July 16, 2014 — Vancouver — Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander today welcomed the first two successful applicants under the Start-up Visa Program, which is designed to attract more entrepreneurs and create jobs for Canadians.
Minister Alexander met with the entrepreneurs at GrowLab Ventures Inc. of Vancouver, the Canadian business incubator that is supporting Stanislav Korsei and Oleksandr Zadorozhnyi, formerly of Ukraine, in the development of their company, Zeetl Inc. Korsei and Zadorozhnyi have developed an application that allows firms to monitor social media for customer complaints and concerns and instantly establishes a temporary direct phone line that the customer can call.
The Start-up Visa Program, launched last year, brings together Canadian venture capital funds, angel investors and business incubators with entrepreneurs from abroad. Entrepreneurs present their business plan to Canadian private-sector firms and, if they receive support, they can apply for permanent residence in Canada.
With the Start-up Visa, Canada is targeting a new type of immigrant entrepreneur who has the potential to build innovative companies that can create jobs for Canadians and compete on a global scale.
Alexis Pavlich
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064
Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca
Building a stronger Canada: Citizenship and Immigration Canada strengthens Canada’s economic, social and cultural prosperity, helping ensure Canadian safety and security while managing one of the largest and most generous immigration programs in the world.
