Canada looks to poach immigrant entrepreneurs

Canada is looking to poach Silicon Valley’s intrepid foreign up-and-comers as it launches a “first of its kind in the world” program that will grant immediate permanent residency to qualifying entrepreneurs starting April 1.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Thursday he will head down to the U.S. technology heartland once the program is in place to begin recruiting the “thousands of super bright young foreign nationals,” often from Asia, who are working at technology startups on temporary visas and may have to go home before they’ve been able to obtain their coveted U.S. green card.

“We see the bright, young, international tech developers in the U.S. who are stuck on temporary visas as an immediate market, if you will, for this program,” he said.

Kenney said he will “fly the Canadian flag and say to those bright young prospective immigrants, some of whom are going to create massively successful companies in their lifetimes, that they can come to Canada through this program, that they can get permanent residency here, they can have the certainty that this represents and they can start their businesses here in Canada.”

A similar startup visa for entrepreneurs was introduced in the U.S. nearly two years ago but has been stalled in Congress. Kenney said it’s an opportunity for Canada to get ahead of the pack because even countries with similar programs don’t offer the perk of immediate permanent residency — a “risk” he’s prepared to take even though not all entrepreneurs are successful.

“We don’t want to penalize people if they don’t succeed on their first startup, we want to encourage them to make Canada their new home, to contribute in the long term their human capital to Canada,” he said.

“Canada was built by risk-takers and the future strength of our economy depends on the success of today’s entrepreneurs. Just as many of Canada’s original entrepreneurs were immigrants, recruiting bright and innovative entrepreneurs from around the world will help Canada retain our global competitive edge.”

The new startup visa program will effectively replace the entrepreneur stream, a 1970s “relic” that was shelved in 2011 pending a program review.

Designed to attract the sort of “innovative” entrepreneurs who will “spur economic growth and create jobs,” not simply shopping mall food court kiosk and corner store owners, the revamped program will require newcomers to partner with Canadian venture capitalists before a visa is granted, Kenney said. As part of the program, entrepreneurs seeking permanent residency will need to present a viable business plan to gain the support of an angel investor group or venture capital fund. Canada will require a funding commitment of at least $75,000 from angel investors and $200,000 from venture capitalists.

Other criteria include an intermediate language proficiency in English or French and at least one year of college or university experience to avoid excluding “the future Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,” whom Kenney called “famous software dropouts.”

He expects the application process to take less than six months.