A brain gain for Canada?

The world’s top tech talent is now looking north of the border – are you taking advantage of the new visa program to lure tech candidates?

A brain gain for Canada?
Canadian HR departments are making the most of immigration uncertainty in the United States by luring tech talent with Canada’s new streamlined visa process.

Trump vowed to reform the H-1B visa program that had helped the US tech industry to attract the world’s brightest individuals for many years.

In response, the Canadian government implemented a new, expedited visa program that enables companies to hire highly skilled foreign workers in shorter time frames.

Naumaan Hameed, a partner and Canadian Practice Leader at KPMG Law LLP previously spoke to HRD about the new visa program.

“The global talent stream allows high growth companies in Canada in need of unique global talent (Category A) and employers seeking certain in-demand professionals (Category B) primarily in IT occupations, to drastically reduce the timeline, red-tape and overall costs required to hire and access critical foreign talent” said Hameed.

“Under the new pilot program, an employer can obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) approval within ten business days, whereas under the regular stream, processing times are typically six to ten weeks” he said.

David Asgeirsson of Sheba Microsystems used the fast-track visa to bring in an engineer from China, reported CGTN America.

“He has worked in several companies in China designing and bringing to market new cameras in the past so his engineering expertise was the perfect fit for us and that positive experience – hiring him – means that we’re really open to hire other people who are just coming into Canada for the first time as well,” Asgeirsson, VP of Operations, said.

Likewise, the University of Toronto with its strong Artificial Intelligence department, has seen an increase in job applications from US based candidates since the election of Trump.

While the visa process has been streamlined, Hameed advised HR departments to take care with visa applications of candidates.

“The key to successfully navigating the global talent stream involves advanced preparation by the employer to respond quickly and appropriately throughout the LMIA application process and upon future reviews of the LMBP” he said.


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Tech firms take stand against travel ban

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