Tech employers in Canada continue facing a shortage of labor, despite the pandemic technology sector continues to grow. The way to support gaps in the labor market is by hiring employees from foreign countries.
A new visa pilot allows the technology workers to come to Canada without having a job offer in their hands.
Knowing the importance of the tech sector to the economy, the Provincial and federal governments of Canada offer many options for employers wishing to recruit technical talent. Some options are given below that your company can pursue.
Global Talent
The Global talent stream is planned for the process of applications in two weeks or less than two weeks. To avail of this, fast-track work permit there are two categories that are category A and B, in which the employer must be eligible under these categories.
Category A is for those companies which have got approval from the referral partner. Reference partners of these categories are agencies of local government or semi-government that support the local economies.
Another Category is B which is for those employers who are seeking skilled workers with a profession on the Global Talent profession list. Some professions are qualified such as software engineers, computer engineers, and designers.
Both categories of employers must have to fulfill the conditions that relate to the payment of skilled workers.
The prevailing salary is highest among:
- The average salary for a business at the Government of Canada Job Bank;
- Salary within the limits to be paid by an employer.
Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement:
Under the ICTs employees are moving locations within their multinational company to a branch.
Two categories are applicable for technical workers: professional and intra-company relocation (ICT).
63 occupations are qualified under the professional category which is identified by CUSMA.
Intra-Company Transfer
Making an ICT is possible from another country rather than Mexico or the United States. For example, ICT has provisions for the free trade agreement between Canada and European, and the same agreement with the U.K.
Employees who are coming to Canada through ICT don’t need to have an LMIA. The existence of LMIA shows the government of federal that hiring a foreign worker will have a positive effect on the labor market of Canada. LMIAs are a time and money-taking process because their employers try to avoid this.
Ways to get permanent residency
After getting PR status in Canada, foreign workers can work there without having a renewal of work permit and LMIA. Job offers are required in some routes to get PR, but technical workers can obtain PR on their own.
There are many immigration routes open to skilled workers, and some specially designed for technical workers.
Express Entry Program
The Express Entry program is a route to migrate to Canada for skilled workers. It manages some of the main migration applications online. There are two ways that tech workers can use to immigrate to Canada that are FSW (the Federal Skilled worker Program) and CEC (the Canadian Experience Class). Every two weeks, an Invitation to Apply is issued by Canada for the candidates who score highest. Those applicants who obtain ITA are eligible to apply for permanent residency in Canada.
Draws for FSWP and CEC candidates have been put on hold by IRCC for some time. Draws for express entry candidates will resume in July, said “Sean Fraser”.
Canada has invited only those candidates who have nominations from the Provincial Nominating Program (PNP).
Provincial migration for technology workers
Migration applications for permanent residence are supported by the Canadian provinces. Quebec is operating its immigration system. Provincial Nominee programs allow other provinces and territories to nominate candidates through an express entry system or their base programs.
The following are some selected provincial programs available to technical workers. over 100 economic-class immigration streams.
Alberta Accelerated Tech
Alberta’s Accelerated Tech Pathway provides an accelerated provincial enrollment option for qualified Express Admissions candidates. AAIP stream was launched in January 2022.
Those who want to receive expedited processing under this route must fulfill the eligibility criteria for the Alberta Express Entry stream (AEES). They also need to be currently working in Alberta in one of 23 eligible occupations.
British Columbia technology draw
The BC PNP provides an opportunity that is called the BC tech steam. This stream is available to certain technical workers.
Candidates who are for this draw are invited to apply for Provincial Enrollment from BC PNP through the weekly Tech Draw.
Tech Draws in Ontario
Ontario tech draws are conducted for those workers who are eligible for the HCP (Human Capital Priorities) stream.
Invited candidates must have fulfilled the eligibility for the CEC (Canadian Experience Class) or FSWP (Federal Skilled worker Program).
They also need to have experience in tech occupations that are given below:
- Designers and software engineers
- Media developers and computer programmers
- Developers and web designers
- Computer and information system managers
- Computer and information systems managers.
Quebec migration program in Artificial Intelligence, IT, and visual effects sectors
This immigration pilot was launched by Quebec in April 2021 to grow in the technology sector:
Artificial Intelligence:
There are two sub-sections in this stream: one for people who are graduating from a Quebec college or university, and the other one is for workers trained abroad. Applicants for the Quebec sub-graduate stream require experience and job offers. In some situations, national workers don’t need to have a job offer.
Visual effects and IT
Those technical workers who are applying for this program must have worked in one of 10 occupations for at least two of the past five years. Candidates must have an ongoing job or new job letter in their field that proves that they have a Quebec technical Studies Diploma or relevant degree of bachelors.
There are two more divisions of both the streams. The first is for francophones, and the other is for non-francophones. A person who is applying under the Francophone category they to be advanced or intermediate in the French language. Non-francophone streams have no such requirement.
Saskatchewan Tech Talent routes
A new technological route was launched by the Saskatchewan migration nominee program.
Candidates who want to be eligible for the tech talent pathway of Saskatchewan must have a SINP job acceptance letter for an eligible technology sector profession.
If the candidates are working in Saskatchewan, they must have a Benchmark of Canadian language (CLB) of 5. A CLB Level 7 is required to apply for Express Entry.
