The implementation of the start-up visa programme from March 31 by the Canadian Parliament is attracting lots of entrepreneurs to Canada. The government also plans to shorten and simplify the process for applicants. So Are You Planning to Start Business in Canada? Read below..
The business immigrants received Canadian $3.7 million investment. Around 28% of the approved entrepreneurs were Indians. As foreign entrepreneurship is embraced by the Canadian government more business immigrants are attracted to Canada than other countries like France, New Zealand, Singapore and US. Operating business in Canada has many advantages like permanent residency, no personal funds required, business-friendly immigration policies, proximity to US market.
Are You Planning to Start Business in Canada?
Many entrepreneurs have given up visas of other countries and opted for Canada because of the impressive advantage it offers. The start-up visa programme of Canada provides time for the start-up venture to prosper and develop. Canada is not so restrictive like other countries.
The prospective entrepreneurs need to obtain minimum funding to receive Canada’s start-up visa (referred as support in immigration parlance) from a designated partner. There are more than 50 designated partners comprising of Canadian angel investor groups or venture capital funds (VCF’S). Entrepreneurs can also seek acceptance in Canadian business incubator programme.
The specific attraction of Canada’s start-up visa is minimum investment of Canadian $200,000 from a designated VCF, or $75,000 investment if it is from angel investor groups and if the investment is secured from a business incubator then there is no requirement of minimum investment. To qualify for start-up visa the applicant must have adequate funds to support him and family upon arrival. There is no requirement of personal fund or a minimum net worth. Approximately the expenditure of a family of four members is around Canadian $23,181 (Rs 11.5 lakh approx).
Take the example of Rangnekar who launched Webmatr for developers. His startup is a serverless app. Rangnekar’s blog Movnorth has gained a lot of attention of the techies in Silicon Valley who aspire to settle in Canada. After spending six years in the US he got the opportunity to foster his own idea in Canada. He got permanent residency under the express entry with his family. His dreams were unattainable under US h-1B visa and that made him take the route of startup visa programme of Canada.
To expand the start-up visa programme so that maximum business immigrants can access it Canada proposes to allocate $4.6 million in five years. Chetan Sehgal, partner and the coordinator for India at business consultancy firm BDO-Canada has confirmed that the Canadian government plans to provide highly developed online portal to carefully evaluate applicants. In addition to it the applicants will have to convey their ideas to government officials directly and not to accredited organisations.
Under the pilot programme, it was not easy to deal with low-quality business deals. Indian entrepreneurs have been appreciated by the Canadian government as they have good command over English language and are well educated. The main objective of the programme is to invite innovative companies that offer job opportunities and achieve excellence on a worldwide scale.