Singh v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 1107 : Start-Up Work Permit Refusal Upheld Where Letter of Support Had Expired Before the Application Was Received

The Applicant sought judicial review of an IRCC Officer’s refusal of his labour market impact assessment-exempt work permit application under the Start-Up Business Class Program. The principal issue was whether the Officer reasonably refused the application because the Applicant’s Letter of Support had expired before IRCC received the work permit application. The Federal Court dismissed the application, finding that a valid Letter of Support was a mandatory eligibility requirement and that the Applicant’s continued support from the designated entity did not cure the expired document.

Key Principle

Under the Start-Up Business Class work permit requirements, a Letter of Support issued by a designated entity must be valid when IRCC receives the work permit application. Continued support from the designated entity, or the fact that a Letter of Support was valid when an earlier application was submitted, does not satisfy this requirement. The applicant bears the onus of providing the required documentation in the form prescribed by the Program.

Background

The Applicant received a Letter of Support from Biomedical Commercialization Canada Inc., operating as Manitoba Technology Accelerator (MTA), dated September 1, 2023. The Letter of Support expired on March 1, 2024. The Applicant initially submitted a work permit application on January 30, 2024, while the Letter of Support was still valid, but that application was refused on August 16, 2024. Rather than seeking judicial review of that refusal, the Applicant submitted a new work permit application on September 26, 2024.

The second application included the expired Letter of Support and a supplemental letter from MTA dated September 25, 2024, confirming its continued support of the Applicant and his company. The Officer nevertheless refused the application, including on the basis that the Letter of Support had expired before the second application was received.

Court Findings

• Validity at time of application: The Court found no dispute that the Letter of Support was expired when the second work permit application was submitted. The applicable Guidelines expressly required the Letter of Support to be valid when the work permit application was received. The Officer therefore reasonably concluded that the Applicant did not meet the eligibility requirement.

• Earlier application did not preserve validity: The Applicant argued that the Letter of Support had been valid when he filed his first application. The Court rejected this argument. The Officer was required to assess the current application against the applicable requirements and was not required to consider the circumstances of the earlier unsuccessful application when determining whether the current application satisfied the Program requirements.

• Continued support was insufficient: The Court accepted that MTA continued to support the Applicant when the second application was filed. However, the supplemental letter was not a Letter of Support in the form required by IRCC. Continued support could not replace the mandatory document required by the Program. The Applicant bore the responsibility of submitting the required documentation in the prescribed form.

• Sufficient independent ground: Because the expired Letter of Support independently justified refusal, the Court found it unnecessary to consider the Applicant’s arguments concerning the Officer’s other grounds of refusal.

Outcome

The Federal Court dismissed the application for judicial review and upheld the work permit refusal. No question was certified.

Case Citation:
Singh v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 1107 (CanLII)