Britons who have the skills to be able to live and work anywhere in the world say Canada is one of the top 10 best countries to visit as a digital nomad.
In its Global Digital Nomad Report for this year, Global Citizen Solutions (GCS) ranked 65 destinations using 12 key indicators under five indexes, including:
- visa costs, including the application costs and income requirements
- visa benefits, including the duration of the visa duration, its path to citizenship, and possibility of extension;
- quality of life, including the climate, security, healthcare and pollution, and proficiency in English;
- economics, including the cost of living, tax optimization and co-working desk prices, and;
- technology and innovation, including internet speed and the country’s Global Innovation Index as published by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
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On that list of the top 10 countries for digital nomads, Canada ranked eighth, beating out France and Hungary but ranking lower than sunny Portugal, and Malta.
Romania ranked fifth and Estonia fourth. The third-place in the rankings went to Norway. The Netherlands ranked second and the top spot with all its bragging rights went to Spain.
The United States did not make the top 10 list of destinations for digital nomads.
“Digital nomads don’t need a work visa to work remotely from Canada,” notes Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). “You can visit for up to six months at a time.
“Choose this option if you work for an employer outside of Canada, can do your job remotely, and want to experience Canada.”
Brits with a valid passport flying to Canada to work as digital nomads might not need a work visa but they do need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) which is an entry requirement for visa-exempt foreign nationals travelling to Canada by air.
“An eTA is electronically linked to a traveller’s passport,” notes the federal government’s website. “It is valid for up to five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first.”
An eTA costs only $7.
“Most applicants get their eTA approval (via an email) within minutes,” notes Ottawa. “However, some requests can take several days to process if you’re asked to submit supporting documents.”
In the past few years, Canada has been actively trying to attract digital nomads, seeing it as a way of bringing in highly-skilled workers who can then be recruited by tech companies and immigrate to the country.
“We expect that some digital nomads who initially enter Canada to work remotely will decide to seek opportunities with Canadian employers,” notes Ottawa.
“When they receive a job offer from a Canadian company, they would be able to bring their skills to a Canadian employer by applying for a temporary work permit or even permanent residence.”
SUV Provides A Pathway To Permanent Residence For Immigrant Entrepreneurs
Under its Global Skills Strategy, Canada has four policies designed to support Canadian employers seeking quick access to highly-skilled talent from around the world and processing times for its work permit applications have recovered after delays throughout the pandemic.
“Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is meeting the two-week standard for processing Global Talent Stream labour market impact assessments for employers, and IRCC is meeting the two-week standard for work permit applications,” notes Ottawa.
The Start-Up Visa (SUV) program, which allows foreign entrepreneurs to get their permanent residence with the support of a designated Canadian venture capital fund, angel investor organization or business incubator for their start-up, has become increasingly popular.
Monthly entrepreneur immigration to Canada rose by 29.4 per cent in May after a sluggish April, welcoming 550 new permanent residents in the fifth month of the year.
At the current level of SUV immigration, the country could welcome 5,832 new permanent residents through that business program by the end of this year. That would be a 299.4-per cent increase in SUV immigration compared to the 1,460 who arrived under the program last year.
Launched in 2015, the SUV saw only 55 immigrant entrepreneurs come to Canada through that program in its initial year.
That number, though, doubled to 110 new permanent residents in 2016 and rose another 22.7 per cent the following year. By 2018, the program had more than quadrupled in popularity with 240 new permanent residents arriving under the SUV that year.
In 2019, the last full year before the arrival of COVID-19, the SUV welcomed 515 new permanent residents to Canada.
As the pandemic swept across Canada and public health and travel restrictions were imposed, though, immigration plummeted 45.9 per cent – and the number of people who arrived under the SUV fell in tandem with that overall drop in immigration to Canada.
In 2020, only 260 immigrant entrepreneurs became new permanent residents of Canada through the SUV.
With immigration rebounding strongly in 2021 to hit 406,020 new permanent residents, the SUV also saw increased activity with 385 new permanent residents coming to Canada through it that year, an improvement of 48.1 per cent over 2020.
It took until 2022 for the SUV to fully recover from the pandemic-fuelled downturn but it more than doubled in popularity last year compared to the previous year.
Work Visas Allow Immigrant Entrepreneurs To Start Working On Their Business
Candidates applying under the SUV program can initially come to Canada on a work permit supported by their designated Canadian investor before their application for permanent residence is finalized.
The entire process of applying for permanent residence to Canada through the SUV is currently estimated by the IRCC to take 39 months.
Under the SUV, three types of private-sector investors are considered: angel investors, venture capital funds, and business incubators.
A designated venture capital fund must confirm that it is investing at least $200,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more commitments from designated venture capital funds totalling $200,000.
A designated angel investor group must invest at least $75,000 into the qualifying business. Candidates can also qualify with two or more investments from angel investor groups totalling $75,000.
A designated business incubator must accept the applicant into its business incubator program. It is up to the immigrant investor to develop a viable business plan that will meet the due diligence requirements of these government-approved designated entities.
The basic government-imposed candidate eligibility requirements for the SUV are:
- a qualifying business;
- a commitment certificate and letter of support from a designated entity;
- sufficient unencumbered, available and transferable settlement funds to meet settlement funding, and;
- proficiency in English or French at the minimum Canadian Language Benchmark level 5. However, it frequently occurs that higher levels of English are needed to meet due diligence requirements imposed by designated entities.
