Canada Immigration News

Canada recently launched a new immigration initiative aimed at attracting U.S. H1B visa holders.

In the wake of tighter US immigration controls, for political and bureaucratic reasons, the Canadian federal government is looking to capitalize by launching a new scheme as part of its temporary foreign worker program, with a view to attracting more highly skilled workers to Canada. The new ‘Global Talent’ pilot scheme was made public on Thursday, March 9.

In response to a shortage of global talent in Canada, the government has moved to reduce the processing time for skilled foreign worker visas to two weeks. The government’s decision has been welcomed by the country’s tech industry, which they see as improving Canada’s competitiveness by making it easier to recruit top foreign talent on Canadian visas.

New research published by the World Bank – an international financial institution that provides loans to developing Countries – has listed Canada as one of the top four immigration destination countries in the world that consistently attracts top level, highly skilled immigrants. The US remains first choice for almost 40 percent of highly skilled foreign workers.

Canada’s Building Trades Union (CBTU), which represents more than half a million Canadian construction workers, has presented proposals to a federal parliamentary committee that’s reviewing the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Under the proposals there would be more foreign nationals working in highly-skilled construction jobs.

Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce based in Ontario, Canada has urged the Canadian government to expand the country's temporary worker program by creating a special visa that would enable high-growth companies to attract international management talent more easily. Executive director of the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce, Rory Ring, said: "We need to import the special skills needed to manage companies that are growing 10 times faster than normal."