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Ask HN: Has anyone had success with Canada's startup visa?

• MichaelCrawford 12y ago
  If you'd like to immigrate to Canada for any reason whatsoever, I cannot possibly recommend my own immigration attorney M. Lee Cohen highly enough: http://www.mleecohen.com/ http://www.mleecohen.com/ His main focus is human rights work (political asylum and refugees) however he finances that by charging completely reasonable fees for regular immigration applicants such as myself. Real nice guy and he knows his stuff.
  • sraquo 12y ago
    Thanks! I myself could use a recommendation for Vancouver area.
    • miraj 12y ago
      Kyle Hyndman at http://www.mccrealaw.ca/ http://www.mccrealaw.ca/ - they do NOT recommend the 'Startup Visa' program to clients; but would be happy to discuss other options. and another Vancouver are firm: http://sulemanco.com/ http://sulemanco.com/
  • deepsun 12y ago
    Political asylum is pretty profitable as well. In US attorneys ask around $7000 for the process (usually pursued by people who came to US on a visa and want to legally reside forever, but don't have any real reasons for asylum).
• hackerboos 12y ago
  I don't see why the startup capital should be limited to Canadian investors. I thought about it, but noticed that I had enough points to qualify for the Federal Skilled Worker program, so went for that prior to the revamp. The stability offered by Canadian PR visas are much better than almost any other visa I have read about.
• nojvek 12y ago
  The visa just got started recently but last I heard they are still working out the details. I applied for CEC (Canada Experience Class), paid >$4k for lawyer fees but application got rejected saying quota is fulfilled even though the website notes that its less than half filled. Trying now on express entry but I doubt I'll get anywhere. I feel its a broken system which caters to very expensive lawyers as they know the hacks.
  • grecy 12y ago
    > I applied for CEC (Canada Experience Class), paid >$4k for lawyer fees but application got rejected saying quota is fulfilled Wow, that's interesting. I didn't know the CEC had a quota. I applied for (and got) a provincial nominee PR because my company (telco) sponsored me. Did you meet all the requirements for the CEC? I personally didn't bother with a lawyer, and it wasn't needed in my case.
  • raquo 12y ago
    Canadian immigration rules are changing multiple times a year nowadays, and they're doing so without much regard for anyone currently in the process. While the rules themselves are on par with Australia / NZ (= much easier than US), the transition is not well thought out. CIC's CEC quota screwup of late 2014 is just one of many examples. Students, PNP nominees, TFWs have all been screwed in different ways in 2014. While CIC touts shorter processing times for select categories, they're often using MagicMath. For many categories of applicants processing times doubled to quadrupled last year.
• spicyspike 12y ago
  Yet another kumar looking to immigrate ? For real ? Get lost paki
  • spicyspike 12y ago
    Ok i read you are not kumar. You are allowed to go!
• AlexBlom 12y ago
  Feel free to shoot me an email (on profile) and I can share details / connect you with some involved. I'm an Australian who has been in Canada since 2009. The current iteration of the startup visa has some odd restrictions on Canadian capital imo. You are generally better doing WHP to FSW Disclaimer: ianal
  • robertely 12y ago
    > Disclaimer: ianal May be one of those times not to use an acronym...
    • zabraxias 12y ago
      I hereby coin IANAA (I am not an attorney).
    • pimlottc 12y ago
      Despite its unfortunate acronym, "IANAL" is an extremely common and well-understood term going back many years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IANAL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IANAL
• xbeta 12y ago
  My question is why not go to SV if you are going to leave your home country for startup anyway.
  • techaddict009 12y ago
    SV is turning out a bit costly. Various people here on HN recommend not to start from there.
  • espinchi 12y ago
    Because U.S. immigration is not exactly easy
  • brianwawok 12y ago
    Cost of living is less than ideal
  • dataker 12y ago
    Generally, he would have to either: 1)Invest 1M+ of his own money 2)Be a superstar with hundreds of publications and experience 3)Come as a tourist and pray everything works fine in 3 months 4)Fall in love and get married(...in the Valley?)
    • Finbarr 12y ago
      5) work for a company until you get a green card.
      • rahulvarshneya 12y ago
        Which could take anywhere from 7-10 years! Easier said than done!
        • largote 12y ago
          It doesn't take that long unless you're from India or China. http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2015/visa-bulletin-for-march-2015.html http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy...
• a3camero 12y ago
  Very, very few people have been awarded visas under this program. This article from two months ago says that in the 21 months the program had been running only five people were accepted: http://www.techvibes.com/blog/canadas-startup-visa-program-2015-01-08 http://www.techvibes.com/blog/canadas-startup-visa-program-2.... Here's another article from the summer in which the government trumpeted their acceptance of a total of two people in the first sixteen months of the program: http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1098581/immigration-minister-promotes-entrepreneur-visa/ http://metronews.ca/news/canada/1098581/immigration-minister....
  • gordjw 12y ago
    If they're promoting such small numbers, I wonder if it's lack of interest rather than process issues.
• bstar77 12y ago
  Can anyone say if there's a benefit to moving my startup to BC? I'm currently registered in Delaware, but I plan to move to BC within a year (my wife is Canadian and sponsoring me). The tax situation looks better, but I'm wondering if someone with actual experience running a business in both countries could give me some insight.
  • throwaway88640 12y ago
    I'm a dual-citizen who has done software startups in both countries. The advantages of Canada are: - free health care, especially important for self-employed - retirement plan easier to contribute for self-employed - easier tax preparation (no AMT, no IRS 20 rules, etc.) resulting in lower overall taxes for self-employed with deductions - cheaper to hire educated people - no federal deficit, so no looming financial crisis - virtually no police shootings, SWATing, executions - French/English divide is not an issue outside of Quebec - good to excellent public schools, few discipline problems - no global income reporting. - no Selective Service for you or your kids - Toronto is an interesting combination of finance/software/mfg, great place for robotics, makers, etc. - Canadian Tire money can really add up! - if you're middle class, it's good to be the king! Advantages of USA are: - much easier/possible to get venture investment - Silicon Valley - often the dollar is higher, though I'm not sure why - if you like guns or are far rightwing, welcome home - good place to practise trauma medicine/prosthetics - if you're the 1%, it's good to be the king. Same in both countries: - 401k and RRSP are very similar - same ACH network - same timezones. - same urban housing prices - same culture, but the USA has guns and Canada has politeness.
    • hnnewguy 12y ago
      no federal deficit, so no looming financial crisis Huh? Canada's debt-to-GDP is as bad as the US.
      • latch 12y ago
        It isn't uncommon for Canada to quote a debt-to-GDP ratio based solely on federal debt. It isn't how most countries calculate their debt. Depending on exactly what you do include, Canada's debt-to-GDP is anywhere from 80% to a little over 100%. Also, Canada has much higher household debt. It's well past 150% now.