US Visa Uncertainty Directing Foreign Tech Workers Toward Canada

Thousands of foreign technology workers in the United States are job hunting in neighboring Canada to avoid unemployment if the Trump administration shuts down temporary work visas.

Nearly 42% of searches with regard to jobs abroad are directed at Canada, reported Huffington Post, citing data released by the U.S. job board Indeed.com. Reportedly, there has been a sudden increase in the number searches since Trump won the election.

This is good news for Canada where technology workers are in high demand. The country’s Information and Communications Technology Council, recently recommended that the government create 182,000 more skilled ICT workers by 2019.

Meanwhile, the Canadian tech community is pressing the country’s federal government to relax immigration laws and absorb foreign workers that are likely to be displaced by the U.S. executive order.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister, the tech community, comprised of about 150 technology firms, has urged the government to give foreign workers access to all sorts of employee benefits, as well as an opportunity to apply for permanent residency.

Reports say a “Start-up Visa Program” is already in place in Canada, and that the country has already poached several foreign entrepreneurs on temporary visas in Silicon Valley, as well as from the Seattle area.

It seems a curb on H-1B visas will disrupt business operations in the United States, because, according to the Silicon Valley Competitiveness and Innovation Project, foreign-born workers occupy over half of the Valley’s STEM jobs.

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