What happens when a country shuts down every business immigration pathway precisely at the moment it needs entrepreneurs the most?
Canada is staring down a $2 trillion crisis. With 75% of Canada’s 1.2 million small business owners reportedly planning to exit within the next decade, Canada is facing a succession crisis. Whilst the solution seems obvious to attract new entrepreneurial talent to the country, Canada has instead systematically dismantled almost every route for them to enter.
In this episode of Global Investment Voice, immigration expert Sam Bayat joins our host Mona Shah to explore the shocking closure, suspension, and redrafting of major federal business immigration programmes in Canada, at precisely the moment Canada needs entrepreneurs the most.
The Federal Investor Programme? Terminated in 2014 after 70,000 fraudulent applications overwhelmed the system. Quebec’s investor option? Reduced to single-digit applications after introducing mandatory B2 French proficiency. The innovative Start-Up Visa that once promised so much? Shut down in late 2025 under the weight of 42,000 applications and 35-year processing times.
Sam discusses the systemic failures which ended these programmes, such as paper startups and widespread abuse of the system with virtually non-existent enforcement. Perhaps most damning is the maths. Canada needs 100,000 entrepreneurs in the next 20 years, but their current intake now is merely 500.
Find out which pathways still exist for serious investors in 2026, what created the growing gap between political rhetoric and economic reality and whether the perfect storm of retiring Canadian business owners alongside closed immigration routes is disastrous or an unexpected opportunity.
It’s fair to say easy immigration to Canada is over. But has a more strategic game just begun?
“If the government asked me, is business immigration to Canada dead? My answer would be, is politics struggling at the worst possible moment, economically?. This is the time to expand business immigration, not to contract.”
— Sam Bayat
Sam Bayat
In 1993, Mr. Sam Bayat established a boutique law practice in Dubai to promote Canada as a preferred destination for investment and migration. The firm, initially known as “Canadian Legal Services,” marked the first Canadian law firm in the GCC. In 2007, the firm name was changed to Bayat Legal Services. Today, Bayat Group boasts a global presence. The primary areas of expertise encompass corporate migration, economic citizenship, investments, and tax planning. Mr. Bayat has also served as the former president of the Canadian Bar Association’s International Section in Quebec.
In addition, check out our previous podcasts with Sam Bayat here!
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