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Canada's Start-up Visa

cic.gc.ca

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Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#141

Post by geoka9 »

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…

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

I find cost of living in Vancouver (North Shore) quite high when compared, for example, with Portland, OR. Granted, this is one of the more expensive regions in Canada vs a city in a state with no sales tax, but still most of the goods and food in Canada are significantly more expensive than in the US.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#142

Post by uniclaude »

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…

> Elsewhere in this thread someone asks why not go to the US

Well, to add to what you said, US does not have a startup visa yet.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#143

Post by jacquesm »

geoka9 wrote: post #141
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…

> Cost of living is slightly lower than in the US for most parts of Canada. I find cost of living in Vancouver (North Shore) quite high when compared, for example, with Portland, OR. Granted, this is one of the more expensive regions in Canada vs a city in a state with no sales tax, but still most of the goods and food in Canada are significantly more expensive than in the US.

Interesting, ok, you can xordon both mention Vancouver to be much more expensive these days, please note that any information about Canada that I have is likely to be 6 years out of date (that's when I last spent time there) and wrt Vancouver closer to 8 years.

I know several people that moved there from Toronto recently and neither of them mentioned expensive housing but I'll take your word for it.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#144

Post by gabemart »

potatolicious wrote: post #137
gabemart wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm actually no longer sure that I am right, unless you have another source. The website states [1]:

    > You must have at least one year of full time experience in the last ten years in a management or
    > professional or highly skilled occupation. These are listed as Skill Type O, Skill Type A or Skill
    > Type B on the National Occupation Classification List. You will find further details in our 
    > skilled worker guide.
At first reading, it would seem that only "shortage occupations" [2] meet this criterion. However, the precise language would suggest that any occuption with an NOC skill type of 0, A or B qualifies. That would suggest any job with a NOC code beginning with 0 or with the second digit 1 or 2 would qualify [3].

Please let me know if I'm wrong about this.

[1] http://www.workpermit.com/canada/points_calculator.htm

[2] http://www.workpermit.com/canada/employee_list.htm

[3] http://www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2011/FAQ.aspx

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#145

Post by barryfandango »

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…

Whether rural life in Canada is brutal depends on where you're from. And your definition of brutal. Between 20 minutes north of Toronto and the start of the Arctic Circle there is a fair bit of variation. If you grew up in the desert and have never lived anywhere cold, you might find it brutal. If you come from somewhere that has snowy winters and you don't mind bundling up you might find that you love Canadian winters (I do!) They're absolutely essential if you want to enjoy such lovely outdoor activities as tobogganing, skiing (downhill and x-counrty), snowboarding, ice skating, hockey, snowshoeing, beerbogganing, and camping in a Quinzhee.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#146

Post by bparsons »

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…

Can't say enough about Vancouver.

The skytrain will take you from the YVR arrivals terminal right downtown. Cost is 6 bucks, and you will be at your apartment or hotel in 20-30 minutes.

The city is most the most walkable in the world, with almost no need for a car (unless you really like to go on weekend road trips). Crime is extremely low right now, and the city economy is very solid.

With TED moving to the city next year (and a bunch of other things falling into place), it is a great time to move to Vancouver to find a job or start a business.

Also, the thing about french is not true in the west. No one speaks a lick of french anywhere west of Ontario, and it will never be a job requirement, unless you are applying to work with the federal government.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#147

Post by ritchiea »

jacquesm wrote: post #139
ritchiea wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Well who are they trying to attract with this visa? If you are the kind of person that has 50K in savings, is this startup visa really going to help you? If you have 50K in savings you are already wealthy on a global scale even though you are not really a person of high net worth (after all to have 50K in savings you have to have earned a healthy income in some line of work that allows you to save or have a wealthy family).

My impression of this kind of visa is it is should be attempting to attract young people with high potential but without necessarily having other great routes to the life they desire in North America. If you think they are targeting a different audience, say older foreigners with established businesses/careers who just want to move to Canada then 50K is reasonable.

Also there's definite risk on one side here, otherwise it's an opportunity for no one. If you have $50K of your own, why start a company in Canada rather than SV? I think to make this a worthwhile visa, Canada has to take on the risk that they are going to let someone into their first world country with a good social safety net because that person has untapped potential. Canada takes the risk if the savings threshold is low, but if the savings threshold is high they are not creating much of an incentive to move to Canada rather than an established startup hub and its the entrepreneur taking the risk.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#148

Post by rdouble »

jacquesm wrote: post #143
geoka9 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cost of living is slightly lower than in the US for most parts of Canada. I find cost of living in Vancouver (North Shore) quite high when compared, for example, with Portland, OR. Granted, this is one of the more expensive regions in Canada vs a city in a state with no sales tax, but still most of the goods and food in Canada are significantly more expensive than in the US.

Interesting, ok, you can xordon both mention Vancouver to be much more expensive these days, please note that any information about Canada that I have is likely to be 6 years out of date (that's when I last spent time there) and wrt Vancouver closer to 8 years. I know several people that moved there from Toronto recently and neither of them mentioned expensive housing but I'll take your word for it.

Vancouver was ranked least affordable housing market in the world by the Economist two years back.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#149

Post by joshaidan »

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…

> - 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).

I don't believe there's a French language requirement. It's either English or French, one or the other. From the website:

"You must meet the minimum level of CLB 5 in either English or French for all four language abilities."

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/eli...

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#150

Post by redsparrow »

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…

As a developer working in Ottawa, I'd like to say that working for the government and working for a start-up are very different experiences. I don't think that the government takes so many developers away from the high-tech community here that an aspiring entrepreneur should consider them competition for employees. They're different kinds of jobs for different kinds of people.

I think there is a large concentration of talented people here who are far more interested in working in high-tech than working for the government.

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