Canada is banking on a ‘digital nomad’ strategy to win the race for tech talent – National | 24CA News
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser on Tuesday stated Canada goes after so-called “digital nomads” in STEM fields amid a “global race” for high-skilled staff — and on the identical time, rolling out plans to assist momentary foreign staff develop extra abilities whereas they work in Canada.
Speaking on the Collision Conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Fraser stated Canada was getting ready a roadmap to win what he referred to as a “global race” to draw one of the best tech expertise on this planet.
“People and capital have been more mobile than they have ever been at any point in the world’s history,” he stated.
“There’s no question that as borders opened up, that we are in a global race for the same pool of talent as our competitors around the entire world. I think Canada is winning that race, but we might be winning it by an even larger margin.”
Fraser stated Ottawa could be launching a brand new and devoted pathway for everlasting residents that’s particularly out there to staff and staff within the STEM sector, which covers science, know-how, engineering and arithmetic.
“Over the course of this year, Canada is going to be developing a specific stream for some of the world’s most highly talented people that will be able to come to Canada and work for tech companies, whether they have a job offer or not,” he stated.
He additionally introduced that Canada could be rolling out a “digital nomad strategy” for extremely expert staff within the tech sector.
“(The digital nomad strategy) is going to allow people who have a foreign employer to come and work in Canada for up to six months, live in communities in this country and spend money in communities in this country, and should they receive a job offer while they’re here, we’re going to allow them to continue to stay and work in Canada,” he stated.
Fraser stated Canada’s immigration technique was knowledgeable by what’s occurring within the United States.
He referenced “a public narrative around layoffs” whilst there are “private conversations about opportunities.”
“Going forward, as of July 16, we will have a stream that will allow 10,000 H1B visa holders in the United States to come and work in Canada,” he stated.
Fraser admitted that the startup visas program, which creates pathways to everlasting residency for entrepreneurs who create firms that can rent Canadians, has not reached its potential on account of “design flaws.”
He added that for these within the queue, the federal government will concern open work permits whereas they wait for his or her startup visa purposes to be processed.
And for tech staff making use of beneath the brand new course of, Fraser steered “we expect we can process that work permit within two weeks, so companies can have access to the talent they need, when they need it.”
He didn’t supply any particulars about how Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) goes to scale back processing instances.
IRCC has been riddled with backlogs for the reason that begin of the pandemic. In April, there have been 809,000 immigration purposes in backlog. The determine included momentary resident purposes, everlasting purposes and citizenship grants.
On June 16, the IRCC’s up to date knowledge revealed that the variety of backlogged purposes had risen to 820,000.
Temporary international employee research program guidelines
In one other vital announcement Tuesday, Fraser stated momentary international staff (TWFs) who’ve legitimate work permits however no research permits will now be capable of enrol in an academic establishment with out a restrict on the size of the research program.
Fraser stated the momentary measure went into rapid impact on Tuesday and can assist TFWs develop their abilities and search higher employment alternatives. He stated international staff can research full-time or part-time whereas their work permits are legitimate or till the expiration of the coverage, with no restrictions on the size of this system.
“Temporary foreign workers are incredibly important for the Canadian economy, and many have aspirations that go far beyond the work that initially brings them to Canada,” Fraser stated.
“With this policy in place, we hope to empower foreign nationals to improve their skills in order to meet their career goals and achieve their dreams, while providing a future potential source of talent for our labour market.”
He added that this can assist Canada fill labour necessities in key sectors of the economic system resembling well being care and building.
A latest Statistics Canada report stated companies throughout Canada have been having issue filling job vacancies.
The report stated 36.9 per cent of all companies confronted challenges, however a number of sectors have been the toughest hit. Recruiting high-skilled staff was a problem for 49.5 per cent of Canada’s building companies, 47.4 per cent of producing companies and 46.3 per cent of companies within the lodging and meals providers business.
The federal authorities’s technique to take care of the labour scarcity includes shoring up immigration. According to authorities knowledge, whereas 50 years in the past, there have been seven staff for each retiree in Canada, at the moment, that ratio is nearer to a few staff for each retiree.
And if Canada stays on its present trajectory, within the subsequent 10 to fifteen years, it can drop to 2 staff for each retiree.
The IRCC assertion added that round 75 per cent of Canada’s inhabitants progress comes from immigration and by 2036, immigrants are projected to make up 30 per cent of the nation’s inhabitants.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
