Category Archives: startup visa

Immigration Ministry Provides More Information on New “Start-up Visa”

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Immigration Minister Jason Kenney with venture capitalist Kevin O'Leary in a joint news conference in April in the first announcement about the new start-up visa

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has released more information about the upcoming ‘start-up visa’, which is being designed for foreign tech entrepreneurs who want to a start a business in Canada.

“The start-up visa is an initiative that the government of Canada is exploring to assist in transforming our immigration system into a fast, fair and flexible system that will meet the needs of our economy and help grow our country,” said Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s press secretary, Alexis Pavlich.

The new visa will be granted to individuals who receive funding from Canadian venture capital firms, who CIC assumes have a high potential to create successful Canadian companies that generate jobs and economic growth.

2,750 start-up visas will be set aside each year, up from 700 entrepreneur class visas granted in 2011. CIC suspended the entrepreneur program in July 2011, saying it was “overly burdensome and ineffective”, and needed to be revamped.

Canadian Government to introduce ‘Startup Visas’ for Foreign Entrepreneurs

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Kevin O'Leary (right) and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney in a joint news conference on Wednesday

In a joint announcement today, Kevin O’Leary’s venture capital firm, O’Leary Ventures, and the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Ministry introduced a new ‘Startup Visa’ for foreign entrepreneurs looking to start a company in Canada.

The Canadian government will be consulting with venture capitalists and other leaders in the startup industry over the next few months to get their input on how the program should be designed to maximize the benefit for Canada’s venture capital industry, and a pilot program is planned to be instituted later in the year.

Venture capital industry leaders like O’Leary believe the Startup Visa program will help attract global entrepreneurial talent to Canada and attract more capital to Canada’s startup sector, which will contribute to creating a more innovative and prosperous economy.

O’Leary has a large following in Canada due to his successful investment record, which includes founding an education software company, Softkey, and selling it for $4.2 billion, and for his starring role in the Canadian venture capital reality show, Dragon’s Den, among other programs.