{"id":125463,"date":"2023-08-16T18:42:17","date_gmt":"2023-08-16T22:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/canada-tech-employers-are-requesting-ircc-to-expand-the-fast-track-work-permit-cap-for-h-1b-applicants\/"},"modified":"2023-08-16T18:42:17","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T22:42:17","slug":"canada-tech-employers-are-requesting-ircc-to-expand-the-fast-track-work-permit-cap-for-h-1b-applicants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/immigration.ca\/fr\/canada-tech-employers-are-requesting-ircc-to-expand-the-fast-track-work-permit-cap-for-h-1b-applicants\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada Tech Employers Are Requesting IRCC to Expand the Fast-Track Work Permit Cap for H-1B Applicants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been requested by Canada tech employers to expand a fast-track work-permit program which pre-emptively reached its cap<\/span><\/a> of 10,000 permanent residence applications from non-citizen U.S. tech workers, the Toronto Star reports.<\/p>\n

The fast-track program falls under Canada\u2019s Tech Talent Strategy<\/span><\/a>, and is aimed at luring 10,000 H-1B visa holding tech workers from the U.S. to come to Canada; however, its cap was reached within just 48 hours of its launch.<\/p>\n

Employer-sponsored H-1B visas allow skilled foreign workers<\/span><\/a> operating in certain specialized occupations \u2013 including some in tech \u2013 to work in the U.S. on a temporary basis of three years (although their visas can be renewed for another three years for qualified applicants).<\/p>\n

However, holders of this visa face several grievances related to immigration procedure, one of them being that the spouses and other family members of H-1B holders have severe restrictions in pursuing their own employment and educational opportunities in the United States.<\/p>\n

H-1B visa holders also face hurdles in launching new businesses, and \u2013 while they were especially sought after during COVID-19\u2019s peak \u2013 they are since being laid off in droves from leading American multinationals such as Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, and Twitter.<\/p>\n

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There are close to 600,000 H-1B visa holders in the U.S., of which an estimated 50,000 were laid off in the U.S. Tech Wreck of the past few months and are in fear of deportation; this is because once laid off, H-1Bs have just 60 days to find a new employer to sponsor them or else they face removal from the country.<\/p>\n

The former Canada Immigration Minister Sean Fraser saw the issues faced by skilled foreign tech professionals as an \u201copportunity\u201d for Canada to fill its labour market shortages in STEM, causing him to announce the Tech Talent Strategy at Collision 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re enthusiastic about the ambitious goals we have set in immigration because they aren\u2019t just about numbers\u2014they are strategic,\u201d Fraser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Canada\u2019s first-ever immigration\u00a0Tech Talent Strategy, we\u2019re targeting newcomers that can help enshrine Canada as a world leader in a variety of emerging technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The central goal of this program is to assist Canada businesses to thrive in a competitive landscape and to boost their recruitment and retention requirements by holding foreign talent in the North American labour market.<\/p>\n

This fast-track work permit program was implemented on July 16, and successful applications are to be provided with expedited PR in Canada within six months of applying.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it offered talented foreign workers incredible job and residence security, as not only do they now have enough time to find a new job after a layoff, they also have greater ease in launching their own business.<\/p>\n

Their accompanying family members (including spouse, common-law partner, and dependent children) can also apply for a study<\/span><\/a> or work permit<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The application up-take was unprecedented to say the least, and completely rattled IRCC calculations (which had implemented the measure for a maximum of one year, or until Canada received 10,000 applications from principal applicants \u2013 whichever came first).<\/p>\n

The immigration ministry\u2019s response to Canadian tech employers\u2019 request to double the allocation capacity has been to question whether the industry has enough capacity to absorb such numbers in the first place.<\/p>\n

As per Toronto Star\u2019s business columnist David Olive, there is.<\/p>\n

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