Canada plans to create a new class of
visa that it hopes will attract high-tech and other entrepreneurs to
immigrate to the country to start new companies, officials said on
Tuesday.
It has put a moratorium on issuing its
existing entrepreneur visa, which only required an immigrant to hire one
person for one year, and intends to initiate a visa that would be
issued to people identified by venture capital funds as candidates to
create start-up firms in Canada. The venture funds would be required to
invest in the start-ups.
It has put a moratorium on issuing its
existing entrepreneur visa, which only required an immigrant to hire one
person for one year, and intends to initiate a visa that would be
issued to people identified by venture capital funds as candidates to
create start-up firms in Canada. The venture funds would be required to
invest in the start-ups.
The start-up visa is one of several
changes being undertaken by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason
Kenney in what he says is an effort to make the immigration system more
responsive to Canada's economic needs.
"Canada seeks young, ambitious,
innovative immigrants who will contribute to Canada's job growth and
further drive our economy," said Kenney's press secretary, Alexis
Pavlich.
"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."
Venture investment funds would choose
entrepreneurs in whom they would invest, and the government would try to
clear them for entry into Canada within weeks. The idea is to unite
Canadian money and foreign brains. An initial source of candidates could
be frustrated foreigners in the high-tech sector in the United States
who have not been able to land resident status there.
"This program will link brilliant,
job-creating, immigrant entrepreneurs with Canadian investors. We want
the world's best and brightest to come to Canada - to start businesses
and to create jobs in Canada," Pavlich said.
The program, expected to be unveiled in
detail later this year, would set up external safeguards and spot checks
to make sure the venture funds are investing as promised.
The government will set aside 2,750
visas a year for start-up entrepreneurs and their families. Last year it
issued about 700 visas under the old entrepreneur class, under which an
immigrant could do something as simple as buy a corner store and hire
one person, and then get out of the business after a year.
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