Does anybody know how the immigration process works if one is trying to start a company? ie Is it viable for a non-Canadian citizen to start a company? Has anyone tried this?
Immigration as an investor is a little different. This may apply to you, though Canada's definition of an entrepreneur is someone who will bring in C$300K into the country. You then have to operate a business that employs people. See http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/entrepreneur... for more info.
If you qualify on points, there's not much point in tying up your money, but this might get you quicker processing.
When we got our permanent resident status 4 yrs ago, the process took almost 3 years. ymmv.
Starting a business is similar to the US, though overall paperwork seems to be lower. There aren't as many options in corporate structure as in the US - but a sole proprietership or partnership can be set up in a couple days. Labor laws are definitely stronger here (in the employee's benefit). Health care is obviously cheaper. Definitely talk to a lawyer first.
Good luck.
- Is there restriction on company ownership based on immigration status? Say, I had enough points and started the process. Do you know what needs to happen before I can incorporate?
- You mean the time in between your application for permanent residency and when you actually moved was around 3 years?
(Any advice given is a well-grounded conjecture. Please consult a business lawyer!)
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but a few other things (from my own research / friends who've migrated):
I think the key to remember is that skilled migration in Canada isn't contingent on having a job (which is the case in many other countries) - it's not far off permanent residence. This is quite important if you want to startup, and one of the reasons I was curious about Canada.
Also, the Canadian point system isn't as biased against age as many countries. The maximum points for age is a very wide band.
As for starting a business, I couldn't see any impediment - even so, in many cases it might be just as easy to incorporate a company in the US (e.g. a Delaware Co).
That is exactly why I'm asking. The key, indeed. ;-)
I'm Dutch and I went through a family class immigration to Canada. My (canadian) wife and I moved from Amsterdam to Toronto last year in may. I'm a permanent resident now.
Family class is by far the easiest way. We did the paperwork ourselves without help from a lawyer. We simply did research online and listened to people who had gone through the same procedure.
I think the time between the first paperwork and me getting on the plane was about 10 months. We made one mistake on the forms which probably delayed the process by a month.
In Holland I was self employed and I'm doing the same here in Toronto. Being a permanent resident gives you the same opportunities as citizens.
Setting up your business here is so easy compared to Holland. I'm now a sole proprietorship but plan to incorporate later this year.
Canada is great. I love it here :-)
Alberta is a good place to incorporate as any.
Vancouver is on the west coast, and influenced by the mindset frequently found in US west-coast states and cities (Seattle and SF in particular). Its own mindset is somewhere between SF and Toronto.
Ottawa has strong software community, but it's not nearly as big as the above cities (it's located 2 hrs driving from Montreal, and 4 hrs from Toronto). It's got a heavy load of federal government agencies and money.
Montreal is more affordable than Toronto or Vancouver. In my opinion, it's one of the best places to live in Canada, though being located in a francophone province with a strong independent (some say chauvinist) streak, may add extra hassle for you as a business owner (due to legal language requirements, etc). Anglophones in Montreal have a love/hate relationship with the city/province -- all rooted in history and politics. But, guaranteed, if you embrace the experience living in this de-facto bilingual city, you won't regret living there.
In Quebec you may have some issues because some companies won't ship there or other reasons. They're exempt from a lot of things.
Toronto and Vancouver are definitely more business oriented than Montreal for sure, in that order - Toronto > Vancouver > Montreal.
Vancouver is pretty nice, there's quite a bit to do. If you don't like wet weather than you may want to avoid Vancouver. Rains quite a bit here (think Seattle). One thing Vancouver has that (I think) is better than Montreal or Toronto is that it never gets extremely hot or extremely cold here. In the summer you're lucky if it hits 30C and in the winter we usually hover around -5C to 10C - unless you get a cold snap like we had a few weeks ago when it was around -15C.
Avoid anywhere between Vancouver and Toronto. The prairies suck - avoid at all costs.
Not sure about immigration but from the amount of immigrants in Canada I assume it can't be that hard. Starting a business is extremely simple - I helped a friend go through all the steps and it literally took a day to get the paperwork sorted (not even) and submit it for a sole proprietorship.
I'd lean towards Toronto a bit if you're looking for other startups and entrepreneurs. They're here in Vancouver, but nowhere near as many as the east coast.
(side note: if any vancouver HN peeps are having a meetup or want to plan one, let me know)