The Council of Canadian Innovators advocates a Digital Nomads Strategy
They recommend allowing in-demand specialists into the country without a job offer.
The Council of Canadian Innovators (CCI) was heavily involved into developing the Global Talent Stream five years ago alongside with the federal government. Now that the U.K. has published its national innovation strategy for attracting talented immigrants, the Council of Canadian Innovators is calling for something similar to be implemented in Canada.
In addition to simplified immigration for highly skilled professionals who receive a job offer from a fast-growing technology company, the U.K. plans to introduce an open-authorization visa for IT specialists. If the country's economy urgently needs workers in specific area, there is no need to wait for the employer and employee to find each other via the Internet, arrange everything, draw up all the necessary documents and organize the relocation.
The Council of Canadian Innovators believes that Canada should pursue the same immigration policy, at least in high-tech industries. The country will benefit both from in-demand specialists who will work after arrival, and IT specialists who work remotely.
The CCI published several other recommendations, some of which are directly related to immigration:
- regularly review the NOC occupational classifier codes;
- make it easier to become a permanent resident though the Global Talent Stream;
- simplify the recognition of international and foreign credentials;
- expand the Global Skills Strategy program and speed up application processing.
