I don't have that kind of money.
Is it easy to get a VISA as a developer?
Canada's Start-up Visa
111–120 of 249 posts
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
The nearly 500 tech startups in Waterloo was pretty big news a year or two ago, even on HN. Startup success seems to be the problem in Canada. I'm not sure I could name a single one of those companies, even after considerable time has passed since that media exposure. It will be interesting to see if bringing in new cultural perspectives can change that.
How about: Vidyard ( http://www.vidyard.com/ ), Pebble ( http://getpebble.com/ ), BufferBox ( https://www.bufferbox.com/ ), Couple (formerly Pair) ( http://couple.me/ ), or Thalmic Labs ( https://www.thalmic.com/myo/ ) All the above are also YC alumni.
- Pebble is in the Valley, after going through YC.
- Couple is in San Francisco.
- Vidyard is based in KW.
- BufferBox is based in KW, and got acquired by Google.
- Thalmic is in KW.
So two out of five have Canadian founders who left for the Bay Area. Three out of the five stayed, one of which has succesfully exited.
Vidyard's first round of financing came from exclusively American sources. Canadian investors did not join until they were well underway.
Thalmic's first round of funding came from angels that I can't find any info on, their series A came from exclusively American sources.
I'm not sure if these companies really support the notion that Canadian VC firms are ready to create success and nurture extremely early-stage startups.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#113YES! FUCK YES! Go Canada!
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe not a dime a dozen, but developer pay in Canada does seem to be considerably lower. Up to 50-60% lower, according to others in a recent HN discussion.
Compared to SF or NYC, I wouldn't argue. But the rest of the States?
$60K seems to be typical in thriving tech areas of the country, and $40K outside. How does that compare to the general USA?
You might be able to find $100K jobs in Toronto or Vancouver, but those areas have costs of living that is approaching SF and NYC.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#115I don't have that kind of money. Is it easy to get a VISA as a developer?
Skilled immigration is a popular track for immigration to Canada. How easy it is depends on how highly you score based on the government's criteria:
http://www.workpermit.com/canada/points_calculator.htm
The primary contributors to points is education background, linguistic ability (English and/or French), work experience, and age.
It takes a fair amount of time (compared to H-1B or other US work visas), since this is considered actual immigration, not just a work permit (those are available too). If you are accepted you become a full-fledged permanent resident (with all of the social benefits afforded to all Canadians), not a temporary worker with a ticking clock.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, I'd like to be able to bring awesome people from Russia, the Czech Republic, Israel, etc who often don't have college degrees. If Canada would let me do that, I'd move my startup to Canada.
Canadian IT labour market is not so bad so you should profit by fact of moving here and have access to current pool and relatively lower wages then in SV. Is should actually remove both of your pain points cost and qualified labor. Start packing :-)
The issue isn't general supply, but specific engineers. Half our team is Canadian now, but many of the people we'd like to work with but can't are located elsewhere and Canadian immigration law is very unfriendly to immigrants without college degrees.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#117This might seem a bit superficial, but one of the reasons I fear a move to Canada is the weather; not the weather per se, but whether someone like me born in a tropical country would adjust well to the cold? I'm concerned that I would relapse into a depression ushered in by the winter blues (used to be depressed in my 20s, not sure why, it went away after 30, not sure why either), and lose my productivity. As a separ…
Temperatures in Canada are measured in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. So that could be the source of your confusion.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ask yourself this: if you've never heard of startup culture in Canada, what is that indicative of? :) (Saying this sadly, as I'm a Canadian)
The nearly 500 tech startups in Waterloo was pretty big news a year or two ago, even on HN. Startup success seems to be the problem in Canada. I'm not sure I could name a single one of those companies, even after considerable time has passed since that media exposure. It will be interesting to see if bringing in new cultural perspectives can change that.
Shopify, which is headquartered in Ottawa with an extra office in Toronto, is doing really really well.
There's also Freshbooks in Toronto.
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#119There is only one problem with this: it is Canada, not the US. Why would I want to do a start-up in Canada, rather than say the UK or Germany or Chile?
Standard of living/quality of life? Proximity to the US?
Re: Canada's Start-up Visa
#120This might seem a bit superficial, but one of the reasons I fear a move to Canada is the weather; not the weather per se, but whether someone like me born in a tropical country would adjust well to the cold? I'm concerned that I would relapse into a depression ushered in by the winter blues (used to be depressed in my 20s, not sure why, it went away after 30, not sure why either), and lose my productivity. As a separ…
I can't speak for you, obviously, but I was born in Taiwan and moved to Canada as a child. The first winter was pretty brutal, but mostly because my family had to basically learn how to dress for winter weather, entirely from scratch.
But it's a complete non-issue now.
Keep in mind it also depends on where you settle in Canada. My family settled in Vancouver where the weather is fairly mild and rarely below freezing. If you are in, say, Ottawa (which also has a tech presence), you will sometimes see -20C to -30C weather. That's much rougher to deal with.
There are many Indian-Canadians who live in Vancouver as well as the Toronto area (among other places, but those two seem to be where the concentration is), you may be able to reach out to some of them and figure out the climate problem.