developing a replacement in the coming year (Government of Canada, 2025b). Post-secondary institutions across the country are reeling from cuts to international student numbers. Prime Minister Mark Carney has committed to bringing the population of non-permanent residents down to 5% of Canada’s population by 2027 (Woolf, 2025b). To do so, the federal government will either need to expand opportunities for permanent residency or encourage substantial departures of international students who have been studying, working or developing businesses in the country.

This policy brief considers this moment of uncertainty and opportunity. It reviews the current evidence on the links between international education and entrepreneurship in Canada and the United States. It also summarizes recent research evaluating the effectiveness of existing immigration programs for international graduate entrepreneurs in Canada. It then identifies steps Canada could take to allow international students to fully contribute their entrepreneurial talent to Canada’s economy. These measures include expanding access to existing youth entrepreneurship programs, streamlining and simplifying immigration pathways, and recognizing self-employment as skilled work experience — even when startups fail — and ensuring new federal business immigration initiatives support international student entrepreneurs in priority sectors.

International education and Entrepreneurship:
The Potential

International students may be well positioned to innovate due to their exposure to multiple markets, cultures and educational systems. They acquire valuable human and social capital through study abroad, and by combining “two or more previously unrelated matrices of skills or information,” they have an advantage over domestic students in recognizing opportunities for innovation (Kerr & Schlosser, 2010, p. 130). Moreover, international students may also be wealthier than domestic students, affording them access to the financial resources necessary to launch businesses, or have entrepreneurial families, an important predictor of entrepreneurship globally (Breznitz & Zhang, 2020; Hsu et al., 2007; Sieger et al., 2014).

The U.S. evidence

The evidence on international student entrepreneurism is particularly striking in the United States, where the topic has received the most attention by researchers. Saxenian’s research on technology clustering highlighted the critical role of immigrant entrepreneurs and their transnational networks in Silicon Valley’s advantage in the world economy (Saxenian 1994, 2006). In fact, subsequent research showed that most of Silicon Valley’s immigrant entrepreneurs hold degrees from U.S. institutions (Wadhwa et al., 2007). Many large companies, such as Chobani, SanDisk, Eventbrite, Moderna, and Instagram, were founded by former international students in the United States (Anderson, 2018; Narangoda, 2023).

This pattern suggests that international student and university admission policies play a significant role in driving America’s startup talent pipeline, even with the absence of a dedicated pathway in U.S. immigration law for tech entrepreneurs (Amornsiripanitch et al., 2023, p. 13). A recent study found that international graduate students in the United States. are not only more entrepreneurial than domestic students, but they also encourage more start-up activity among domestic students in their cohorts (Beine et al., 2024). When a cohort includes more international Master’s students, there are more startups, and these startups are typically of higher quality. It is also clear, however, that regulatory and legal barriers limit international student startup activity. U.S. immigration policy, particularly the lack of a clear immigration pathway for international students, delayed firm incorporation by as much as five years (Enright et al., 2024).

Also in Canada?

In Canada, research on international student entrepreneurship remains limited, although recent survey data offer important insights. According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education’s 2023 International Student Survey, 33 per cent of international students reported that they were “considering becoming entrepreneurs in Canada” after graduation (CBIE, 2024). The CBIE survey did not include domestic students, but for a comparison, the 2023 Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students’ Survey (GUESSS) estimates that 31 per cent of students in Canada plan to start a business within five years of graduation (Sieger et al., 2023). Importantly, the GUESSS data suggest that the potential pool of entrepreneurial talent among international students in Canada is significant. Students in some of Canada’s top source countries for international students, such as Nigeria and Iran, show significantly higher rates of entrepreneurial intent in their home countries compared to Canadian students, with 61 per cent and 46 per cent of students intending to launch a business within five years, respectively (Sieger et al., 2023). It is unclear, however, if these patterns hold true for Nigerian and Iranian international students who come to Canada.

Beyond entrepreneurial intention, the evidence on startups and self-employment rates of international students in Canada is mixed. On the one hand, a study using data from the University of Toronto alumni survey found a strong correlation between foreign education experience and startup formation (Breznitz & Zhang, 2020). Domestic graduates of the University of Toronto who had foreign study experience were also more likely to launch startups, a finding that lends support to the hypothesis that cross-cultural experiences spur innovation. There was no correlation between startup creation and STEM degree backgrounds, suggesting that a diverse array of degree types lead to entrepreneurship (Breznitz & Zhang, 2020).

On the other hand, other research shows that international students face important barriers in translating entrepreneurial intention into reality. A study that analyzed the 2018 National Graduate Survey found that international students have lower self-employment rates than Canadian students (Sa et al., 2025). This finding is echoed by several recent qualitative studies that underscore the many challenges that international student startups may face. Until recently, an obstacle for non-permanent residents, like international students, was provincial rules barring them from setting up an incorporated business without 25% of the directors being “resident Canadians.” Such barriers have generally been eliminated by provincial legislation, although they are still required for federal incorporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act (e.g., Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2022). However, other barriers remain, such as securing financing and investment, language barriers and concerns about immigration status (Chaudhry et al., 2024; Graham & Pottie-Sherman, 2022).

What is more, international students are not eligible for federally funded youth entrepreneurship programs like Futurpreneur, which provides startup loan financing to Canadian permanent residents and citizens aged 18 to 39. Similarly, international students are also not eligible to receive funded placements through the federally funded Experience Venture program, which helps students hone their entrepreneurial skills through paid work placements. Chaudhry et al. (2024) point out that international students in Canada perceive themselves to be “under-resourced” compared to their domestic counterparts.

Additionally, it is unclear how many international student startup founders remain in Canada. Entrepreneurial international students in Canada see themselves as particularly well-positioned to enter the U.S. market (Chaudhry et al., 2024). Reports suggest that some successful international student startup founders in Canada have ultimately left Canada for the United States (Immitracker, 2022). More generally, whether founded by Canadians or non-citizens, startups often leave Canada for the United States because even the highest-performing Canadian ecosystems cannot compete with the venture capital landscape of the United States or the “velocity” of San Francisco or Silicon Valley (Florida & King, 2024; Nemann, 2025).

International Student Business Immigration Programs: an Underperforming Tool

Given the lure of U.S. markets, and some of the barriers to entrepreneurship in Canada, how can immigration policy encourage entrepreneurship? Canada has long recognized the economic potential of immigrant entrepreneurship and international students. In 1978, Canada launched its first self-employed immigration program, marking the beginning of a series of entrepreneurship initiatives (El-Assal & Taylor, 2019; Hiebert, 2002). These early efforts were criticized for their modest contribution to the Canadian economy (Ley, 2003). Among the primary criticisms levelled against the Business Immigration Program were that nominees reported minimal self-employment earnings, paid less income tax compared to other economic immigrants, and were concentrated in British Columbia and Ontario. Some later entrepreneur immigration programs at the provincial level were also plagued by allegations of tax evasion, immigration fraud and corruption (Wang & Hii, 2019).

At the turn of the 21st century, a new dynamic came into play: rather than trying to attract mature entrepreneurs from abroad, Canada significantly increased its recruitment of international students. International student numbers began ramping up in the mid- to late 2000s, intensifying dramatically through the 2010s and early 2020s, and ultimately leading to the federal government reducing and capping study permits in 2024. This has become a serious new population of potential entrepreneurs.

Concurrently, Provincial and Territorial Nominee Programs emerged as the provinces, the Northwest Territories and Yukon struck immigration agreements with the Canadian federal government (Paquet, 2019). These programs aimed to address regional labour shortages and have undergone significant growth and transformation, particularly in their role as key facilitators of the transition of post-grad international students to permanent residency (Picot et al., 2024; Schinnerl, 2021). By 2021, international students comprised 44% of all Provincial and Territorial nominees, compared to just 4% in 2000, underscoring the program’s growing role in retaining international students after graduation (et al., 2024).

Given the policy interest in recruiting both entrepreneurs and international students, it is not surprising to see the emergence of business immigration programs for international students hosted within some Provincial Nominee Programs. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta each introduced International Graduate Entrepreneur (IGE) streams between 2015 and 2020 (Graham & Pottie-Sherman, 2024). These streams are intended to appeal to international students graduating from local post-secondary institutions who wish to use their Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) period to start or, in some cases, purchase a business (see table 1). Most of these streams require the owner to demonstrate self-sufficiency, showing that the applicant earns enough from the business to pay themselves a salary exceeding the Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO). Hoping to lure international STEM students graduating from U.S institutions, Alberta also introduced a similar Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream open to post-secondary graduates outside of Canada (Copping, 2020).

Our research investigated the impact of these programs. We determined that there has been minimal uptake of them to date and, in some provinces, none. Between 2016 and 2023, Nova Scotia’s IGE program had the highest number of applicants transitioning to permanent residency – a total of only seven. Meanwhile, New Brunswick saw so little interest in its IGE that, after launching it in 2015, they discontinued it in 2021 because it had no nominees. Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta have also seen very few nominations to date from their IGE programs (Graham & Pottie-Sherman, 2024). Saskatchewan closed its IGE stream in 2025, along with all of its entrepreneur immigration programs (Government of Saskatchewan, 2025).

One of the main challenges with the IGE streams is that the PGWP period (from eight months up to three years) is too short for international student startups to earn the revenue that would make them eligible. International students are still learning the market after graduating. Having to clear the bar of self-sufficiency or pay another salary has proven to be too stringent a requirement for businesses that may still be in a pre-revenue period. Another challenge is that self-employment during the PGWP period does not count as skilled work experience for other federal or provincial skilled immigration programs. If your business fails or takes too long to get off the ground and you have not been gaining eligible skilled work experience, your opportunity for permanent residency closes. The IGE streams thus offer international students an immigration pathway that we have likened to the popular Canadian television show Dragons’ Den, in which entrepreneurs pitch business ideas to investors (“dragons”) (Graham & Pottie-Sherman, 2024).

In response to such low uptake of the IGE streams, provinces have lowered some requirements for applicants. Alberta, for example, removed work experience requirements from its IGE program, reduced the language level required, and expanded the post-graduation eligibility window from two to 10 years for its Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Stream. It remains unclear whether easing these restrictions will address the lack of interest in these programs.

Registered Canadian Immigration Consultants and other mentors of international student entrepreneurs have told us that they advise students not to pursue the IGE programs. The international students they advise want to gain permanent residency in Canada and the IGEs are too risky a pathway to achieve this goal. Until recently, the federal Start-up Visa Program, has offered a more attractive alternative for would-be entrepreneurial students because of its looser requirements (see table 2). This feedback aligns with criticisms from researchers who have condemned the dramatic expansion in international student-focused immigration streams for causing confusion and overlap between provincial and federal programs (Bozheva, 2024; Schinnerl, 2021).

The Start-up Visa Program was a modernized federal business immigration program that shared the same goal of attracting immigrant entrepreneurs to Canada and was also open to international students. To qualify for a Start-up Visa, international student entrepreneurs had to secure a letter of support from a government-designated angel investor, venture capitalist or business incubator (see table 2). Some designated incubators even focused solely on international students (Graham & Pottie-Sherman, 2024). Although it was a highly competitive program, the Start-up Visa offered other advantages: applicants could apply for permanent residency while studying, there was no minimum education level or job creation quota, and candidates did not need to operate a business once they had gained permanent residency (Keung, 2023; Monteiro & Bernard, 2023).

However, the federal government suspended the Start-up Visa Program in December of 2025, citing concerns that the program was “not working as intended,” was producing “non-genuine” applicants, and “lower quality businesses,” and had processing times of up to ten years (Woolf, 2025a). While these challenges raise important questions about the program’s design, its suspension does not alleviate the other barriers embedded in the provincial IGE strreams. It is unlikely that suspending the Start-up Visa alone will reinvigorate interest in provincial IGE programs among international student entrepreneurs.

Emerging Dynamics and New Pressures on the System

Canada has long grappled with the challenge of “brain drain” to the United States International students likely move south for the same reasons that many of the best and brightest Canadians do — drawn by the scale and reputation of the U.S. innovation ecosystem (see Chaudhry et al., 2024). But the U.S. political climate and economic outlook are undergoing dramatic changes (Reif, 2025). The Trump administration has cut research funding, undermined universities and introduced hostile measures targeting international students, including terminating student visas and placing some students in detention (Mowreader, 2025; Tollefson, 2025). Foreign scientists are increasingly hesitant to enter the United States, even for academic conferences. These pressures will likely encourage increased interest in immigration to Canada among international students studying in the United States. During the first Trump administration, the annual flow of U.S. non-citizens, including international students, to Canada quadrupled (Hou & Stick, 2025).

These escalating disruptions present an opportunity for Canada to position itself as a stable and welcoming destination for international students. Notably, it was during the first Trump administration that Alberta introduced the Foreign Graduate Entrepreneur Program, an immigration pathway explicitly designed to lure international STEM students graduating from U.S. institutions. But this program has not worked, possibly because of the COVID-19 pandemic or the stream’s strict requirements (Sawhney, 2023). Immigration policymakers across Canada should note this failure and avoid replicating it.

At the same time, Canada’s immigration system is under strain. Provincial and territorial programs are now operating with reduced immigration levels. These constraints are forcing provinces and territories to make difficult decisions about how they allocate visas, especially amid critical labour shortages in health care, early childhood education and housing construction (Ifthikhar, 2025). In this environment, the prioritization of international student entrepreneurs must be weighed against other urgent workforce needs. Governments may also want to expand eligibility criteria for IGE streams to include international students who open regulated home-based child care services. Provinces and Territories will also need to review their streams to reduce both duplication of federal immigration streams and confusing steps, and provide more targeted information and support for international students looking to avail themselves of them.

As Ottawa designs a new business immigration pilot, it should ensure it supports international students who want to start businesses and aligns with broader talent attraction efforts, including new programs targeting students in priority fields like biotechnology and digital technologies (Government of Canada, 2025a).

Recommendations

Canada’s IGE programs are not achieving their goal of facilitating international graduate entrepreneurship. The limited realization of these programs does not stem from a lack of entrepreneurism; as this policy brief has demonstrated, a plethora of academic research shows otherwise. The issue at hand is that the IGE streams reflect a broader problem with international student policy in the Provincial and Territorial Nominee programs: the serial replication of programs, confusing steps, and more regulations and restrictions compared to federal programs. The IGEs offer a far more perilous pathway to permanent residency than other streams, while also failing to provide realistic benchmarks for success and holistic support systems for graduating international students who wish to pursue entrepreneurship.

With these critiques in mind, this policy brief recommends the following:

1. Expand access to entrepreneurial support programs

Ensure international students are eligible for key youth and startup entrepreneurship programs, including Futurpreneur and Experience Venture, which currently restrict participation to domestic students. These programs offer vital mentorship, funding and experiential learning opportunities that could help international students translate their entrepreneurial intentions into viable businesses.

2. Streamline provincial pathways

Avoid simply duplicating federal immigration streams at the provincial level but with added layers of regulation and bureaucracy. Provincial and Territorial Nominee Programs should complement rather than complicate Canada’s immigration system by offering clear options for international student entrepreneurs.

3. Recognize self-employment in skilled work immigration pathways

Allow self-employment to count as skilled work experience under Express Entry and other permanent residency pathways, provided it involves genuine entrepreneurial activity such as developing a start-up in priority areas. International students’ startups should be recognized for immigration purposes, even in cases where the business does not ultimately succeed. Policies should also broaden the definition of eligible work hours during and after study to reflect the realities of entrepreneurship.

4. Align federal business immigration initiatives with talent attraction priorities

Develop a new business immigration pilot that explicitly supports international students aiming to launch businesses and that aligns with broader talent attraction strategies. This includes targeting graduates in priority sectors and creating a clear pathway for entrepreneurial talent to remain in Canada.

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About this paper

This Policy Brief was published as part of the Canada’s Changing Immigration Landscape series from the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation. The manuscript was copy-edited by Justin Yule, proofread by Zofia Laubitz, editorial co-ordination was by Étienne Tremblay, production was by Chantal Létourneau and art direction was by Anne Tremblay.

Canada’s Changing Immigration Landscape is a partnership between the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation at the IRPP, the Institute for Research on Migration and Society at Concordia University (IRMS) and the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia (CMS). All publications are under the direction of Charles Breton, Executive Director of the Centre of Excellence on the Canadian Federation, Mireille Paquet, Director of IRMS, and Irene Bloemraad, Co-director of CMS.

Nelson Graham is a scholar specializing in international student immigration, global social policy and human geography. He has several years of research and teaching experience in higher education, including a sustained focus on the socio-political dimensions of international education. He is currently a PhD Candidate completing his SSHRC-funded dissertation that investigates the lived experiences of international students in Canada, while working as a Sessional Professor.

Yolande Pottie-Sherman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Memorial University, where her academic and advocacy work focuses on people, policy, and place. She has published extensively on immigration and diversity in Canada and the United States, with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and international research institutes. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of British Columbia.

A French translation of this text is available under the title Libérer les talents : repenser la politique d’immigration et d’entrepreneuriat pour les étudiants internationaux au Canada.

To cite this document:

Graham, N., & Pottie-Sherman, Y. (2026). Unlocking talent: Rethinking immigration and entrepreneurship policy for international students in Canada. Institute for Research on Public Policy.