International employees need a work permit to be able to legally work in Canada. Few of these work permits are specifically designed for tech workers. Albeit it is possible for a tech worker to straight away apply for a permanent residency without even going to Canada.
Studies have shown that immigrants who have Canadian work experience tend to have better labour market outcomes in the industry. Their income is sparingly better and they are employed in the initial year of their landing in the Maple country.
The following is a list of some Canadian work permit options for tech workers.
Global Talent Stream
One significant temporary path is the Global Talent Stream, which is formulated to process 80 percent of the applications within two weeks or less. It is used by employers to fetch in high-skilled professionals at the earliest.
Category A- This is for the companies that are expanding quickly and instantly require specialized talent from abroad. For any A category employer, it is compulsory to get approval from a referral partner. The partner can usually be a local, semi-government, or government agency that is indulged in the city or an area’s economic development.
Category B- For employers who are seeking specifically skilled workers that have been listed as being needed, but scarce in supply. The list is known as the Global Talent Occupations List. The recent Canada’s list contains 12 occupations with every one of them associated with the technological field.
The employers are expected to meet other criteria as well. For example, they are required to show how hiring a foreigner would benefit Canada permanently. Proving the new hire will eventually create jobs for Canadians or transmit skills or knowledge. The employer is also responsible for paying the foreigner a certain minimum wage. Although this could vary between occupations and provinces.
CUSMA
The Canadian United States Mexico Agreement has provisions that make talent mobility among the three countries easy. The two major categories that are relevant to tech workers are Professionals and Intra-Company Transfers (ICT)
63 occupations are identified by CUSMA under the professional category. Among these 63 professions, computer systems analysts are one of them.
ICT’s are employees who move from locations within the company to a branch in Canada. There is no list as to which occupations qualify or are excluded. An intra-company transferee is someone who has at least worked for the company for a year or has splendid management roles and special knowledge
Intra-Company Transfer (non CUSMA)
Other than Mexico and the United States, making an ICT for a country is possible. For example, the free trade between the European Union and Canada (CETA) has provisions for ICTs, as does the agreement with the UK.
If an employee comes to Canada through any ICT he does not need a Labour Market Impact Assessment. The LMIA is the process that manifests that hiring a temporary employee would not replace any Canadian workers.
Pathways to Permanent Residency
Permanent residency is for those who have planned to stay in Canada on a long-term basis. Permanent residents are allowed more mobility with the country than temporary residents. Permanent residents do not need a work permit to stay in Canada. Although they have to renew their PR card at some point in time. If a permanent resident is living in Canada for a few years, it opens up the possibility of them becoming a citizen of the country.
Express Entry
Express Entry is the most favored pathway of immigrating to Canada for skilled workers across all disciplines. Express Entry has often been cognizant as an immigration program but it is actually an online application management system. For tech workers there are two out of three programs that are managed by the Express Entry system: the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW), and the Canadian Express Class (CEC). The Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP) is more for tradespeople.
Express Entry is created to process 80 percent of applications in six months or less. The selection is based upon scores that are derived considering various factors such as education, language, and work experience. Once in 14 days, the Canadian Government selects high-scoring profiles based on these factors and sends them invitations to apply for permanent residence.
The Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSW) is constructed for people without major exposure to Canada. To qualify for FSW one must have at least one year of Canadian or foreign work experience in a high-skilled job. These high-skilled jobs are classified by Canada as National Occupational Code (NOC) categories A or B. The tech jobs are classified under NOC A. For an FSW applicant, it is also important to score a minimum of 7 on either the English CLB or the French NCLC language scoring systems. They do not require a job offer, but having one can definitely contribute more points to their overall score.
CEC is established for those who have already studied or worked in Canada. According to the criteria, a person needs to have at least one year (in the past three) of work experience in either NOC A or B. They are required to have CLB or NCLC 7 if their occupation is enlisted in NOC A. Although with FSW, a job offer is not required. But if you have one, you gain extra points.
According to the recent Express Entry Annual Report, one-third of the successful applicants are tech workers. Four out of the five top occupations that are most selected for ITA’s are in the technology itself.
British Columbia Tech
The British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (BC PNP) gives a priority pathway called the BC Tech stream available to only certain tech workers. This Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) majorly targets candidates who have job offers in one of 29 eligible tech occupations in Canada.
The eligibility depends on the qualification of at least one other B.C. immigration program. The Tech stream is a special path that works within other programs, rather than being a program itself.
All those who have qualified as an eligible candidate, are invited to apply for a provincial nomination from the BC PNP through weekly tech draws. BC Tech candidates get numerous benefits such as a special processing officer and priority processing.
Ontario Tech Draws
There are Tech Draws in Ontario from time to time. The eligibility remains that one must qualify for Ontario’s Human Capital Priorities stream. In other words, this means that one must be eligible for either Federal Skilled Worker Program or the Canadian Experience Class. To be eligible for this Tech Draw, one needs to have work experience in one of the following six tech occupations: computer programmers, software engineers, and designers; and interactive media developers; computer engineers; database analysts and data administrators; web designers and developers; and computer and information systems managers.
The latest Quebec Immigration Program for Workers in Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology
In April 2021, the province of Quebec launched this immigration pilot, which has two major streams.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
This stream itself consists of two sub-streams: one for Quebec graduates, and the other for workers who have been trained abroad. These two categories will somewhat differ as per their requirement. For example, the Quebec sub-graduate stream will require the applicant to have experience and a job offer. The foreign workers sub-stream does not require a job offer, in some cases. But, both demand that an applicant should have a relevant education at least equal to a Quebec bachelor’s degree.
Information technology (IT) and visual effects
It is assumed that people in this program must have worked for at least two out of the last five years in the listed 10 occupations. It is important that they have an ongoing job or new job offer in their field. They should also meet the education requirement and proof of the least equivalent Quebec technical studies diploma or bachelor’s degree.
Both streams are further divided into two divisions. One is for francophones, and one for non-francophones. A person who applies under the francophone category must prove that they have advanced intermediate knowledge of French. The non-francophone stream is highly uncommon. Generally, a Quebec immigration category will require knowledge of French.
