Ask HN: Does anyone have experiences with Canada's Startup Visa? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Does anyone have experiences with Canada's Startup Visa?

5 pointsslipheen2 comments

I'd love to hear from anyone familiar with Canada's Startup Visa process, particularly if it's something you've gone through or considered.

I remember a lot of fanfare when it was first announced, and it seemed like an interesting novel approach to attracting startups.

Looking at it lately, it seems like a few of the Designated Organizations were almost operating on a pay-for-play model, where it comes across almost like they are charging fees for recommendation letters and then essentially rubber-stamping them.

Searching online mostly gives results from Youtube/Reddit/etc posted by companies & lawyers who will help streamline the process, in exchange for another fee.

Is this still a viable/helpful process for startups? Are there designated organizations which are more helpful/legitimate that one should consider, or any recommendations of who to avoid?

I did a fairly deep dive into this (and actually got accepted into a programme at one of the Designated Organisations but haven't gone through with it yet).

It does seem that many (most?) of the accelerator/incubators are pay-to-play. Some are more upfront about this than others. Techstars Toronto would be a notable exception obviously.

I suspect there's a little bit of this pay-to-play at work in some of the angels and funds also who are Designated Organisations, but I can't say that for certain.

The other thing I've gleaned is that the process currently takes a LONG time - like 1 year plus.

There's a couple forums you can search for that active ongoing discussions from applicants.

Thanks for the insight, that's really helpful.

Do you think you might be able to share some of the forums I could look for additional information? (Either here or through email if that's more comfortable)

I've tried searching and found a infrequently used forum at CanadaVisa, and an even smaller/older one at Immigroup, but neither had much.

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