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AbroadPilot Category
Business Opportunity
Five real, currently-operating business immigration routes — Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and Portugal — matched against your actual budget and priorities, not a generic “best country” ranking. Every figure below is sourced and dated in the full guide it links to.
What’s actually true right now
Canada: paused, not gone
The federal Start-up Visa stopped taking new applications in January 2026, with one narrow exception for 2025 commitment-certificate holders. Provincial Nominee Program entrepreneur streams remain a real alternative, but require committing to one specific province.
US: the TEA split matters
EB-5 has a $900,000 minimum in a Targeted Employment Area versus $1.8 million outside one. For Indian applicants specifically, the unreserved category carries a multi-year backlog while the reserved rural and high-unemployment categories have stayed current.
UK: no minimum, real cost
The Innovator Founder visa has no fixed investment threshold and reaches settlement in as little as 3 years — the fastest of the five. The real cost is the fee stack (roughly £3,300 and up) plus whatever your own business plan needs to fund.
Australia: the $1.5M route is gone
The old Business Innovation and Investment Program closed to new applicants on 6 December 2024, replaced by the invitation-only National Innovation Visa — no financial investment required, but merit- and sector-based, and you can’t just apply.
Portugal: real estate is out
The Golden Visa’s real-estate route closed. The fund route — €500,000 into a qualifying non-real-estate Portuguese fund, 5-year minimum hold — is what’s actually still open, verified directly against AIMA.
How to use this hub
Answer 3 questions
The Business Route Match tool weighs your budget, your priority, and your nationality against the Canada, US, and UK routes and tells you which one actually fits. For Australia or Portugal, read the guide directly — both are covered below.
Read the full guide
Each matched route links to a full guide covering real numbers, timelines, and the specific catch that generic advice leaves out.
Confirm on the source
Investment thresholds, program status, and backlogs all change. Confirm on the official government page before you commit capital to any of these routes.
The five routes, compared
Canada Start-up Visa (paused)
Why the federal program stopped taking applications in January 2026, the one 2025 exception, and the provincial alternative that is still open.
Read the full guide →US EB-5 (real numbers)
The TEA vs non-TEA split, the current Visa Bulletin backlog, and why India’s route depends entirely on which category you file under.
Read the full guide →UK Innovator Founder (real cost)
No fixed investment minimum sounds free. It isn’t — here is the actual fee stack and the 3-year timeline to settlement.
Read the full guide →Australia National Innovation Visa (new)
The $1.5M–$5M investor program is gone. Here’s how the new invitation-only, no-investment replacement actually works, and who realistically gets in.
Read the full guide →Portugal Golden Visa (fund route)
Real estate no longer qualifies. Here’s the €500,000 fund route that’s actually still open, verified directly against AIMA.
Read the full guide →Not sure which one fits?
The Business Route Match tool currently weighs the three original routes in detail, including the India-specific EB-5 warning and the current Canada pause. Read the Australia and Portugal guides above directly for those two — not a generic ranking either way.
Try the tool →Mistakes that actually cost people here
Frequently asked questions
Is Canada’s Start-up Visa really closed?
The federal program is paused to new applications as of January 2026, with one exception for holders of a 2025 commitment certificate. Provincial Nominee Program entrepreneur streams remain a real, currently-open alternative, but require committing to settle and operate in one specific province.
What’s the real EB-5 minimum for Indian applicants?
The threshold itself doesn’t change by nationality — $900,000 in a Targeted Employment Area or $1.8 million outside one. What changes for India is the queue: the unreserved category carries a severe, multi-year backlog, while the reserved rural and high-unemployment categories have stayed current.
Does the UK Innovator Founder visa really have no investment minimum?
Correct, there is no fixed capital threshold set in the rules. That does not mean it is free: application and Immigration Health Surcharge fees run to roughly £3,300 and up, on top of whatever your specific business plan genuinely needs to fund.
Which route is fastest to permanent residence?
Among Canada, the US, and the UK, the UK Innovator Founder route reaches Indefinite Leave to Remain fastest, in as little as 3 years, with no fixed capital minimum. Canada and Australia both grant permanent residence directly rather than a conditional status first, though Australia’s is invitation-only with no guaranteed timeline. Speed alone isn’t the right way to pick — the Business Route Match tool weighs this against your budget and priorities for the three routes it covers.
Is this legal or financial advice?
No. This is a starting point built from verified, dated public sources. Consult a qualified immigration attorney before committing capital to any of these routes — figures and program status both change.
Can I still invest my way into Australia?
Not through the old route. The $1.5M–$5M Business Innovation and Investment Program closed to new applicants on 6 December 2024, replaced by the National Innovation Visa — invitation-only, merit-based, and requiring no financial investment at all.
Can I still get Portugal’s Golden Visa through real estate?
No, the real estate route is closed to new applicants. The practical default now is the €500,000 qualifying investment fund route, verified directly against AIMA, Portugal’s immigration authority.
Why only these five countries?
Canada, the US, the UK, Australia, and Portugal are the business and investor immigration routes verified here to the same standard as the rest of AbroadPilot’s tools — checked directly against a primary government source and dated. Where a route hasn’t been verified to that standard yet, it isn’t included rather than filled in with a guess.
Official sources
Every figure on this hub is checked against these official pages. Confirm the current numbers there before you act — not from this page or any third-party summary.
Next step
Not building a business? See real job-market guides by country and background instead, or head to the full tools index for the rest of AbroadPilot’s sourced planning tools.
