Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Canada's Start-up Visa

cic.gc.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 249 posts

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#131

Post by gabemart »

potatolicious wrote: post #115
devb0x wrote: post #111

I 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 i…

Unless I'm reading the form incorrectly, it looks as if an eligibility requirement is 1 year of work experience in a very limited range of fields, given here:

http://www.workpermit.com/canada/employee_list.htm

Am I correct in thinking that if you don't have experience in one of these fields, you're not eligible to even apply?

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#132

Post by otoburb »

zaatar wrote: post #110
turar wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Timeline for citizenship is 5-6 years: 3 years of residency, after which you can apply for citizenship, which currently takes additional 2-3 years to get. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/cit-pr...

One key thing to note is that Canadian Citizenship Law does not require the applicant to be present physically on Canadian soil while the application is being processed, nor does it require "proof of intent to live in Canada" for award of Citizenship. What this means is that in theory, someone could land as a PR one Day 1, file the application exactly 3 years and 1 day later, and then leave Canada and go sit in a hut…

This is somewhat correct and quite possible. Keep in mind the reason that this is possible is because to maintain Canadian PR status the residency obligation is 2 physical years in Canada out of a 5 year period[1]. So if you are outside of Canada for 3 years, you'd have to come back for the final 2.

There is ambiguity about whether it's a rolling 5 years or whether it's 5 year cycles based on the date you first receive your PR status. To be safe, it's usually best to assume modulo 5 from the start of your PR status.

In the example above, if you filed the citizenship application 3 years and 1 day later, the maximum you can stay in your Guatemalan hut is just shy of 2 years, or else you risk losing PR status and jeopardizing your Canadian citizenship application.

[1] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp#keep_sta...

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#133

Post by jacquesm »

Some bits and pieces of info for those considering this:

- remember to sign up for OHIP (or the local equivalent) as soon as you arrive, there is a time limit on how long you can wait before signing up after arriving in Canada. If you don't do this in time you will not be covered.

- Canada has some pretty severe weather in the winter, everywhere except for the area around Niagara falls and Vancouver. The latter is the better spot all year round. Big cities are your only chance to mitigate the worst of this, rural life is brutal.

- Don't make any irreversible moves (giving away stuff, actually moving) until all the paper work is done. I made the mistake of believing a bunch of government officials during my own move to Canada on an entrepreneurship visa and it cost me dearly.

- Elsewhere in this thread someone asks why not go to the US, well, (1) free (and good) healthcare, (2) a bit more laid back business climate. That said, the laid back atmosphere and the different venture capital climate make it a lot harder to get off the ground in Canada. Cost of living is slightly lower than in the US for most parts of Canada.

- Outside of Waterloo, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and maybe Quebec City it's going to be hard to find qualified employees. In Ottawa you'll be bidding against the government.

- No matter where you want to go in Canada you'll have to score reasonably well on the French language test. Even if that's the only time in Canada you'll ever use your French. (imho this is a ridiculous requirement, and that's with 5 years of French under my belt and a ton of exposure, you simply don't need it unless you plan on living in Quebec).

- Paperwork processing in Canada can be terribly slow, it is basically the luck of the draw whether your paperwork will be processed in weeks, months, years or even decades! (no kidding...).

I could go on like this for a while, if you have any specific questions about moving to Canada (but not about this program) feel free to ask.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#134

Post by agilebyte »

goatforce5 wrote: post #109
agilebyte wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they were French? (Primarily)

They'd have been doing the French test, presumably. You only have to do one or the other. No point making it hard on yourself, right?

Thanks for clarification. Thought you do both so that you can get more total points.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#135

Post by danudey »

zaatar wrote: post #110
turar wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Timeline for citizenship is 5-6 years: 3 years of residency, after which you can apply for citizenship, which currently takes additional 2-3 years to get. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/cit-pr...

One key thing to note is that Canadian Citizenship Law does not require the applicant to be present physically on Canadian soil while the application is being processed, nor does it require "proof of intent to live in Canada" for award of Citizenship. What this means is that in theory, someone could land as a PR one Day 1, file the application exactly 3 years and 1 day later, and then leave Canada and go sit in a hut…

I'm not sure what benefit this gets them though, other than being able to travel on a Canadian passport and receive help from Canadian embassies when abroad. It's not as though one gets access to Canadian social programs when overseas.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#136

Post by ritchiea »

mjn wrote: post #16

Summary of the conditions: - Secure $75k in angel funding or $200k in venture funding, from a list of designated Canadian funders. - Score relatively highly on a language test in either English or French, for both verbal and written ability (note that everyone must take this test, even those coming from English- or French-speaking countries). - Have satisfactorily completed at least one year of higher education (no d…

Isn't having 11k around a slightly high bar? Do most under 25 founders have that kind of cash lying around? And if you are the kind of foreigner that has that kind of North American cash in your account you probably come from a family who isn't hard up for Canadian citizenship or have already experienced some business success.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#137

Post by potatolicious »

gabemart wrote: post #131
potatolicious wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 i…

Unless I'm reading the form incorrectly, it looks as if an eligibility requirement is 1 year of work experience in a very limited range of fields, given here: http://www.workpermit.com/canada/employee_list.htm Am I correct in thinking that if you don't have experience in one of these fields, you're not eligible to even apply?

That is correct. The skilled immigration program is not a catch-all for smart people, it's specifically designed to grow the economy in a planned direction, as well as to fulfill shortages that are anticipated to/already exist.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#138

Post by potatolicious »

guyzero wrote: post #128
vijucat wrote: post #100

This 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…

There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.

Ah, wait until the dead of winter when you're trying to take the bus to work in -40C weather. Walking across a large parking lot, with snow billowing along the ground like a National Geographic special on the Arctic Circle, your face in excruciating pain because of high-speed snow/ice blowing into it.

The fact that your arms and legs are toasty warm seems like a distant comfort at that point...

Plenty of weather conditions in Canada where, no matter how well you dress, you're just not going to be comfortable...

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#139

Post by jacquesm »

ritchiea wrote: post #136
mjn wrote: post #16

Summary of the conditions: - Secure $75k in angel funding or $200k in venture funding, from a list of designated Canadian funders. - Score relatively highly on a language test in either English or French, for both verbal and written ability (note that everyone must take this test, even those coming from English- or French-speaking countries). - Have satisfactorily completed at least one year of higher education (no d…

Isn't having 11k around a slightly high bar? Do most under 25 founders have that kind of cash lying around? And if you are the kind of foreigner that has that kind of North American cash in your account you probably come from a family who isn't hard up for Canadian citizenship or have already experienced some business success.

$11K is irresponsibly low if that's your savings when you move from one country to another, even if your start-up is somewhat funded. After all, your chances of success are just as low as every other funded start-up and you're going to have nothing but your savings and your skills to fall back on in an unknown market if your start-up should fail.

Personally I think that $50K in savings is more in line with realistic expectations of moving country, setting up shop and getting a company under way, funding is icing on the cake, it's not as if that's your money.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#140

Post by xordon »

jacquesm wrote: post #133

Some bits and pieces of info for those considering this: - remember to sign up for OHIP (or the local equivalent) as soon as you arrive, there is a time limit on how long you can wait before signing up after arriving in Canada. If you don't do this in time you will not be covered. - Canada has some pretty severe weather in the winter, everywhere except for the area around Niagara falls and Vancouver. The latter is th…

> Canada has some pretty severe weather in the winter, everywhere except for the area around Niagara falls and Vancouver.

Niagara falls is still brutally cold and snowy in the winter. The only place you won't freeze your ass off is the west coast of BC. aka Victoria/Vancouver.

> Cost of living is slightly lower than in the US for most parts of Canada.

Unless you are in Vancouver, where it is quite expensive to live. Housing, food, fuel... There are very few places in the US that are as expensive to live as Vancouver.

Housing prices are a joke, literally: http://www.crackshackormansion.com/

> the laid back atmosphere and the different venture capital climate make it a lot harder to get off the ground in Canada

It is harder to get VC funding in Canada than it is south of the border. From what I've seen startup's in the US/Silicon Valley that may get 20million, you can expect ~1million in Canada, and most won't even look at you unless you already have paying customers. I don't really know all the factors that cause this but investors are much more conservative here.

Post reply on HN