The federal government is looking to poach talent from abroad through three new initiatives announced at a technology conference on Tuesday.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced what he called a “digital nomad strategy” that will allow workers with a foreign employer to stay and work in Canada for up to six months. If they get a job offer while in the country, he said, they can remain in Canada even longer.
He said those workers will “spend money in communities in this country.”
The strategy is similar to a temporary visa policy in place in Mexico. That policy has attracted large numbers of American workers south, where they earn dollars while spending pesos and take advantage of a lower cost of living. While the policy has boosted the local economy, its critics say it also has driven up rents.
Fraser’s remarks to the Collision tech conference in Toronto were focused on the need to attract qualified workers to Canada’s technology sector. Some of his announcements were targeted specifically at that industry — part of what the ministry is calling a “tech talent strategy.”
By the end of this year, Fraser said, the federal government will be developing an immigration stream for “some of the world’s most talented people that will be able to come to Canada to work for tech companies, whether they have a job offer or not.”
He did not explain exactly who will qualify or how many people will be admitted to the stream. A news release issued after his remarks said the government will create an “innovation stream” under its international mobility program for skilled workers who are “in select in-demand occupations” or are destined for work with companies the government selects as “contributing to our innovation goals.”
The third new program announced Tuesday was specifically aimed at the United States. By July 16, Fraser said, the government will create an open work-permit stream to allow 10,000 American H-1B visa holders to come and work in Canada.
In its news release, the ministry said the program will also provide for study or work permits for their family members.
H-1B visas allow foreign nationals to temporarily work in the U.S. in certain specialized occupations, including the technology sector. Tech companies went on a hiring binge during the pandemic but have since starting laying people off in large numbers. That’s forcing a lot of H-1B visa holders scrambling to find new jobs before they’re forced to leave the U.S.
Fraser said he’s been watching that dynamic very closely and sees it as an “opportunity” for Canada.