Canada's Start-up Visa
cic.gc.ca
cic.gc.ca
- Secure $75k in angel funding or $200k in venture funding, from a list of designated Canadian funders.
- Score relatively highly on a language test in either English or French, for both verbal and written ability (note that everyone must take this test, even those coming from English- or French-speaking countries).
- Have satisfactorily completed at least one year of higher education (no degree required).
- Depending on family size, have a minimum of $11k-$30k in the bank initially to support yourself.
Almost anyone can be a founder in Canada now. Congrats Canada!
Luckily it turns out I can speak the English reel gud. I now have a certificate to prove it!
There were other people in my test group who couldn't follow basic instructions that were given out before the test ("Please wait over there", etc.). I imagine they didn't do so well.
It was a bit risky because it was up to the official reviewing the application to accept it or not but I didn't feel like spending a grand and flying to another city for a day to take a test.
I don't know if things have changed and now a test is required without exception; all data indicate that not knowing well the country's language(s) is the main factor for not succeeding in it as an immigrant.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/times/canada/cit-pr...
What this means is that in theory, someone could land as a PR one Day 1, file the application exactly 3 years and 1 day later, and then leave Canada and go sit in a hut in Guatemala while the application is being processed. [1] After it is ready for the test/oath in 2-3 years, applicant flies back, declares a desire to live and die in Guatemala, and still gets his Canadian citizenship, a shiny new Canadian passport, and leaves the country. And all this is 100% legal, at least as per Canadian Citizenship Law as of 2013.
[1] Unfortunately, C&IC will only correspond to Canadian addresses, so the applicant does need a reliable mailing address in Canada
There is ambiguity about whether it's a rolling 5 years or whether it's 5 year cycles based on the date you first receive your PR status. To be safe, it's usually best to assume modulo 5 from the start of your PR status.
In the example above, if you filed the citizenship application 3 years and 1 day later, the maximum you can stay in your Guatemalan hut is just shy of 2 years, or else you risk losing PR status and jeopardizing your Canadian citizenship application.
[1] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp#keep_sta...
(Having no dog in this hunt as I'm not Canadian nor do I have any claim on Canadian citizenship or permanent residence, much as I'd like to.)
Good discussion here: https://secure.immigration.ca/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=8848... (see a post by dpenabill toward the end of the page), and the entire thread is good as well.
The estimate is based on "processing time from receipt of application to final decision for 80% of cases".
The rather excellent British Expats (not just for Brits!) forum users keep track of the various processing times of Canadian immigration applications.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=33
British Expats forums is a great resource for anyone trying to move within the English speaking world.
I got my citizenship about ten years ago (I only know because I'm on my third passport), about six months after applying and taking the test. I had been resident for just under four years at the time.
I guess one would have to have more than an idea and a MVP.
Also, any differences between Canada's angels and VCs than the impression one would get from Hacker News stories which is probably more U.S. focused?
- Canada is somewhat unique in that there are federal and provincial subsidies for specific sectors related to technology (I.e. Video Game development tax credits, scientific research and develop credits - see http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site//cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/... for some of the big ones at the federal level). Most of these incentives don't require your business to make a profit. Some Angels and VCs have a preference to invest in businesses which are eligible to receive these incentives, and in rare cases will even ask you to relocate in order to a specific location in Canada to maximize incentives.
- There aren't THAT many VCs in Canada, and of the few that there are, some of the more active ones are are operated by pension plans (http://www.omersventures.com/) and arms-length government organizations ( https://www.bdc.ca/EN/solutions/venture_capital/ , http://www.marsdd.com/aboutmars/partners/iaf/, etc... ) . As can be expected, this affects the types of companies most likely to get funding in Canada.
- IMHO, the cliche that Canadians are conservative with their money is mostly true - historically the majority of the big money in Canada was made in resources, banking, real estate & manufacturing, which are all (for the most part) much less risky than early stage technology investing. Yes, there have been a few big tech winners - but they are almost rounding errors compared to the amount of cash made in these other industries. My personal hypothesis is the "conservative" cliche is somewhat self-enforcing, as the Canadians who like early stage technology end up moving to NYC or SF, have success there, and then rarely return. This has resulted in the creation of informal Canadian clubs in those locations, as well as formal organizations like http://www.thec100.org/ .
Some general links for more info: - http://www.cvca.ca/ - http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/061.nsf/eng/h_02772.html
(Saying this sadly, as I'm a Canadian)
It will be interesting to see if bringing in new cultural perspectives can change that.
Vidyard (http://www.vidyard.com/), Pebble (http://getpebble.com/), BufferBox (https://www.bufferbox.com/), Couple (formerly Pair) (http://couple.me/), or Thalmic Labs (https://www.thalmic.com/myo/)
All the above are also YC alumni.
Additionally, I think it is quite reasonable to argue that Kickstarter is the source of their success, but Kickstarter is still not yet available to Canadians. Not until later this summer.
- Couple is in San Francisco.
- Vidyard is based in KW.
- BufferBox is based in KW, and got acquired by Google.
- Thalmic is in KW.
So two out of five have Canadian founders who left for the Bay Area. Three out of the five stayed, one of which has succesfully exited.
Vidyard's first round of financing came from exclusively American sources. Canadian investors did not join until they were well underway.
Thalmic's first round of funding came from angels that I can't find any info on, their series A came from exclusively American sources.
I'm not sure if these companies really support the notion that Canadian VC firms are ready to create success and nurture extremely early-stage startups.
There's also Freshbooks in Toronto.
But besides all this, there are popular and noteworthy startups based in Canada, like HootSuite, Shopify, 500px, UrtheCast and Freshbooks.
I get the impression that it is not, though I have a small sample size.
Beside canadians participating in some large game jams and having cool events there, Quebec state is the second largest games producer in the world (behind US, and above the entire Japan)
They did quite well.
#8 - Toronto
#9 - Vancouver
#16 - Waterloo/Kitchener
Also worth a mention are Montreal, Ottawa, and Hamilton.
[1] http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/startup-...
Apart from mature startup culture, for you as an Indian, these places also have an advantage of being relatively close, timezone-wise, to both U.S. (at least East Coast) which will be most probably your main market, and India where you will probably hire people.
Personally I think that $50K in savings is more in line with realistic expectations of moving country, setting up shop and getting a company under way, funding is icing on the cake, it's not as if that's your money.
My impression of this kind of visa is it is should be attempting to attract young people with high potential but without necessarily having other great routes to the life they desire in North America. If you think they are targeting a different audience, say older foreigners with established businesses/careers who just want to move to Canada then 50K is reasonable.
Also there's definite risk on one side here, otherwise it's an opportunity for no one. If you have $50K of your own, why start a company in Canada rather than SV? I think to make this a worthwhile visa, Canada has to take on the risk that they are going to let someone into their first world country with a good social safety net because that person has untapped potential. Canada takes the risk if the savings threshold is low, but if the savings threshold is high they are not creating much of an incentive to move to Canada rather than an established startup hub and its the entrepreneur taking the risk.
That's an excellent question. My take on this is that by being more open to start-ups Canada hopes that if the numbers are high enough that they'll have another RIM on their hands one of these days. It costs them next to nothing (the venture capitalists / angels are picking up the tab) and they get more skilled workers either way.
I think quite a few entrepreneurs will see this as a way of moving to the states without the drawbacks (it's North America, after all) and may eventually use it as a stepping stone to the US if they're successful.
Compared to London, Berlin, Prague or Hamburg I'd stay in Europe if I had to make the choice.
If you already have a life on the go in some other place $50K is peanuts when moving to another continent. I've done it and even though we were pretty well prepared for the move the first year was astoundingly expensive. (family of 3).
Well, because you can't. You can't just simply walk into the US. That's the whole point why everyone raves about the Canadian Startup Visa. The requirements for the US for a foreign entrepreneur are one hell of a lot tougher in terms of funding/jobs created by company/etc.
For a permanent visa, requiring $10k savings is pretty reasonable. If you've been working as a programmer or engineer in the developed world, you should be able to save that much in 1 year, give or take a few months. If you're in an emergent country, 2 years or so.
$11k is a crazy (as someone else said, irresponsibly) low number, even for an individual.
The number for 7 people is absolutely ridiculous, fyi. $29k for 7 people? Absurd.
If they really want to encourage foreigners to found startups, they should allow private investors to become angels, even if the investor in question is of foreign status. Think about it: you have a bunch of rich people injecting large amounts of money into your economy, and the only thing you have to do is give one person permanent residency - and there's a chance their company will be successful and contribute to the economy even more.
(There's already a way for rich people to buy their way into Canada, but it takes around a million dollars instead of a hundred thousand.)
--
P.S. In an initial, brief search, I did not find any mention of specific age qualifications attached to this program (beyond, I suspect, being at least 18 years old).
- remember to sign up for OHIP (or the local equivalent) as soon as you arrive, there is a time limit on how long you can wait before signing up after arriving in Canada. If you don't do this in time you will not be covered.
- Canada has some pretty severe weather in the winter, everywhere except for the area around Niagara falls and Vancouver. The latter is the better spot all year round. Big cities are your only chance to mitigate the worst of this, rural life is brutal.
- Don't make any irreversible moves (giving away stuff, actually moving) until all the paper work is done. I made the mistake of believing a bunch of government officials during my own move to Canada on an entrepreneurship visa and it cost me dearly.
- Elsewhere in this thread someone asks why not go to the US, well, (1) free (and good) healthcare, (2) a bit more laid back business climate. That said, the laid back atmosphere and the different venture capital climate make it a lot harder to get off the ground in Canada. Cost of living is slightly lower than in the US for most parts of Canada.
- Outside of Waterloo, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and maybe Quebec City it's going to be hard to find qualified employees. In Ottawa you'll be bidding against the government.
- No matter where you want to go in Canada you'll have to score reasonably well on the French language test. Even if that's the only time in Canada you'll ever use your French. (imho this is a ridiculous requirement, and that's with 5 years of French under my belt and a ton of exposure, you simply don't need it unless you plan on living in Quebec).
- Paperwork processing in Canada can be terribly slow, it is basically the luck of the draw whether your paperwork will be processed in weeks, months, years or even decades! (no kidding...).
I could go on like this for a while, if you have any specific questions about moving to Canada (but not about this program) feel free to ask.
Niagara falls is still brutally cold and snowy in the winter. The only place you won't freeze your ass off is the west coast of BC. aka Victoria/Vancouver.
> Cost of living is slightly lower than in the US for most parts of Canada.
Unless you are in Vancouver, where it is quite expensive to live. Housing, food, fuel... There are very few places in the US that are as expensive to live as Vancouver.
Housing prices are a joke, literally: http://www.crackshackormansion.com/
> the laid back atmosphere and the different venture capital climate make it a lot harder to get off the ground in Canada
It is harder to get VC funding in Canada than it is south of the border. From what I've seen startup's in the US/Silicon Valley that may get 20million, you can expect ~1million in Canada, and most won't even look at you unless you already have paying customers. I don't really know all the factors that cause this but investors are much more conservative here.
I find cost of living in Vancouver (North Shore) quite high when compared, for example, with Portland, OR. Granted, this is one of the more expensive regions in Canada vs a city in a state with no sales tax, but still most of the goods and food in Canada are significantly more expensive than in the US.
I know several people that moved there from Toronto recently and neither of them mentioned expensive housing but I'll take your word for it.
Well, to add to what you said, US does not have a startup visa yet.
The skytrain will take you from the YVR arrivals terminal right downtown. Cost is 6 bucks, and you will be at your apartment or hotel in 20-30 minutes.
The city is most the most walkable in the world, with almost no need for a car (unless you really like to go on weekend road trips). Crime is extremely low right now, and the city economy is very solid.
With TED moving to the city next year (and a bunch of other things falling into place), it is a great time to move to Vancouver to find a job or start a business.
Also, the thing about french is not true in the west. No one speaks a lick of french anywhere west of Ontario, and it will never be a job requirement, unless you are applying to work with the federal government.
SkyTrain is the most beautiful rapid transit line I've ever been on.
Best in the world though? Not sure - I'd like to see it compared to Zurich or Hong Kong or Amsterdam in that regard.
If you live out in the burbs, transit is okay, but not better than most European cities.
Downtown Vancouver and false creek were designed with density and walking in mind. Every condo tower must have street level retail, and they make sure to have essential things like good grocery stores every few blocks. Check out the walk score for Yaletown: http://www.walkscore.com/score/davie-st-and-pacific-boulevar...
I don't believe there's a French language requirement. It's either English or French, one or the other. From the website:
"You must meet the minimum level of CLB 5 in either English or French for all four language abilities."
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/eli...
I think there is a large concentration of talented people here who are far more interested in working in high-tech than working for the government.
The good part: As many have already mentioned, it is a permanent residency status and not just a temporary visa. It comes along with all the health care benefits and social benefits as what Canadian citizens get [2]. So even if your first business fails, you will have the opportunity to start another one or find a job.
[1] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=653&t=6
I know that saying 'rape' and feeling like one can hide behind a literary claim may make one feel 'edgy' or whatever, but it just comes across as excessively childish.
1: http://www.rainn.org/get-information/effects-of-sexual-assau...
I'm not even sure if it's an attempt at seeming edgy or w/e. Maybe once upon a time it was, but it's become a pretty common saying by now. You're fighting the good fight, but I doubt you'll win. :(
And there's a good reason why we need to push back against it. I think we've turned on the corner on this particular use of the word, but nonetheless.
This is the same thing as how people used to (and some still do) call things "faggy" and "gay". It's not cool, it's damaging and hurtful to a large number of people.
If you want to say "the system will be taken advantage of", we have an existing phrase for that. It's "the system will be taken advantage of".
Your point could have been made the first time by just typing "we have seen the immigration system gamed by lots of people and companies. So having a qualified investors is a good thing. Trust me the Canadian government does not have the resources to look into everything." and I'd take zero issue with it.
Canadian VCs are far too risk averse and conservative; that's why the uptick of start-ups in all areas of the country, even Toronto's own would-be "Valley" of Liberty Village and the Junction, hasn't fielded much in the ways of success.
Until Toronto VCs start taking more risks and going down the road of helping people experiment (much like YComb itself), I don't see this doing much other than acting as a talking point for why Canada is a good place to live.
(I say this as a Torontonian who has worked almost exclusively for start-ups in the GTA and is now moving to San Fran to work for another one).
Instead they said, damn we really want young entrepreneurs to succeed and start a change. We don't have much VC money, but let's freaking execute by introducing a startup visa and that way state an example for the U.S. to follow.
In fact, they'd be quite happy if the United States doesn't follow their example, because that will help Canada compete. See, for instance, this billboard in Silicon Valley:
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/photos/2013/20...
AFAIK, YC doesn't invest anywhere close to $200k; so it's probably not fair to compare.
* It currently takes more than two years in average to process a citizenship request.
* The CIC stopped accepting any new application from canadian citizens or permanent residents to sponsor their parents or grandparents for permanent residency.
So, this all sounds good in paper, but Im skeptical about how well it will work in reality.
(As for why the investors have to be from an approved list? Probably to avoid sham "angel investors" fake-funding their acquaintances, or outright selling visas.)
This is a valid concern, though I'm worried it will swing the pendulum in the other direction also - that it basically gives non-regulated, non-governmental, non-accountable entities the ability to wield immigration as a stick.
That or allow an existing cabal of VCs to lock out competing, upstart VCs.
My suspicion[1] is that the thing that will really fix this is changing the way that investors are taxed on their capital gains and losses.
[1] Been a while since I lived in Canada, but IIRC capital gains and losses are not taxed like they are in the US.
True, but that is an exemption that gets used up. There is a $750,000 lifetime capital gains exemption. Which most people don't hit, but a successful founder could.
Of course, the US could implement a similar program in a heartbeat. And by "in a heartbeat", I mean "never, because the government in this country is utterly dysfunctional".
Alberta spearheaded a funding model in the oil patch in the 90s, which is now accessible to the other provinces, which I believe could be useful in the tech sector. The capital pool company, http://www.tmx.com/en/listings/listing_with_us/ways/capital_...
We get a bunch of proven tech execs together, they issue shares, then they have 24 months to go find something worth buying and growing.
So instead of serial entrepreneurs, I believe we could also foster midlevel serial ceo's for instance I would buy stock in a jaquesm, pg or whoever, headed shell company to go and buy out some up and coming tech.
At least I think you could kickstart building a company out of aquihiring zombie startups. I would do this but I'm a no-name.
Seems oddly arbitrary. Most visas with educational requirements go for the complete degree, not just one year of education. All the tales of "drop outs" who make it big force their hand? :-)
The existing points system gives you the majority of the education points (15/25) if you have a "Canadian post-secondary degree or diploma for a one-year program" or something that you've gotten certified as the foreign equivalent (19 points for a 2-year degree, 21 points for a regular 3-year bachelors, etc.). I wonder if this is just intended to set the threshold at 15/25 but ease up the requirement a bit by allowing you to count 1 year out of any degree program as equivalent to a Canadian 1-year diploma, since many countries don't have actual 1-year diplomas.
Either require a full degree or drop the requirement. This middle-of-the-road thing is just silly red tape.
My guess that it's a proxy for high school academic performance? If you can get into a university, you must possess a certain level of intelligence.
Doesn't seem to make much sense. Does anyone know how strict these requirements are yet?
Get your business idea funded and immigrate to Canada **permanently**
What happens if my business fails? [1]
Failure of your business will not affect your permanent
resident status. We recognize that not every business will
succeed and this program is designed so that the risk is
shared between the public and private sector.
"Get your business idea funded and immigrate to Canada permanently."
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?q=657&t=6
[1] http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/start-up/nex...
Now if you read more about permanent residents in general, here it is
Canada Permanent Resident (PR) =~ US Green Card
For example, I live in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and there are a lot of grants specific to our region because we're considered a northern community. Since we're smaller, there's less competition, and more people will be willing to help you and promote your startup.
Also, if you're startup is involved in medical research, definitely consider Thunder Bay because there is a big medical research community and it's one of the areas the city is trying really hard to build up.
Take a look at these websites for more information: http://www.nwoinnovation.ca/ http://www.tbrri.com/ (for medical related startups)
Lastly, the cost of living in places like Thunder Bay (in particular housing) is much more affordable.
Of course, if you really only need an internet connection and a couch then it might actually be an advantage but for most start-ups (apparently outside the medical research ones but those are few and far between) access to facilities, a nearby university, a pool of schooled talent to pick from and capital are their lifeblood.
The advantage with Thunder Bay is that people are trying to develop it into a hotbed for start-ups, and will do a lot to see your startup succeed.
Quick examples of Thunder Bay startups: http://cinevate.com, http://qwantech.com (big in the mining industry, also doing work in autism support systems), http://flightop.com
Based on the numbers from International Telecommunications Union, US has 10 times more online users. I am pretty sure online services and in general start-up success is also tied to your market size. Heck, the first thing they taught me in Management Consulting is to size up the market. I am sure you can get a Temporary Business Visitor visa to the US but as always, this complicates the story.
All in all, as someone from India, looking to start something, I am thrilled by the news but I am not going to apply until I run out of all options in the US. Just my $0.02.
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_...
I'm at least a little glad it isn't a requirement to hold a degree or diploma.
I'm assuming this is simply an empty requirement to weed out people during application. That said, if a few very intelligent hacker types who never went to college had successfully achieved all of the other three requirements, then I'd see no reason to deny that application.
I'm pretty sure this rule also extends from my countries intense fascination with secondary education.
See: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/27/and-the-worlds-most-educ..., https://duckduckgo.com/?q=canada+most+educated+country
That was my takeaway. A way to save face with the strong "education or else" group of people in the country, while acknowledging that formal education is not all that relevant to the program.
I mean, if I have 12,000$ in the bank, a VC in Canada willing to invest, and can speak French and English, then that should be enough. My main criticism of this Visa is that it isn't inclusive enough. If we could even get 10 more accepted applicants by dropping the educational requirement then it would be worth it in my opinion.
For context, I was born in South India and currently live + work in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, the temperature is around the same number as you see for, say, Victoria, BC, except for that the former is in Celsius while the latter is in Fahrenheit! :-)
-40: move (while you can), especially if there is some wind to go with it.
But it's a complete non-issue now.
Keep in mind it also depends on where you settle in Canada. My family settled in Vancouver where the weather is fairly mild and rarely below freezing. If you are in, say, Ottawa (which also has a tech presence), you will sometimes see -20C to -30C weather. That's much rougher to deal with.
There are many Indian-Canadians who live in Vancouver as well as the Toronto area (among other places, but those two seem to be where the concentration is), you may be able to reach out to some of them and figure out the climate problem.
The fact that your arms and legs are toasty warm seems like a distant comfort at that point...
Plenty of weather conditions in Canada where, no matter how well you dress, you're just not going to be comfortable...
And the way you can be sweating on one part of your body even as another part is being frost-bitten. Then when you adjust your coats and scarfs the sweating part will cool down and the sweat will start to freeze leading to frostbite there, too.
Then when you go indoors all the ice melts and your scarf turns into a goopy mess.
Oh Ontario winters, how I do not miss thee.
Is it really that bad as long as you only need to get from A to B in something like an urban environment, though? Most of my problems with the cold have been switching clothes because of variations in activity levels, and having to actually work outside in the cold (for example having to take off my gloves because they aren't nimble enough with them on).
I'm assuming you had something like a balaclava on in those extreme conditions? If that wasn't enough you also have more wind-proof headgear: people use them to drive snow mobiles, so they should be good enough for the purpose of getting to the bus.
First year snow is fun specially if you never seen snow or live for extended period.
Second year snow is okay.
Third year oh! crap snow again.
Fourth year snow is drudgery.
Fifth year snow again! I can't wait to get out.
Sixth year, as you reaching snow season, I got my Canadian citizenship, I am moving south.
it will be interesting to see the long-term affects this has. will startups stay?
also, i would love to see an article about the canada startup community in general. canada's economy is well-balanced and from what i can tell pretty risk-adverse. how well people respond to the influx of startups that must take risks, gamble, and move quickly in order to survive?
Waterloo is also important, as that's where our "MIT" is, and Google etc have offices there.
All the easy money's in Calgary due to oil.
In Montreal: Founder Fuel http://founderfuel.com/en/
School-wise, the best talent in the country tends to come from UToronto, Waterloo, UBC or McGill. That said, there are tons of great programs all across the country.
We have some accelerator-like programs and initiatives aimed at fostering an entrepreneurial spirit generally[1][2][3]. Nothing comparable to YC as far as guidance and connections go, though. But I don't think anything has been particularly successful.
[1] - http://www.extremestartups.com
[2] - http://www.thenext36.ca
Ottawa is the country's capital and some tech companies there are doing quite well (Shopify in particular).
As far as I am concern, Washington DC isnt the startup capital of the US, so why would Ottawa be? In my opinion government shouldn't be a driver of capital in startups, nor is it ... ?
Much of tech in Ottawa is mid- to large-size IT/gov't contracting and telecoms. As for smaller firms, not many are setting out to build the Next Big Turnkey Ruby App. But there are tons of companies aiming to fill niche enterprise/government needs, e.g. [1], [2], many many more.
Why would I want to do a start-up in Canada, rather than say the UK or Germany or Chile?
The US has a great ecosystem for start-ups. Does Canada?
How about N temporary worker visas/amount of VC funding?
Is should actually remove both of your pain points cost and qualified labor.
Start packing :-)
You might be able to find $100K jobs in Toronto or Vancouver, but those areas have costs of living that is approaching SF and NYC.
Seems like a good idea for American VCs to open incubators in Canada. Would allow them to global deal flow while only worrying about the regulations of Canada. Plus its quicker to fly there.
That said, healthcare costs are minimal in Canada, which are a huge plus for entrepreneurs who may not always have a steady income stream.
That said, if you're moving from a high tax US state (CA) to a low taxes Canadian province (Alberta), the difference isn't that great.
Keep in mind that if you have a Roth IRA in the US, it gets complicated. Canada doesn't recognize Roth IRAs thus there are tax complications.
That's not true. You can only get an exclusion on the first $97,000USD you make outside of the US, so YMMV. In Vancouver or Toronto, you'd be pushing it.
Since Canadian income taxes are higher than US income taxes, you'll never have to pay US income taxes (baring some odd financial situation).
Gas, cigarettes and booze are definitely cheaper in the USA though.
Using the online paycheck calculators I get:
$50K/yr in BC would net you $36,758 after taxes.
$50K/yr in Florida would net you $38,296 after taxes.
http://www.ey.com/CA/en/Services/Tax/Tax-Calculators-2013-Pe...
Is it easy to get a VISA as a developer?
http://www.workpermit.com/canada/points_calculator.htm
The primary contributors to points is education background, linguistic ability (English and/or French), work experience, and age.
It takes a fair amount of time (compared to H-1B or other US work visas), since this is considered actual immigration, not just a work permit (those are available too). If you are accepted you become a full-fledged permanent resident (with all of the social benefits afforded to all Canadians), not a temporary worker with a ticking clock.
http://www.workpermit.com/canada/employee_list.htm
Am I correct in thinking that if you don't have experience in one of these fields, you're not eligible to even apply?
> You must have at least one year of full time experience in the last ten years in a management or
> professional or highly skilled occupation. These are listed as Skill Type O, Skill Type A or Skill
> Type B on the National Occupation Classification List. You will find further details in our
> skilled worker guide.
Please let me know if I'm wrong about this.
[1] http://www.workpermit.com/canada/points_calculator.htm
But my reading of it:
- If you do not have a job offer, you must fall under a listed shortage occupation (i.e., not the entirety of the Type 0, A, and B lists).
- If you do have a job offer (a good enough job offer, at that) in a Type 0, A, or B occupation, you do not need to be in a shortage class.
This makes some logical sense. If you don't have a guaranteed job coming into Canada, it makes sense for the government to ensure you are in a shortage occupation to maximize your odds of actually being employed.
but it kind of have make me wonder.. for some time.. (pretty good news anyway)
You can apply as soon as the PAFSO strike ends...
File the paper work, pay the fees and when the visa is stamped, just pack a small car and drive north.
Too bad I'm too old...
... and that I already did just that a decade ago... :D
They forgot the big one:
* FREE SNOW