Canadian Immigration Minister Announces Tech Talent Strategy

High-tech manufacturing and IT industries are developing very rapidly in Canada. And companies in these fields need talent to help innovate and drive emerging technology forward.

At the Collision 2023 Technology Conference in Toronto, Minister of Immigration and Citizenship Sean Fraser announced that Canada will launch its first-ever Tech Talent Strategy. The strategy will introduce new and improve existing measures to help Canadian companies succeed in a competitive environment. Fraser called these very measures more "aggressive" than those that have gone before.

First, holders of a U.S. work visa (H-1B) will now be able to apply for a work permit in Canada. Moreover, family members who have moved with the holder of such a visa will be able to obtain a permit to study or work in Canada.

Second, the Innovation Stream of the International Mobility Program is scheduled to launch later in 2023. The International Mobility Program allows employers to hire employees temporarily without conducting a labor market impact assessment (LMIA).

Innovation Stream plans to attract highly talented specialists to the country. They will be able to get a work permit for up to 5 years. To do this, they must be invited to work in certain companies, which for this stream will be approved by the Government of Canada, or be a highly skilled holder of a profession in demand. Details about the stream will be available later.

Global Skills Strategy work permit applications are also expected to be processed again within 2 weeks. Global Skills Strategy is a program launched in 2017 that was designed to allow Canadian employers to quickly access highly skilled workers from around the world. Under the GSS, work permit applications were initially considered within 14 days if a potential employee met several criteria:

• exempted from the LMIA;
• filed applications while he was outside of Canada;
• his job is under TEER category 0 or 1 of NOC.

The COVID-19 pandemic has extended the application review timeframe. The IRCC now plans to return to a 2-week processing time.

There are also plans to promote Canada as the best choice for "digital nomads".

Additional opportunities to apply for immigration under Express Entry for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are anticipated.

Improvements are also expected in the Start-Up Visa Program (Start-Up Visa Program):

• the program increased the number of spots in 2023, with further increases planned for the next two years;
• applicants will now be able to obtain a work permit for three years instead of one;
• applicants will be able to apply for an open work permit, instead of a permit that restricts them from working in their own startup;
• an open work permit for three years will be available to every member of the entrepreneurial team, not just those who are needed in Canada;
• Priority will be given to applications that have received support from venture capital, investor groups and business incubators and have allocated capital, as well as applications that have received support from business incubators that are members of Canada's Tech Network.

The Canadian government is doing everything it can to be a world leader in attracting technology talent and entrepreneurial start-ups. The Canadian government believes it will provide the talent and opportunities to create jobs today and in the future.