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Canada's Start-up Visa

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Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#171

Post by pasbesoin »

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…

I'll look for myself, but in order to float both the question and possible responses out of the full details, are there age boundaries?

--

P.S. In an initial, brief search, I did not find any mention of specific age qualifications attached to this program (beyond, I suspect, being at least 18 years old).

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#172

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#173

Post by MisterWebz »

anovikov wrote: post #164
Achshar wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually want to set up a startup. But undecided on location, my current location will not do. I really want to go to valley, ideally get into YC itself, but the barrier to entry is high. How would you say is the startup culture over there in canada? How does it stack up against places like valley, london or NYC? Other and more accessible option for me is Banglore, no visa required (I am from India).

My guess is that trying Amsterdam, or Berlin is a safer bet. Apart from mature startup culture, for you as an Indian, these places also have an advantage of being relatively close, timezone-wise, to both U.S. (at least East Coast) which will be most probably your main market, and India where you will probably hire people.

How's the startup culture in Amsterdam and Berlin?

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#174

Post by turar »

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…

Theoretically yes, but in practice, the current Harper administration is going hard against those PRs who leave Canada after applying for citizenship, using any possible way to deny them, even questioning and trying to reverse decisions made by Citizenship Judges.

Good discussion here: https://secure.immigration.ca/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8848... (see a post by dpenabill toward the end of the page), and the entire thread is good as well.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#175

Post by ced »

toyg wrote: post #165
petercooper wrote: post #13

proof of having completed at least one year of post-secondary education Seems oddly arbitrary. Most visas with educational requirements go for the complete degree, not just one year of education. All the tales of "drop outs" who make it big force their hand? :-)

That's the most discouraging requirement for me. I've completed the first 18 months of two undergraduate programmes (without actually graduating), and half a year of an MSc, before finally admitting that I simply didn't care enough about academia. I have no idea how'd I ever manage to demonstrate what I've done. I might have a sort of exam booklet somewhere back at my parents', god knows where. I cannot be the only d…

You can usually ask your uni to produce the relevant paperwork.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#176

Post by mpg33 »

frankcaron wrote: post #53

While this is great in theory, it's likely not going to lead to anything other than one marquee Toronto Star story about the foreign entrepreneur who found success in Canada. Canadian VCs are far too risk averse and conservative; that's why the uptick of start-ups in all areas of the country, even Toronto's own would-be "Valley" of Liberty Village and the Junction, hasn't fielded much in the ways of success. Until To…

This is what I have come realize....you can't legislate culture.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#177

Post by potatolicious »

WildUtah wrote: post #167
potatolicious wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cond…

Don't forget the ice that forms on the inside surface of your glasses below about -10º. And the way you can be sweating on one part of your body even as another part is being frost-bitten. Then when you adjust your coats and scarfs the sweating part will cool down and the sweat will start to freeze leading to frostbite there, too.

Ugh. "Ice sweats" I call it. It's pretty bad when you've got a scarf wrapped around your face, and your breath condenses into ice that makes the scarf hard with ice.

Then when you go indoors all the ice melts and your scarf turns into a goopy mess.

Oh Ontario winters, how I do not miss thee.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#178

Post by jrn »

usmanbashir wrote: post #153
scott_karana wrote: post #86

Earlier 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)

It's not that Canada lacks a startup culture, it's just a smaller playground then SF or NYC. But besides all this, there are popular and noteworthy startups based in Canada, like HootSuite, Shopify, 500px, UrtheCast and Freshbooks.

Jobber, is doing fairly well out of edmonton.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#179

Post by mjn »

ced wrote: post #175
toyg wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the most discouraging requirement for me. I've completed the first 18 months of two undergraduate programmes (without actually graduating), and half a year of an MSc, before finally admitting that I simply didn't care enough about academia. I have no idea how'd I ever manage to demonstrate what I've done. I might have a sort of exam booklet somewhere back at my parents', god knows where. I cannot be the only d…

You can usually ask your uni to produce the relevant paperwork.

Yes, the instructions specifically say that a transcript is sufficient documentation. Most universities have an easy way to request one (often online), and they usually keep the paperwork even if you didn't graduate, at least if you attended in the post-digitized-records age. Searching for [site:uni.edu transcript request] should turn up the instructions.

Re: Canada's Start-up Visa

#180

Post by refurb »

toyg wrote: post #165
petercooper wrote: post #13

proof of having completed at least one year of post-secondary education Seems oddly arbitrary. Most visas with educational requirements go for the complete degree, not just one year of education. All the tales of "drop outs" who make it big force their hand? :-)

That's the most discouraging requirement for me. I've completed the first 18 months of two undergraduate programmes (without actually graduating), and half a year of an MSc, before finally admitting that I simply didn't care enough about academia. I have no idea how'd I ever manage to demonstrate what I've done. I might have a sort of exam booklet somewhere back at my parents', god knows where. I cannot be the only d…

I don't get it. You've done 18 months of two undergraduate programs, that's more than a year.

My guess that it's a proxy for high school academic performance? If you can get into a university, you must possess a certain level of intelligence.

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