Canada is one of the most exciting places in the world for young people to immigrate to begin their great adventure called life. Many success stories have started here. Perhaps the best known name of those who immigrated to Canada before making their mark on the global stage is Elon Musk. Pretty much everyone nowadays recognises his name, but fewer actually know his story.
Born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa, by the time Elon was 12 he’d taught himself computer programmingand created his first original video game “Blaster” that he sold to PC and Office Technology for around $500!At age 17 Musk moved to Canada to study at Queen’s University, Kingston.
Musk co-founded a software company, Zip2, which he sold just four years later to Compaq for $307 million ($22m to Musk). Taking half that he created X.com, an e-mail payment company that merged a year later with Confinity, a firm that had a small money transfer service they called PayPal.
Still just 31, Musk received $165m of the $1.5 billion eBay paid for PayPal in 2002.
“I like video games,” Musk once admitted, “That’s what got me into software engineering when I was a kid … nothing like saving the world”. And it seems he’s still at it. On earth, Musk is the visionary CEO of groundbreaking electric carmaker Tesla, whose subsidiary SolarCity is the US 2nd largest solar solar power supplier.
But his greatest passion is the stars. Fascinated by interstellar travel from childhood, Musk founded SpaceX, now the world’s largest private rocket engine producer, with contracts from NASA to replace the Space Shuttle. Musk’s stated goal with SpaceX is to create “a true spacefaring civilization”.
It’s now easier than ever to apply for a Canadian Visa. Thousands are moving to Canada due to the relatively minimal requirements and easy process of applying. However, just like everything new, it’s the early adopters who benefit the most. Elon Musk wouldn’t be who he is without Canada’s open arms policy of welcoming diverse immigration from South Africa. There simply is no better time for immigrants to apply for Canadian Citizenship.
