Canada introduces new visa to attract entrepreneurs

Canada’s government is planning to introduce a new visa intended to attract more entrepreneurs to the country. Jason Kenney, Citizenship and Immigration Minister, said the new startup visa would link foreign brains with Canadian finance and provide a boost for the economy.

Alexis Pavlich, the minister’s press secretary, said Canada was actively seeking innovative and ambitious young immigrants to spur job growth, adding that the initiative is being explored as a way of making the immigration system faster, fairer and more flexible.

Although the details of the scheme will not be released until later in the year, the government has said it intends to reserve 2,750 visas every year for entrepreneurs receiving Canadian investment.

Version One Ventures, a company based in Vancouver that invests in a number of internet and tech startup ventures every year, is one of the venture funds being consulted by the immigration department about the new visa scheme. The firm’s founder Boris Wertz said that a country could never have too many brains and that countries around the globe were constantly competing for the best talent.

Kenney said he would also be making changes to the investor class visa in an attempt to clear a backlog of applications stretching back ten years from people wanting to invest cash in return for permission to immigrate to Canada.