[Azure]

Verge with another great article about US immigration, and they bring up the new program up here that is launching April 1.

Last week, the Canadian government unveiled new details about its Start-Up Visa Program — a pilot initiative designed to lure immigrant entrepreneurs and investors with the promise of permanent residency.

When the program launches on April 1st, entrepreneurs meeting certain language and educational requirements will be able to easily gain permanent resident status, as long as they’ve obtained an as-yet unspecified minimum amount of funding from a Canadian venture capital fund, angel investor, or business incubator. The government will work directly with these firms to first identify promising candidates, before clearing them for entry within the span of a few weeks.

Both Chile and the UK have taken a similar approach to foreign entrepreneurship, but Canada’s program is bolder than most. Unlike other initiatives, Canada’s startup visa offers permanent and unconditional residency right off the bat, providing entrepreneurs with a comparatively straightforward path to citizenship.

The hope, according to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, is that this streamlined approach will "make Canada the destination of choice for the world's best and brightest" entrepreneurs, while breathing new life into the Canadian tech sector as a whole.

The gradual decline of Waterloo-based BlackBerry has left something of a power vacuum at the center of Canada’s tech industry, but it’s also created opportunities for new companies to flower in major cities like Vancouver and Toronto, as well as emerging outposts in Ottawa and Halifax. And although Canadian entrepreneurs like Cinemagram founder Temo Chalasani continue to leave their country for the glamour and riches of Silicon Valley, officials say an injection of foreign talent could be enough to lure them back home.

Yuri Navarro, Executive Director of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), says the complexities of US immigration played a direct role in Canada’s decision to open its doors.

"The government has been clear that they see it as an opportunity," said Navarro, whose organization is one of three trade groups collaborating with the government to implement its initiative. "And it’s one that was created by the inability of the US to pass anything like this."

Kenney took on a notably more assertive tone at Thursday’s press conference, telling reporters that the startup visa would take direct aim at Silicon Valley.

"When this thing gets launched, I plan to go down to Silicon Valley with some of the industry associations here and fly the Canadian flag," Kenney said.

It’s far too soon to say whether Canada’s strategy will pay dividends; the program hasn’t even begun its five-year pilot run, and officials expect to issue only a few hundred startup visas in its first year. But the country’s bold approach has suddenly put US immigration policy in even harsher relief, raising an important question: will American lawmakers’ newfound enthusiasm for immigration reform actually result in a more welcoming environment for foreign entrepreneurs?

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/30/39...eform-congress