Canadian grants for immigrant tech workers?

July 24, 2013 9:03 AM

Are there any grants available to Canadian businesses that would fund them bringing in a worker outside the country (From the US) to work in Canada?

A small company wishes to hire me but currently they don't have the funds as they don't have a product yet and they're trying to build staff. They're mostly grant funded right now, so they're looking for options. They're in Newfoundland, in the tech industry and I'm in the US. This role would be as a programmer.

I really don't know the Canadian grant system very well, I'm hoping someone here will. Thanks.

posted by hellojed to Work & Money (3 answers total)

The Provincial Nominee Program (in BC) allowed employers to fast-track technology recruitment of non-Canadians, but that program has been suspended.

There's a somewhat dubious program that pays half the wages of a (very) junior level Canadian hire in the tech sector (I say it's dubious because the starting salary is so bloody low it's ridiculous, and generally speaking an employer who can't fund a full-time position themselves is not worth taking seriously).

In Canada, there are few if any programs, in the tech sector anyway, that provide operating grants to cover things that startup employers typically want help for, staffing and marketing.

Startup funding is usually focussed on very early stage companies that have bootstrapped their way to getting a prototype designed and built (there are few resources in Canada even for prototyping).

No resources for "crossing the chasm" and cementing the foundations for growth by building up a team.

We do hire foreign workers, typically to work for extremely low wages (paid by employers) in the food service, healthcare, and construction industries. Not a pretty system and a blight on Canada in my opinion.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:17 AM on July 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Quebec offers generous tax credits for scientific research and development but this may or may not apply to the project that you are working on. You would have to carry out the R&D in Quebec, not Newfoundland.
posted by unlaced at 9:48 AM on July 24, 2013

Newfoundland and Labrador has a Provincial Nominee Program too and despite the debacle that was Budget 2013, it still exists.
posted by futureisunwritten at 10:35 AM on July 24, 2013 [1 favorite]