

Canadian Government Makes Call to Foreign Startups for New Startup Visa - joeyczikk1
http://www.techvibes.com/blog/foreign-startup-visa-program-2013-04-01

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potatolicious
This is a good move, though I'm not sure _how much_ good it will actually do.

Canada's software engineering industry has a _massive_ brain drain problem,
bigger than the mainstream media knows, and bigger than even many tech
insiders know. Of the people I graduated university with the people who are
still in Canada are the _minority_ , a notion that still boggles the mind.

The bulk are in the US, and almost everyone I know who works on "startupy"
things are in the US. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of people I
know, still in Canada, working on startupy tech. The vast majority of my peers
who remain in Canada are working in BigEnterprise, not exactly a talent pool
well fit to encourage startups.

Without making meaningful strides at reversing the brain drain, I feel like
any policy changes are just bandaids over a gaping wound. Can there _be_ a
startup revolution when the bulk of your engineering talent is busy diving
across the border?

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psycr
I am someone who has stayed behind, and works at a startup. As a full-stack
web (Rails+JS) developer I certainly haven't seen any shortage of demand.
Although I would say that about 25% of the recruiting messages I receive are
from US companies - often acknowledging me being Canadian and in some cases
even playing off of it with message subjects like "Hate the winter? Come
south" or what have you.

There are some distinct advantages to staying up here though. First, at least
in Toronto, the cost of living is substantially less than that in San
Francisco. To maintain my standard of living, I estimate that I would need to
earn 35 - 40% more in Cali, which would be at the upper end of most salaries
I've seen. Second, "standing out" career-wise is much easier when there aren't
100,000 people with a duplicate skill set.

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JVIDEL
Does that cost of living includes healthcare?

~~~
psycr
Yes - the tax rate difference would essentially cover the cost of the premiums
if I had to pay them myself. I suspect though that any company I were to join
in SF would be covering that for me.

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marcamillion
>In order to apply for the program an entrepreneur or startup must first have
secured a minimum investment of $200,000 if the investment comes froma
designated Canadian venture capital fund or $75,000 if the investment comes
from a designated Canadian angel investor group. Applicants will also need to
meet general program requirements, such as language proficiency and academic
experience.

This is just silly. Especially the "academic experience". A good chunk of the
people that do startups of this nature, probably won't have "academic
experience" - so that's a self-selecting, self-defeating bias right there.

~~~
lucisferre
If it's anything like other visa problems the academic experience is probably
a little flexible. I was involved in getting a visa for someone from Microsoft
who didn't have official "academic experience" however his position and
history with MS was considering sufficient to justify it.

That said, I completely agree it's a stupid requirement to place on this.

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casca
TL;DR: If you can get funding from a Canadian VC or Angel fund, it'll be
easier to get a Canadian visa. No links to the Government site to confirm
details but this seems to be the official details:
[http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/...](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2013/2013-01-24.asp)

"In order to apply for the program an entrepreneur or startup must first have
secured a minimum investment of $200,000 if the investment comes from a
designated Canadian venture capital fund or $75,000 if the investment comes
from a designated Canadian angel investor group. Applicants will also need to
meet general program requirements, such as language proficiency and academic
experience."

~~~
redthrowaway
The problem we face is that Bay Street is startup-adverse, and there's not
really a VC ecosystem outside of that. We've got a few YC clones, and then we
have a few VCs doing series B type investments, but not a whole lot that
bridges the gap.

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dobbsbob
Canada lifted this idea from the US. Americans have had this scheme sitting
idle for about 3 years now because congress is totally useless and has been
blocking everything.

The academic requirement is only 1yr post secondary but doesn't say if you
need 1yr in a recognized "western" school or if your university of Bangladesh
degree will be accepted.

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chollida1
> Canada lifted this idea from the US.

Umm, I'm not sure why you decided that this was an American idea that Canada
"lifted". Isn't it just a little possible that the Canadian government had
this idea first?

To paraphrase fake Mark Zuckerberg. "If you had invented Facebook. You
would've invented Facebook."

~~~
dobbsbob
Because the Canadian government actually said they lifted the idea from the
Americans who's similar program has been stalled in congress for years due to
infighting about immigration.

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chollida1
Hmm apologies if they actually said they "lifted"the idea from the US.

I think you'll understand if i ask that you back up your claim with a valid
source:). Any links?

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acangiano
It's worth noting that here in Canada investments of over $200K in tech
startups are far from common.

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fraserharris
That is dependent on location. Seed investments of $200k+ are not uncommon in
Waterloo, Toronto, Vancouver. Montreal & Calgary are also active. Its all
about who you know.

~~~
JVIDEL
_Its all about who you know_

Yeah that last part sounded a little bad, like nepotism-bad.

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rdmcfee
Canada has long had great incentives for firms seeking to employ engineering
talent (as long as your firm is already in Canada). It's about time we reduced
boundaries for founders to come here and take advantage of the inexpensive
engineering talent.

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xoail
Anything I read on April 1st, I am having to think twice if this is for real.

~~~
robbrit
Beat me to it. Have never really thought of the Canadian government caring
about entrepreneurs, other than token support to get votes.

~~~
chollida1
> Beat me to it. Have never really thought of the Canadian government caring
> about entrepreneurs, other than token support to get votes.

Really? SHRED was all about helping new tech companies get started in Canada.

~~~
redthrowaway
Not to mention the R&D tax credit, which is transferable and instantly adds
value to even failed startups. Being able to buy a startup for micenuts simply
so you can write off 30% of their salaries (while still getting their
employees) is pretty attractive for a lot of established companies.

~~~
biot
SRED is the R&D tax credit: <http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/txcrdt/sred-rsde/>

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cloudwizard
If nobody goes to Canada, it does not cost them anything.

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dear
Could it a sign that a startup bubble is forming?

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jewbacca
On its own? No more than the sun coming up in the morning.

Which isn't saying "it's as certain as the sun coming up that there's a
startup bubble.". I'm mean that, as far as startup-favorable actions go, this
seems way too benign to signal much of anything. It could be driven by
clueless end-harbinging followers try to cash in, but, on this article alone,
it could just as likely be a small progressive victory, with the Canadian
federal government doing something for a relatively voiceless potential
constituency.

The Canadian government rarely leads anymore on "progressive" matters, so
perhaps if you could trace the influence that got this policy through it would
point to something that could better answer that question. I am not personally
familiar with the opposing parties involved.

