Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders

Canada Woos American H-1B Visa Holders Fed Up with U.S. Immigration System

Move to offer work permits to foreigners seizes on tech industry frustration

This month, Canada will start offering open work permits to any immigrants in America on an H-1B visa, in a clear bid to lure away highly-educated foreigners frustrated by the U.S. immigration process.

It is the latest effort by Canada to capitalize on a growing sense from international students and professionals that settling permanently in the U. S.—between evermore competitive visa lotteries and a growing backlog of Green Cards—is too slow and difficult.

The new recruitment strategy, which Canada unveiled at a North American technology conference, Collision, held in Toronto last month, is designed to appeal to out-of-work foreign tech-sector workers in the U.S. whose immigration status is now in jeopardy after a recent series of layoffs, said Canadian Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.

For decades, attending an American university and settling in the U.S. more permanently has been the holy grail for many ambitious young foreigners across the globe. But that well-worn path has started to fray. International students can work for between one and three years on their student visas, but switching onto a work visa after that—most commonly the H-1B for high-skilled foreigners—has recently become dramatically more competitive. Last year, roughly one in five applications to the annual H-1B lottery were granted a visa; this year the number was closer to one in 10.

“With the H-1B lottery getting worse and worse every year, for a lot of these individuals Canada may actually be their only option,” said Chris Richardson, a former U.S. diplomat and co-founder of Argo Visa, a company that advises foreign applicants on the U.S. visa process.

Canada’s proposed work permit would allow H-1B visa holders to move to Canada without a job and look for one once they arrive. The types of immigrants who would qualify for the program, Canadian experts say, could also quickly become permanent residents under the country’s merit-based points immigration system.

Without the fast-track program, they would either need to apply for entry under the regular Canadian process or get a Canadian employer to obtain a work permit for them.

Fraser said at the conference that the situation presents an opportunity for Canada.

“There’s a lot of people who over the course of their careers may not have considered coming to Canada but very much want to stay attached to the North American market,” he said.

English-speaking countries from the U.K. to Australia have all benefited from foreigners’ frustrations with the often-slow and seemingly capricious U.S. immigration system, with universities from the U.K. to Australia all attracting more international students from countries like China and India.

Canada is considered a desirable destination because, under revised rules over the past 15 years, international students have an easier path to permanent residency after graduation, said immigration lawyers, Canadian officials and policy analysts who have studied immigration trends. If they end up working for American companies, they can live in the same time zone as their colleagues. In recent years, more American companies, such as Microsoft and Google, have opened branch offices in Canadian cities like Toronto and Vancouver.

For immigrants to the U.S. from India, who make up a disproportionate share of tech recruits, the process of becoming a permanent resident has proved uniquely vexing. That is because the U.S. caps the number of employment-sponsored green cards it awards to applicants of any one nationality, and many more Indians apply each year than there are green cards available for them. Without an intervention from Congress, people from India who newly apply for permanent residency could die before their number is called.