5 ms·

Canada targeting San Francisco Bay's Intelligent Immigrants?

45 points by kirillzubovsky 13y ago

olalonde 13y ago
> Low taxes They're in for a bad surprise if they move to Quebec.
- manojlds 13y ago
  British Columbia and Alberta have lower taxes.
  - jbarham 13y ago
    25% and 26% total tax rates respectively on $100k salary according to http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax versus 32% in Quebec. Maybe Quebec's mild climate explains the difference? ;)
    - olalonde 13y ago
      And there's also the federal tax... which means you are paying about 50+% taxes.
fpp 13y ago
They are also very active here in London - and are doing a pretty good job. If Canada will finally stop sheeply following the US and Europe with introducing more and more Internet surveillance legislation and blockers, but is taking a stand to foster the industry by creating an infrastructural and legal framework (e.g. as Iceland tried a few years ago but they are in the middle of an Ocean) there will be caravans moving North to Vancouver / Montreal / Quebec City / Toronto and West from Europe.
DanielRibeiro 13y ago
This is pretty interesting[1]: What happens if my business fails? Failure of your business will not affect your permanent resident status. We recognize that not every business will succeed and this program is designed so that the risk is shared between the public and private sector. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=657&t=6 http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=657&#38...
mansigandhi 13y ago
It's an amazing ad...connects emotionally with immigrant entrepreneurs. I moved from the Bay Area back to India due to startup visa issues. Now, my startup is seriously looking at Canada as a viable option, after India.
jbarham 13y ago
Speaking as a Canadian who has worked on a H1B visa in California, the "Low Taxes" claim on this billboard is laughably deceptive. See e.g. http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax for an income tax calculator for Canada. Note too that unlike in the US, married couples in Canada cannot file joint income tax returns which is a big benefit for H1B workers given that your spouse cannot work (unless they have their own work visa). Sure, corporate income taxes might be lower in Canada, but that's no incentive to move to Canada as an individual. The fact is that there are many more high tech jobs in the US than Canada, salaries are much higher and taxes are lower which translates to a substantially higher take-home income. The catch of course is that you have to be willing to work as an indentured employee on the H1B. FWIW I'm now living in Melbourne, Australia. Comparable tax rates to Canada but with better weather and better health care.
- rogerbinns 13y ago
  To do a fair calculation you need to measure what your take home pay is after accounting for taxes, health provision, license fees (eg vehicles), equal living circumstances (cost of housing), utilities, cell phone plan, reasonable retirement provision, if applicable child care and education provisions etc. If you intend to stay a while then purchasing power parity should also be taken into account including sales taxes/VAT.
  - jbarham 13y ago
    > taxes Higher in Canada, both income and sales > health provision N/a for me since health insurance was a given for every job I had in California > license fees (eg vehicles) Cars are much cheaper to buy and operate in California than Canada > cost of housing FWIW the Canadian housing market is currently in a massive bubble, comparable IMO to where the US was in 2007 (i.e., peaked and on the verge of bursting) > utilities Negligible on a software engineer's salary > cell phone plan More expensive in Canada > reasonable retirement provision Social Security or Canada Pension Plan: Good luck! > child care and education provisions Given that my wife couldn't work in the US it was n/a for me, but we could comfortably afford for her to stay at home when our first son was born.
presty 13y ago
OT: enjoy their awesome CIC web1.0 system had to use it to fill in a tourist visa and it was so painful..
rogerbinns 13y ago
I was under the impression that Internet access in Canada (both home and mobile) was terrible - expensive, restricted, no competition, long contracts etc. To win me over, the billboard just needs to add "... and we use the metric system".
- mig39 13y ago
  Depends where you are. I get 100meg for $70/month from Shaw.
  - hga 13y ago
    But what about Shaw's usage caps? I've gotten the strong impression from DSLReports.com that pretty much all Internet access in Canada has nasty ones.
Maven911 13y ago
I guess low taxes only refer to corporate taxes only
klipt 13y ago
Looks like they're already overloaded with applications: "Note: To focus on processing the applications we already have, CIC has temporarily stopped accepting applications under: the immigrant investor program the federal entrepreneur program This temporary pause will continue until further notice." http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/index.asp http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/index.asp
buro9 13y ago
What is the startup city of preference in Canada? Waterloo, Ontario?
- nasalgoat 13y ago
  Waterloo is good for access to fresh CS graduates and excellent cost of living, but Toronto is a better bet for access to experienced talent and network connectivity.

> Low taxes They're in for a bad surprise if they move to Quebec.

manojlds 13y ago
British Columbia and Alberta have lower taxes.
- jbarham 13y ago
  25% and 26% total tax rates respectively on $100k salary according to http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax versus 32% in Quebec. Maybe Quebec's mild climate explains the difference? ;)
  - olalonde 13y ago
    And there's also the federal tax... which means you are paying about 50+% taxes.

fpp 13y ago

They are also very active here in London - and are doing a pretty good job. If Canada will finally stop sheeply following the US and Europe with introducing more and more Internet surveillance legislation and blockers, but is taking a stand to foster the industry by creating an infrastructural and legal framework (e.g. as Iceland tried a few years ago but they are in the middle of an Ocean) there will be caravans moving North to Vancouver / Montreal / Quebec City / Toronto and West from Europe.

DanielRibeiro 13y ago

This is pretty interesting[1]: What happens if my business fails? Failure of your business will not affect your permanent resident status. We recognize that not every business will succeed and this program is designed so that the risk is shared between the public and private sector. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=657&t=6 http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=657&#38...

mansigandhi 13y ago

It's an amazing ad...connects emotionally with immigrant entrepreneurs. I moved from the Bay Area back to India due to startup visa issues. Now, my startup is seriously looking at Canada as a viable option, after India.

jbarham 13y ago

Speaking as a Canadian who has worked on a H1B visa in California, the "Low Taxes" claim on this billboard is laughably deceptive. See e.g. http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax http://lsminsurance.ca/calculators/canada/income-tax for an income tax calculator for Canada. Note too that unlike in the US, married couples in Canada cannot file joint income tax returns which is a big benefit for H1B workers given that your spouse cannot work (unless they have their own work visa). Sure, corporate income taxes might be lower in Canada, but that's no incentive to move to Canada as an individual. The fact is that there are many more high tech jobs in the US than Canada, salaries are much higher and taxes are lower which translates to a substantially higher take-home income. The catch of course is that you have to be willing to work as an indentured employee on the H1B. FWIW I'm now living in Melbourne, Australia. Comparable tax rates to Canada but with better weather and better health care.

rogerbinns 13y ago
To do a fair calculation you need to measure what your take home pay is after accounting for taxes, health provision, license fees (eg vehicles), equal living circumstances (cost of housing), utilities, cell phone plan, reasonable retirement provision, if applicable child care and education provisions etc. If you intend to stay a while then purchasing power parity should also be taken into account including sales taxes/VAT.
- jbarham 13y ago
  > taxes Higher in Canada, both income and sales > health provision N/a for me since health insurance was a given for every job I had in California > license fees (eg vehicles) Cars are much cheaper to buy and operate in California than Canada > cost of housing FWIW the Canadian housing market is currently in a massive bubble, comparable IMO to where the US was in 2007 (i.e., peaked and on the verge of bursting) > utilities Negligible on a software engineer's salary > cell phone plan More expensive in Canada > reasonable retirement provision Social Security or Canada Pension Plan: Good luck! > child care and education provisions Given that my wife couldn't work in the US it was n/a for me, but we could comfortably afford for her to stay at home when our first son was born.

presty 13y ago

OT: enjoy their awesome CIC web1.0 system had to use it to fill in a tourist visa and it was so painful..

rogerbinns 13y ago

I was under the impression that Internet access in Canada (both home and mobile) was terrible - expensive, restricted, no competition, long contracts etc. To win me over, the billboard just needs to add "... and we use the metric system".

mig39 13y ago
Depends where you are. I get 100meg for $70/month from Shaw.
- hga 13y ago
  But what about Shaw's usage caps? I've gotten the strong impression from DSLReports.com that pretty much all Internet access in Canada has nasty ones.

Maven911 13y ago

I guess low taxes only refer to corporate taxes only

klipt 13y ago

Looks like they're already overloaded with applications: "Note: To focus on processing the applications we already have, CIC has temporarily stopped accepting applications under: the immigrant investor program the federal entrepreneur program This temporary pause will continue until further notice." http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/index.asp http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/index.asp

buro9 13y ago

What is the startup city of preference in Canada? Waterloo, Ontario?

nasalgoat 13y ago
Waterloo is good for access to fresh CS graduates and excellent cost of living, but Toronto is a better bet for access to experienced talent and network connectivity.