Canada goes all out to woo foreign entrepreneurs

MUMBAI: Canada’s startup visa programme is set to be a regular feature in its immigration landscape. Launched as a pilot in 2013, the Budget document tabled recently in the Canadian Parliament says it will be a “permanent pathway for immigration” from March 31. The government also proposes to make the process easier for applicants.

Under the pilot, entrepreneurs received over Canadian $3.7 million as investment from designated entities. Nearly 28% of the approved applicants were Indian nationals.

With the doors opened wider, many more are queuing up. The advantages are manifold — permanent residency, no requirement to invest one’s own funds, a thriving ecosystem for startups and proximity to the US markets. In fact, an ever growing protectionist regime in the US is prompting many to take a closer look at neighbouring Canada.


Entrepreneur Vikram Rangnekar, who gave up his US H-1B visa and moved to Canada in 2016, says, “Canada’s startup visa programme is one of the best in the world as it offers permanent residency to the founding team and their families. Other countries have merely paid lip service, with startup visas being restrictive in nature, thus adding to the stress and risk of the founding teamThe time frames of these visas are also much shorter than what is required by a startup to achieve traction and growth.”

Entrepreneurs keen on Canada’s startup visa need to obtain a minimum funding (which, in immigration parlance, is referred to as support) from one or more of the over 50 designated partners comprising Canadian angel investor groups or venture capital funds (VCFs) or they need to be accepted in a Canadian business incubator programme.

Canada proposes to allocate $4.6 million over five years to enhance the startup visa experience. Chetan Sehgal, partner and country coordinator for India at business consultancy firm BDO-Canada, says, “Some of the planned changes include developing a better online portal to evaluate applicants before they pitch their ideas to investors and potentially having government officials directly involved in connecting accelerator programmes and entrepreneurs instead of leaving 100% of the onus on the applicants to connect with the many accredited organisations.”