Immigrate to Canada: Express Entry vs Startup Visa Canada

This is a guest post from Jason Muloongo, an immigrant to Canada and founder of littpro.com, a website that shares deep expertise through teaching inspirational and motivational online courses.

—–

On December 29 2016, I set foot on Canadian soil as a newly landed immigrant. I landed at Pearson International Airport and walked off the plane with my head held high and quite a pep to my step. As I headed towards the lineup for immigration, I knew that this would be the last time entering Canada in the visitor line. I lined up and slowly moved towards the row of immigration desks. 

As I waited patiently, I went over my document checklist to ensure that I had everything ready – Confirmation of Permanent Residency (COPR), proof of funds, Startup Visa Canada Letter, passport etc and carefully recited the words in my head exactly as my lawyer had instructed me to do. When my turn finally came, the officer motioned for me to step forward.

I looked down at my Canadian Permanent resident Visa in my passport one last time, knowing my whole life was about to change.

I took a deep breath and stepped forward. Fast-forward 3 years and 3 months, and I have loved every moment of the journey – even the not-so-glamorous parts.

Since then, I have been asked more times than I can remember a combination of one, or all three of these questions:

• I want to come to Canada. How can I immigrate to Canada?
• What is the easiest/fastest way to move to Canada?
• Jason, can you help me get PR?

All really good questions asked by highly ambitious and hungry individuals.

Immediately, I am reminded of that same desire I once had. Unfortunately, the answer is not as easy as 1, 2, 3 and that is why only a legal professional can advise you what is right to do for your situation. However, I recognize that I have been lucky enough to complete the startup visa Canada journey and by sharing my story, I can help those not yet brave enough to understand their own story waiting to be written.

I want to come to Canada. How can I immigrate to Canada?

There are many ways, but as most situations are unique and each case is different it is hard to describe only one way. The most common that are applicable to most people and where the most amount of immigration takes place is in the Economic Class of Immigration Visas. Of the Economic Class visas, Express Entry is the most applicable to all but equally the most competitive. 

To see the Canada Express Entry requirements, check out our blog post here.

But there is also another visa that is not as well known but relatively just as straight forward if you have the right mindset for it (I repeat, the right mindset, not financial resources). It is the Startup Visa Canada.

Started in 2012, but fully operational in 2014, the Canada startup visa is a way for innovators and entrepreneurs to come to Canada and build businesses that help the Canadian government create jobs. A paradigm shift to coming to Canada to take up a job. 

The main items from Canada startup visa requirements checklist are: 

• an English exam
• police clearance
• proof of medical health
• proof of settlement funds (not investment funds) 
• and the most important is a letter of support from a designated entity.

Designated entities are either Venture Capital Groups, Angel Investors or Business Incubators. The Venture capital and Angel investment groups require capital to be put down. The Business incubators do not require any capital, they only want to see a very promising Canadian business with promising soon to be Canadian founders.

The biggest benefit is that you and your co-founders can come to Canada with your families (spouse and kids) too.

How competitive is it? Well let us take a look at the numbers for Express Entry vs. the Startup Visa.

Average number of people in the Express Entry pool at any time – 145,000

Average number of people applying to get a startup visa per year  – 2,220

What is the easiest/fastest way to move to Canada?

Depends on how you handle competition. If you are super competitive and can get a high CRS score then Express Entry may be best. But if you are not super competitive in job experience and you want to do more than get a job then I strongly recommend considering the Startup Visa Canada.

The Startup Visa Canada:

In 12 – 16 months you could have you and your whole family here, building and running a Canadian business. In some cases it can take 3 months. In my case it took 11 months and during that period I was eligible for an open work permit, that allowed me to move to Canada immediately unlike the Express Entry visa where you must wait the entire duration of the application period before coming to Canada.

Jason, Can you help me get Permanent Residency?

The answer is No. No because PR is ultimately a decision up to the federal government. You need to comply with their requirements and checklist in order to satisfy an immigration officer of your intentions to come to Canada. So no I cannot guarantee you PR and no one ever should.

But what I can do is  make it clearer to you how achievable it is by sharing with you how my journey went from start to finish and what I am up to now. I can introduce you to all the people along the way who helped me and the legal professionals who are familiar with the Startup Visa Canada. I can definitely help make your journey easier.

I have designed a quiz to help individuals know if they have what it takes to pursue a startup visa. Take this quiz to find out if the startup visa is for you or sign up for the free Visto portal below to get started on your own immigration journey too!

This is a guest post from Jason Muloongo, an immigrant to Canada and founder of littpro.com, a website that shares deep expertise through teaching inspirational and motivational online courses.