As part of its Tech Talent Strategy, Canada is allowing digital nomads to come to the country for up to six months and work remotely in tech roles.
This is in alignment with what former Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) Minister Sean Fraser called a generational opportunity for economic growth.
“We’re actually creating a pool of talent of people who will be able to stay in Canada in the long term,” he had said last year.
“When I think about the 10, 20 and even 30-year horizon, rather than the next few months or even the next election cycle, there’s no question in my mind that having more talent for tech entrepreneurs and professionals in this country is going to be a very good thing half a generation from now.”
The Tech Talent Strategy is a strategic immigration initiative to attract temporary tech workers in the United States north of the border to find jobs that report a shortage of qualified employees. Canada is, moreover, reaching out to digital nomads from across the world to come and work in it.
Read More
Canada Should Learn from Australia’s International Student Journey: Expert
British Columbia PNP Draw: Province Issues At Least 205 Canada Immigration Invitations
Canada Should Learn from Australia’s International Student Journey: Expert
“(That digital nomad strategy) will allow people who have a foreign employer to come live in Canada for up to six months, live 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,” Fraser said at the Collision Conference in Toronto in June 2023.
A digital nomad is a person, as per IRCC, who “can perform their job remotely from anywhere in the world.”
They only require visitor status to come to Canada for period of 6 months at a time while they perform their job remotely for a foreign employer or, if they already are employed, working for themselves or providing services to clients outside of Canada.
A person may come to Canada as a digital nomad to work remotely, but seek a work permit if they find a Canadian employer after entry.
If an intention to find a Canadian employer is declared, they should be counselled that a work permit will be needed before starting work for such an employer.
Digital nomads do not need additional documentation, although they must satisfy the officer that they will leave at the end of their authorized stay in the country.
Should the digital nomad find a Canadian employer willing to hire them, they would require a work permit.
Watch video
Family members of digital nomads who intend to work or study in Canada should apply for a work permit or study permit.
Canada is a top destination for digital nomads.
In 2022, United Kingdom-based Circle Loop, a provider of a cloud-based VoIP solution which provides phone systems accessible via desktop and mobile devices, published its Digital Nomad Index and ranked Canada as the number one destination for digital nomads.
There is supposed to be no cap on the number of people who can come to Canada under the digital nomad strategy.
